Final Report: PRO-WASH Project Results for Q3, July 1 – September 30, 2018

The project's objectives for the third quarter included completing the first round of stakeholder consultations, hiring key personnel, and designing the first activities under the capacity strengthening plan. The plan consisted of four objectives: knowledge capture, generation, application, and sharing. During the third quarter, Save the Children, the implementing partner, prioritized staff recruitment while ensuring the project activities got underway under the leadership of the Acting Director. The PRO-WASH Director, Rebekah Pinto, started on September 17, 2018, and the Senior Specialist, Capacity Building and Learning, Nicole Weber, was completing her background check at the time of the report and was expected to start in the fourth quarter. The PRO-WASH staff held a final stakeholder consultation for Office of Food for Peace (FFP) HQ Staff on August 8, 2018, to solicit additional input on the previously identified priorities for learning and knowledge generation. A follow-up short survey was designed to collect information from a broader pool of community-based organizations (CBOs) and other interested FFP staff. The results of the survey will be analyzed in early Q4 and used to update the PRO-WASH Capacity Building and Learning Strategy. The project also began a desk review of current WASH approaches and interventions in FFP programming through a review of available activity reports and key informant interviews. The purpose of the review was to provide a landscape of the current WASH work funded by FFP globally and identify trends in challenges, opportunities for sharing promising practices, and areas where capacity building is needed. The PRO-WASH team conducted ten key informant interviews and will complete the interviews and summarize the findings to present back to the PRO-WASH Steering Committee, Task Force, and FFP Stakeholders in Q4. In addition, the PRO-WASH team researched and designed a Request for Applications (RFA) for the award's first applied research activity. The RFA aimed to solicit the development of sanitation solutions that SHOUHARDO III, a development food security activity in flood-prone, northern Bangladesh, can pilot during the 2019 monsoon season. The PRO-WASH team gathered useful information through the process of developing the RFA about granting mechanisms, timeline considerations, and partnerships that will inform subsequent applied research activities. The PRO-WASH team also established the award's webpage on the FSN Network, revised the branding guide and marking plan, prepared for the TOPS Regional Knowledge Sharing Meeting in Bangkok, and held the first PRO-WASH Steering Committee meeting on September 20, 2018. The Steering Committee reviewed its roles and responsibilities, discussed the award's Capacity Strengthening and Learning Strategy, and opportunities to link with other organizations and projects doing related work in WASH. The burn rate in Q3 was lower than expected due to delays in hiring key personnel and the resulting delay in capacity strengthening activities. However, the burn rate increased during the last months of Q3 with the hiring of the Project Director, and is expected to increase during Q4 as all key personnel staff come fully onboard. The total spending by the end of Q3 was $125,804.18, which is 27% of the anticipated Year 1 budget. The majority of award activities during Q3 happened according to the workplan, with the exception of the activities related to developing capacity strengthening training materials and guidelines, which will start in Q4 due to the delay in the start of key personnel. The PRO-WASH team is coordinating with SCALE, given similar capacity building and learning objectives, and will continue to collect information from implementing partners to inform a sustainability plan in Q4.