FEWS NET TSC FISCAL YEAR 2018 ANNUAL REPORT

The TSC project assists FEWS NET in identifying and implementing new technologies to enhance team collaboration and broaden data collection, analysis, and dissemination methods. The project supports the FEWS NET implementation team in enhancing intra-team early warning collaboration, analysis, and dissemination capabilities, and in expanding a FEWS NET activity-wide ability to gather new and greater quantities of food security information and data through the application and use of new information technologies for early warning. The TSC project has been designed to be fluid in its scope and to flex with USAID's changing needs and priorities. This allows for quick exploration of different ideas, projects, and research related to early warning. Over a six-year period, the project has maintained its core focus, but has evolved from the development of white papers identifying needs for innovation and tool development, to the implementation of innovative pilot tool development activities in several diverse areas of interest to FEWS NET. Since its inception, the TSC project has made important contributions to FEWS NET's data management and analytical capabilities, thereby improving the US Government's ability to understand and respond to food security crisis. In fiscal year 2018 (FY18), the TSC project furthered this mandate by undertaking a small number of complex, technology-driven early warning activities. Remote Monitoring (RM) was used to track the food security conditions of a population in a hard-to-reach area in East Africa. The FEWS NET Data Warehouse (FDW) was developed to integrate critical FEWS NET datasets into a secure online environment and provide the capability for users within FEWS NET and USAID to access, analyze and share information. The Resilience Measurement Activity (RMA) was undertaken to develop a set of measures to support USAID in the formation of policies and programs that focus on building resilience, mitigating vulnerability, and speeding recovery. During FY18, the TSC project also met contractual reporting requirements by producing four quarterly program reports, and 17 remote monitoring reports. The RM activity provides timely and high-quality information on food security and humanitarian conditions for an extremely vulnerable, hard-to-reach population in a conflict-affected region. The primary objective is to provide USAID's Office of Food for Peace (FFP) and its humanitarian partners with sufficient information for decision-making and the provision of lifesaving support. The TSC/RM team estimates populations facing moderate and severe food insecurity through quarterly household surveys, supplemented by mixed quantitative and qualitative data gathering on a monthly basis, covering a range of indicators related to market conditions and prices, conflict events, population movements, crop production, and livelihoods. RM monitoring and reporting is built on a series of closely coordinated activities, primarily around assuring the flow of timely, quality information on food insecurity from the affected areas into various information products and ensuring the processes are sustainable. The TSC project also supported the development of the FEWS NET Data Warehouse (FDW), which integrates critical FEWS NET datasets into a secure online environment and provides the capability for users within FEWS NET and USAID to access, analyze and share information. The FDW development involved testing and uploading priority data, data quality assurance, system maintenance and software upgrades, helpdesk support, user documentation, security and system access, and FDW handover process. The Resilience Measurement Activity (RMA) was undertaken to develop a set of measures to support USAID in the formation of policies and programs that focus on building resilience, mitigating vulnerability, and speeding recovery. The RMA involved methodology development, decision-support report development, and challenges and lessons learned. The TSC project also met contractual reporting requirements by producing a methodology report, a decision-support report, and other deliverables. The TSC project has made significant contributions to FEWS NET's data management and analytical capabilities, thereby improving the US Government's ability to understand and respond to food security crisis. The project has also supported the development of new technologies and tools to enhance team collaboration and broaden data collection, analysis, and dissemination methods. The TSC project has maintained its core focus, but has evolved over time to address changing needs and priorities.