Burkina Faso Victory Against Malnutrition Plus FY2020 Q3 Quarterly Report: April - June 2020

The program aims to enhance the food security of vulnerable households through effective and inclusive governance. To achieve this goal, ViMPlus has intensified its efforts to stabilize local management structures and create a supportive enabling environment. The program has promoted social cohesion among local actors by launching three community workshops on improving social cohesion. These workshops brought together 98 local actors, including Conseils Villageoises de Développement (CVDs), municipal councilors, traditional, religious, and communal authorities, youth, and women's representatives, and mayors. The workshops aimed to define social cohesion and identify factors that promote or hinder it. ViMPlus will use these factors to develop its overall social cohesion strategy, which will inform the facilitation tools and social dialogue platforms to be strengthened. ViMPlus has also deepened its relationship with the Centre Nord Regional Council through a series of meetings. During these meetings, the program reported on its planned activities and achievements and agreed to organize a joint workshop with local grassroots organizations and communes to discuss best practices for coordination and collaboration in strengthening community resilience. This workshop will serve as a framework for reviewing collaborative practices to improve the alignment of ViMPlus actions with the regional development plan. The program has also continued to improve the functionality of its tools for collecting and analyzing monitoring and evaluation data and tracking project results. This has enabled ViMPlus to better understand the impact of its interventions and make data-driven decisions to improve its programming. In addition, ViMPlus has furthered its collaboration with local institutions, including the Centre Nord Regional Council and the Regional Directorate of Women, National Solidarity, Family, and Humanitarian Action (DRFSNFAH). The program has also intensified its collaboration with United Nations actors, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Food Programme (WFP), to harmonize household selection criteria and comply with the guidelines of the different sectoral groups. The security context in Burkina Faso remains a challenge, and the COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer of complexity. However, ViMPlus continues to be agile and adaptive in light of these contexts. The program has prioritized integrating protective measures into its implementation and has contributed strongly to the Burkina Faso Centre Nord Regional Response Plan. Overall, ViMPlus has made significant progress in promoting inclusive governance and improving the food security of vulnerable households in Burkina Faso. The program's efforts to stabilize local management structures, promote social cohesion, and improve collaboration with local institutions have contributed to its success.