Baseline Study of the Resilience Food Security Activities (RFSAs) in Niger: Final Report, July 2021 | Volume II Annexes 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, & 2

INTRODUCTION

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace (FFP) uses Title II and/or community development funds to support multi-year resilience food security activities (RFSAs) around the world that improve and sustain the food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations. In 2018 FFP funded one five-year RFSA in Kaya, Burkina Faso and three five-year RFSAs in the regions of Zinder and Maradi, Niger. Part of the Resilience in the Sahel-Enhanced (RISE) initiative, these RFSAs include:

1. Victory Against Malnutrition (ViMPlus) in Kaya, Burkina Faso, implemented by ACDI/VOCA in partnership with Save the Children (SC) and Tufts University;

2. Hamzari in the Maradi region of Niger, implemented by CARE in partnership with AREN, FORSANI, ANBEF, KARKARA, Développement pour un Mieux Etre (DEMI-E) and Water Aid;

3. Girma in the Zinder region of Niger, implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in partnership with DEMI-E, Community Development Assistance (ADC), Education Development Center (EDC), International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) at Georgetown University, Tufts University and Viamo;

4. Wadata in the Zinder region of Niger, implemented by SC in partnership with the National Cooperative Business Association/CLUSA (NCBA CLUSA), the Kaizen Company, and DEMI-E.
   The RFSAs are designed to address critical challenges in food security, nutrition, and poverty and to improve the resilience of households and communities. Although the approach for each RFSA differs, all RFSAs implement activities across technical sectors, layering and sequencing interventions at both the individual and household levels. Key interventions are designed around improving food access and incomes through agriculture and other livelihoods initiatives; enhancing natural resource and environment management; combating undernutrition, especially for children under two, in addition to pregnant and lactating women; and mitigating disaster impact through early warning and community preparedness activities.

Under the Implementer-Led Evaluation and Learning (IMPEL) activity to improve the design and implementation of FFP RFSA activities, Technical Assistance to NGOs (TANGO) International, in collaboration with the implementing partners (IPs), will be conducting four baseline (BL) studies in 2020 and four interim performance evaluations (PE) in 2024 of the four FFP RFSAs. The implementer-led approach provides greater ownership of the evaluation process and promotes wider dissemination and learning within the implementer community.

The BL studies and interim PEs each include: 1) a population-based household survey to measure intermediate outcomes that are within the manageable interest of the activity, and 2) qualitative data from secondary sources for the BL study and qualitative data collection for the interim PEs. The information generated through the BL studies and interim PEs will be used by FFP to make a performance-based extension decision.

A local firm will be hired to perform the data collection for the BL survey with close oversight and quality control by TANGO. This protocol describes the data collection tools, field procedures, data collection, quality assurance and data analysis for the BL studies. A separate protocol will be developed for the four interim PEs.