MONETISATION OF PROJECT FOOD AID?

Summary Project (both development and emergency) food aid aims at increasing household food security of selected beneficiary groups, and has for this reason traditionally been provided strictly in kind. Monetization, i.e. sale of food in the local markets and programming of the funds for general sector or balance?of?payment support has traditionally been a prerogative of government?to?government programme food aid. Today, the potential of local food markets as a channel for promoting household food security interventions is being explored, and monetization is recognized as a potential route to more effective targeting. The managerial complexity of project food aid monetization should not be overlooked, nor the absorptive capacity of local markets overestimated; and sight should not be lost of the self?targeting potential of food aid in projects directed to the poorest and most powerless. The traditional project food aid approach therefore remains legitimate. However, it is also costly and thus its scope in number and size of projects therefore limited. If project food aid is to contribute in the future more effectively to targeted household food security, monetization can open up new room for manoeuvre, and project food aid agencies should not shy away from the challenge. Résumé La monétisation des projets d'aide alimentaire Les projets d'aide alimentaire (de développement ou de secours) cherchent à augmenter la sécurité alimentaire au niveau des foyers individuels et au sein de groupes spécialement choisis: c'est pour cette raison que traditionnellement, cette aide a été fournie exclusivement en nature. Classiquement, la monétisation, c?à?d. la vente de cette alimentation dans les marchés locaux et la programmation des fonds ainsi dérivés vers le secteur général ou pour le soutien de la balance des paiements est restée le privilège des programmes d'aide alimentaire accordés par un gouvernement à un autre. Or actuellement, le potentiel des marchés alimentaires locaux en tant que canal pour la promotion des interventions de sécurité alimentaire est en voie d'exploration, et la monétisation est désormais censée être un biais éventuel vers un système de ciblage plus efficace. Il ne faudrait pas oublier non plus la complexité de la monétisation des projects d'aide alimentaire au niveau de la gestion, ni surestimer les capacités d'absorption des marchés locaux; ni faudrait?il perdre de vue le potentiel d'autociblage de l'aide alimentaire dans les projets adressés aux gens les plus pauvres et les plus dépourvus de pouvoir. Ainsi, l'approche traditionnelle des projets d'aide alimentaire est toujours légitime. Toutefois, elle reste pour autant coûteuse et donc ses possibilités en termes du nombre et de l'étendue des projets restent limitées. Si l'on veut qu'à l'avenir, les projets d'aide alimentaire puissent contribuer plus efficacement à la sécurité alimentaire ciblée sur les foyers individuels, la monétisation peut faciliter la gestion, ainsi les agences responsables pour les projets d'aide alimentaire ne devraient pas répugner à poursuivre cette possibilité. Resumen La monetización de los proyectos de ayuda alimentaria Los proyectos de ayuda alimentaria (para desarrollo y emergencia) de la ayuda alimentaria aspiran a incrementar la seguridad del sustento familiar en grupos selectos de beneficiarios, y por esa razón ha sido tradicionalmente provista en especie. La monetización, es decir, la venta de alimentos en los mercados locales y la programación de los fondos a nivel de sector o para apoyo a la balanza de pagos ha sido siempre una prerrogativa de los programas de ayuda alimentaria de gobierno a gobierno. Pero actualmente se está explorando el potencial de los mercados locales como vías para promover seguridad alimentaria familiar, y se está reconociendo la monetización como un medio posiblemente más efectivo. No se debe subestimar la complejidad en el manejo de la monetización de planeamiento, ni tampoco sobrestimar la capacidad de absorción de los mercados locales; no hay que perder de vista el potencial auto?direccional de la ayuda alimentaria en proyectos dirigidos a los mas pobres y desposeídos. El enfoque tradicional de la ayuda alimentaria, por lo tanto, continua siendo legítimo. Sin embargo, es muy costoso, y su alcance en cuanto a número y tamaño de proyectos es limitado. Si el planeamiento de la ayuda alimentaria debe contribuir más efectivamente en el futuro a la seguridad alimentaria enfocada en la familia, entonces la monetización puede abrir nuevos campos de acción, y las agencias de planeamiento no deben rehuir el desafío

COUNTERPART FUNDS AND DEVELOPMENT

Summary Counterpart funds play an important, growing and often controversial role in developing countries. The Bulletin reviews the issues and connects counterpart funds to wider themes in development: poverty targeting, aid conditionality, the management of the budgetary process — and many others. New guidelines are presented. The first priority is to narrow the gap between best and usual practice. Résumé Les fonds de contrepartie et le développement Les fonds de contrepartie jouent un rôle crucial, croissant et de plus en plus souvent, controversé dans les pays en voie de développement. Le Bulletin réexamine les questions de base et tente d'associer les fonds de contrepartie à des thèmes plus larges au sein du développement: comment cibler la pauvreté; la conditionnante de l'aide; la gestion du procédé budgétaire; et ainsi de suite. L'article présente de nouvelles lignes directrices, la priorité absolue étant de réduire l'écart entre la pratique optimale et la pratique d'usage. Resumen Los fondos de contrapartida y el desarrollo Los fondos de contrapartida juegan un rol creciente, importante y a menudo contencioso en los países en vías de desarrollo. El presente Boletín analiza esta cuestión y conecta los fondos de contrapartida con temas de desarrollo más amplios: enfoque anti?pobreza, condicionalidad de ayuda, manejo del proceso presupuestario y muchos otros, para los cuales se presentan nuevas pautas. La prioridad más absoluta es reducir la brecha entre las prácticas en uso y las mejores posibles

Climate & Food Security Monitoring Bulletin 3rd Quarter 2019 (July – September)

First half of 2019, total rainfall has been below average, despite the fact that June, July and the first ten days of August experienced considerable rainfall, confined mostly to the South-Western Regions. Meteorological forecasts suggest areas in the dry-zone are expected to remain dry through to September. Abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions remain in pockets of North, North-Western, North-Central, Uva and Eastern Provinces. Focus must be placed on risk reduction, adaption measures, and preparedness for drought response interventions; including integrated drought resilience programs to promote improved drought resilience strategies from climate shocks. Surplus Maha (2018/19) and Yala (2019) paddy production means there is no immediate food shortage, and total rice availability is sufficient to meet demand until January 2020 (Department of Agriculture). However, dry conditions and pest attacks in pockets of Kurunagala, Batticaloa, Ampara, Puttalam and Trincomalee caused the destruction of 4,362 ha of paddy. This will not have a major impact on overall paddy production, but will have adverse localised impacts

Climate & Food Security Monitoring Bulletin

Wet conditions prevailed during December 2020 and January 2021 over the country, however, dry conditions were also experienced from February to April 2021 in many parts of the country. A considerable amount of rainfall was received across the country during the North-East monsoon (December 2020 to February 2021), however, it was less in the central areas compared to the long-term average. The DMC, NDRSC, Military, and Public Administrative agencies implemented a special preparedness programme which was supported by WFP and other agencies during October and November to prepare for the North-East monsoon, however only minor flooding was experienced in addition to the havoc created by cyclone “Burevi” in the northern region. Meanwhile, an above-normal rainfall was observed in North-central, North-western and Northern regions (Figure 01 & 02) during December and January, accumulating good water storage in tanks in the Dry & Intermediate zones. These favourable rainfall regimes during the “Maha” season helped to enhance the cultivation of paddy, vegeta bles, fruits and other cash crops, despite the COVID-19 outbreak. The 2020/21 "Maha" season harvest was above the 10-year average despite the delayed start of the season due to weak second inter-monsoon rains during Octo ber and November 2020. The movement restrictions imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak during October and November, impacted the household economy and food security in the country. The consequent return to functioning markets and sup ply chain helped to stabilize the demand and supply of food and other essentials. The Government also com menced an island-wide home gardening campaign to increase domestic production, which helped to provide stable income options for vulnerable communities while ensuring household food security. The current storage levels of major and medium reservoirs in the country are above average, which is conducive for a good Yala cropping season in 2021. For the next three months, near-normal rains are forecasted, associated with the conditions created by a mild La-Nina event currently observed in the equatorial Pacific Ocean and neutral IOD in the Indian Ocean, which may not negatively influence the water storage and cultivation in the 2021 Yala season

Climate & Food Security Monitoring Bulletin Maha Season 2019 - 2020

A successful Maha Season 2019-2020 means paddy production is estimated to be sufficient to meet domestic demand until September 2020. Floods, mainly along the East and North coast, caused an estimated production loss of 57,065 Mt. This however, should not have an impact on short- to medium-term food security. Limitation of vegetables and onions were observed in early 2020

Impact of the shift from NCHS growth reference to WHO(2006) growth standards in a therapeutic feeding programme in Niger.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the implementation of the WHO(2006) growth standards in a therapeutic feeding programme. METHODS: Using programme monitoring data from 21,769 children 6-59 months admitted to the Médecins Sans Frontières therapeutic feeding programme during 2007, we compared characteristics at admission, type of care and outcomes for children admitted before and after the shift to the WHO(2006) standards. Admission criteria were bipedal oedema, MUAC <110 mm, or weight-for-height (WFH) of <-70% of the median (NCHS) before mid-May 2007, and WFH <-3 z score (WHO(2006)) after mid-May 2007. RESULTS: Children admitted with the WHO(2006) standards were more likely to be younger, with a higher proportion of males, and less malnourished (mean WFH -3.6 z score vs. mean WFH -4.6 z score). They were less likely to require hospitalization or intensive care (28.4%vs. 77%; 12.8%vs. 36.5%) and more likely to be treated exclusively on an outpatient basis (71.6%vs. 23%). Finally, they experienced better outcomes (cure rate: 89%vs. 71.7%, death rate: 2.7%vs. 6.4%, default rate: 6.7%vs. 12.3%). CONCLUSIONS: In this programme, the WHO(2006) standards identify a larger number of malnourished children at an earlier stage of disease facilitating their treatment success

Findings from a cluster randomised trial of unconditional cash transfers in Niger.

Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) are used as a humanitarian intervention to prevent acute malnutrition, despite a lack of evidence about their effectiveness. In Niger, UCT and supplementary feeding are given during the June-September "lean season," although admissions of malnourished children to feeding programmes may rise from March/April. We hypothesised that earlier initiation of the UCT would reduce the prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) in children 6-59 months old in beneficiary households and at population level. We conducted a 2-armed cluster-randomised controlled trial in which the poorest households received either the standard UCT (4 transfers between June and September) or a modified UCT (6 transfers from April); both providing 130,000 FCFA/£144 in total. Eligible individuals (pregnant and lactating women and children 6- 0.05), despite improved food security (p < 0.05), possibly driven by increased fever/malaria in children (p < 0.001). Nonfood related drivers of malnutrition, such as disease, may limit the effectiveness of UCTs plus supplementary feeding to prevent malnutrition in this context. Caution is required in applying the findings of this study to periods of severe food insecurity