Monitoring of Food Security and Nutrition in Guatemala (MONISAN) is being implemented at national level, with the objective of following up on interventions related to food security and nutrition for beneficiaries of government programmes, expanding the monitoring of actions in the 1000-day window (MONIMIL) to include those implemented in Food Security and Nutrition (SAN).
Under the National Food Security and Nutrition Policy (SESAN), section 10.6, SESAN must coordinate SAN surveillance, monitoring and evaluation activities with the various data-generating institutions.
René Martínez Farfán, Director of Institutional Strengthening of the Secretariat, explained that the actions and interventions to be monitored relate to the 1000-day window, conditional cash transfers, family agriculture programmes to strengthen the rural economy (PAFEEC) and the school food programme (PAE).
“The monitoring is conducted by a household survey, based on a representative sample of 298 communities (315 with the addition of five per cent as a safety margin), selected on a random basis from the universe of health centres at national level in the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance. The monitoring will be carried out every four months by SESAN monitors”, said the Director of Institutional Strengthening of the Secretariat.
He added that the main objective was to follow up on the development of programmed activities, measure the results of their management and optimize their procedures through learning from the successes and failures identified when comparing actual interventions with those planned. That is how the MONISAN results can be used by decision makers to take corrective measures and thus constant improvement.
In 2016, the National Strategy for Prevention of Chronic Malnutrition (ENDPC) 2016-2020, with the objective of reducing the rate of chronic malnutrition among children under two years-old, as a percentage, over four years .
To achieve this, the ENDOC establishes as its strategic priorities: to strengthen primary healthcare, guide educational actions aimed at behaviour change, improve water and sanitation indexes, promote technological options to support food availability and the household economy, strengthen governance and interinstitutional coordination between central and local level, and implement monitoring and evaluation actions for decision making, supported by social audit and results-based management tools.
The coverage and scope of the Strategy includes seven departments, in two phases. The first comprises 82 municipalities in Alta Verapaz, Huehuetenango, Quiché and Chiquimula (2016-2017); and the second phase, a total of 57 municipalities in San Marcos, Totonicapán and Sololá (2018 – 2019).