Afghanistan 2012
Appealing AgencyAction Contre la Faim (ACF)
Project TitleStrengthening Nutrition Surveillance in Afghanistan by implementing an effective nutrition surveillance system though capacity building and partnership
Project CodeAFG-12/H/45616
Sector/ClusterNUTRITION
Refugee ProjectNo
ObjectivesTo implement an effective nutrition surveillance system through the creation of a core nutrition survey team responsible for undertaking nutrition survey wherever required in Afghanistan and also in charge of building capacities of nutrition cluster partners, including Public Nutrition Department (PND) staff, Ministry of Public Health, to undertake rapid nutrition assessment/nutrition survey
BeneficiariesTotal: 9 Cluster partners and PND
Implementing PartnersHN TPO, CAF, CHA, AADA + 4 new NGOs to be determined + PND
Project DurationJan 2012 - Dec 2012
Current Funds Requested $402,235
Location Multiple locations
Priority / CategoryB. MEDIUM
Gender Marker Code0 - No signs that gender issues were considered in project design
Subset of Appeal
Contact DetailsAbdul Wasi Qani, grantsmgr-kabul@af.missions-acf.org, +93(0)787 105 925
Enhanced Geographical Fields
Capital
North Eastern
Northern
Western
Southern
Central Highland
South Eastern
Eastern
Cash Based Intervention
Is any part of this project cash transfer programming (including vouchers)?No
Conditionality:
Restrictions:
Estimated percentage of project requirements to be used for cash/vouchers:0


Needs
Despite multiple years of international investment and support to the Afghan government the country’s indicators continue to rank near the bottom of the world list. The conflict has been worsened throughout the course of the last years, creating new waves of displacement and / or deteriorating the already precarious living conditions of part of the population. The vulnerability of the population is further exacerbated by recurring natural disasters which affect considerable numbers of people each year. With regards to nutrition indicators, few reliable and recent data are available. At national level, the last nutritional data gathered are dated of 2004, corresponding to the national nutrition survey conducted by the MoPH (with support of several agencies, including ACF). The lack of nutritional data is concerning especially considering the overall food insecurity of the Afghan population and its high vulnerability to socio-economic changes. In the efforts to set up a national nutrition surveillance system, UNICEF and MoPH objective for 2010 was to create a pool of human resources in the country who are familiar with the methodology and who will be able to plan and coordinate nutrition surveys/assessments. Despite efforts, nutrition surveillance could not be set up mainly due to the lack of qualified and available human resources.Nevertheless, multiple agencies have conducted surveys or rapid assessments over the past years, but results are not always recognized by the MoPH as agencies did not follow up the MoPH validation process or applied methodologies not validated at international level (such as SMART, standardized methodology international recognized). Hence, the gap of nutrition surveillance and nutrition situation monitoring needed to be tackled in order to design the most appropriate response. Nutrition monitoring was part of the ACF project implemented up to 2008 in Afghanistan and was the main focus for the reintroduction of ACF within the nutrition sphere in Afghanistan by 2010. The lack of reliable data and the absence of actors able to conduct nutrition surveys or rapid nutrition assessments were important reasons for ACF to resume a nutrition presence in the country. In 2011, a project of nutrition surveillance system has been approved by UNICEF. A core surveyor team was created and trained by ACF in order to conduct 6 nutrition surveys over a 12 months period with 4 nutrition cluster partners. Capacity building of nutrition cluster members was the key point of this project. Partners were trained on how to conduct nutrition surveys by applying SMART methodology and how to conduct rapid nutrition assessment in case of emergency. A rapid nutrition assessment guideline was created in 2011 to ensure that any nutrition actors operating in Afghanistan is using the same methodology, allowing comparisons between several assessments. In addition, an Assessment Working Group (AWG) was created through the nutrition cluster body and chaired by ACF. The aim of the AWG is to coordinate all nutrition surveillance activities in the country. Gender would be mainstreamed throughout the project cycle. This project focuses specifically on pregnant and lactating women and children under 5 years. This project would be replicated in 2012: - To reinforce the capacity building of the 4 agencies involved in the project in 2011: ACF core survey team will support the partners to replicate nutrition surveys in 2012; - To build the capacity of 4 additional agencies: Key members of the NGO partners will be trained on how to implement nutrition surveillance activities; - To build the capacity of the Public Nutrition Department Staff, MoPH; - To coordinate nutrition surveillance activities through the assessment working group; As in 2011, 3 main nutrition surveillance components will be tackled in 2012: - Anthropometric nutrition surveys, applying SMART methodology; - Rapid Nutrition Assessment; - Nutrition surveillance system;
Activities
Result 1: A core nutrition survey team is created, able to react upon request or in case of emergency - The skills and capacities of the ACF core survey team is reinforced in 2012. Training sessions will be conducted to ensure that ACF team members (1 health-nutrition coordinator, 1 health-nutrition coordinator assistant, 1 program manager, 1 survey team leader and 4 survey trainers) are able to manage nutrition surveillance activities such as nutrition survey, rapid nutrition assessment and nutrition surveillance system; - The skills and capacities of the 4 nutrition cluster partners involved in the project in 2011 are reinforced in 2012. - The skills and capacities in managing nutrition surveillance activities are developed for 4 new nutrition cluster partners and PND staff, MoPH. Result 2: Nutrition surveillance system at provincial level, particularly covering disaster prone areas, is set up involving at least 8 nutrition cluster partners and PND staff and by conducting a minimum of 8 assessments/surveys. - Support to the 4 nutrition cluster partners involved in 2011 for the implementation of rapid nutrition assessments and nutrition surveys in their areas of interventions. o Training sessions will be conducted to ensure that the partners are able to manage anthropometric survey and other nutrition surveillance activities such as rapid nutrition assessment and nutrition surveillance system; o Nutrition cluster partners will be in charge of identifying their own assessment/survey teams to manage all nutrition activities. These team members will be dedicated to ensure the well implementation of the nutrition activities; - Support to 4 new nutrition cluster partners and PND staff for the implementation of rapid nutrition assessments and nutrition surveys in their areas of interventions upon needs and relevance (areas to surveyed determined according to humanitarian needs and programmatic issues). o ACF nutrition survey teams will be in charge of providing technical support to the nutrition cluster partners and the PND staff; o Nutrition cluster partners will be in charge of identifying their own assessment/survey teams to receive initial training on nutrition surveys and rapid nutrition assessment conducted by ACF. These team members will be dedicated to ensure the well implementation of the nutrition activities; - ACF nutrition survey teams will be in charge of providing technical support to the nutrition cluster partners including PND staff for: 1. The implementation of nutrition surveys and rapid nutrition assessments, including logistics organisation, methodology, field work, data entry analysis and reporting; 2. The setting up of an agreed nutrition surveillance system in the targeted locations; 3. The monitoring and supervision of the general running of the activities at field level; 4. The analysis, reporting and interpretation of the nutrition surveillance data; - All activities will be coordinated through the nutrition cluster body; Result 3: Assessment Working Group (AWG) is coordinated by ACF under the supervision of the nutrition cluster coordination. - An ACF nutrition coordinator will be based in Kabul. She/he will coordinate all ACF nutrition activities and hence have a good view of the nutrition situation in Afghanistan. - ACF nutrition coordinator will be in-charge of the AWG of the nutrition cluster: Participation in meetings, contribution in the analysis of the nutrition situation in Afghanistan, helping chairing meetings.... Result 4: Rapid response standby agreement for nutrition assessment to respond to emergency situations and hence be able to conduct quickly nutrition assessments - Rapid nutrition assessment indicative budget already created in 2011 could be allocated in case of urgent need with a written communication submitted to donor;
Outputs
(1) A core survey team is created in Afghanistan composed of ACF team members, 8 nutrition cluster partners and PND staff. Female key members are identified and are involved in the project; (2) Validated nutrition data are available for humanitarian actors and are used for the project design of the most appropriate response to identified requirements; (3) Nutritional trends are followed up and monitored in Afghanistan. Data analysis will consider gender (4) The capacity to conduct rapid nutrition assessment in case of emergency is built;
RPM Activities and Indicators
Action Contre la Faim (ACF)
Original BUDGET items$
Programme47,000
Programme Human Resources194,282
Support134,639
Overheads (7%)26,314
0
0
0
Total402,235


Action Contre la Faim(ACF)
Current BUDGET items$
Programme47,000
Programme Human Resources194,282
Support134,639
Overheads (7%)26,314
0
0
0
Total402,235


ACTIVITY DETAILS
NO