AMASHIGA Quarterly Report Apr-Jun 2015

The program focuses on the Province of Muyinga, with a geographic scope covering all 7 communes. The program goal is to achieve sustainable, nationally replicable improvement in child nutrition in Muyinga. The program is structured around three main purposes: reducing chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years, ensuring households have continuous access to adequate nutritious food, and strengthening decentralized government structures, civil society, and the private sector to implement effective and equitable nutrition strategies. The program is implemented through four program elements: Nutrition, Livelihoods, Governance, and Gender. The program's key interventions include providing training and support to caregivers, health providers, and community members to promote optimal growth and nutrition practices. Additionally, the program aims to increase household income through improved agricultural and natural resource management techniques, and to strengthen the capacity of community development councils and commune platforms to mitigate risks to food security and nutrition. The program has made significant progress in preparations for the startup of full-scale field work, despite the challenging security situation in Burundi. The recruitment of national staff has been delayed, but some advances have been made towards the end of the quarter. The program office in Muyinga is now functional, and all services are working. The nearby warehouse is ready to receive commodities. The program has also made significant progress in MEAL (M&E) work, with key Consortium staff attending the FFP-mandated TOPS1 workshop and the SMILER2 workshop to design the data flow and data collection tools for the program. The program is expected to make further progress in the coming quarter, with all remaining program and operations staff expected to be on board before the end of the fiscal year. The program's target beneficiaries for FY15 include 3,000 beneficiaries in the Nutrition program element, 50 beneficiaries in the Livelihoods program element, 300 beneficiaries in the Governance program element, and 300 beneficiaries in the Gender program element. The program's roles and responsibilities are shared among the Consortium members, including CRS, IMC, ODEDIM, RBU 2000+, WFP, and Bioversity. The program's progress is being monitored through a range of indicators, including the reduction of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years, the increase in household income, and the strengthening of decentralized government structures, civil society, and the private sector. The program's success will depend on the continued support of the Consortium members, the Government of Burundi, and the international community.