Food Aid Quality Review Phase III: Quarterly Technical Report No. 20

20, covering the period from October 2020 to December 2020, documents progress of the Food Aid Quality Review (FAQR) activity overall, as well as detailing outputs and impacts of Phase III work in particular. The report was produced for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by Tufts University, under the terms of contract AID-OAA-C-16-00020 awarded to the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The FAQR activity aims to support the U.S. Government's humanitarian agenda by establishing evidence-based information systems, tools, and data-gathering and evidence-sharing platforms on food aid for nutrition. The report highlights the team's advancements in various workstreams during the quarter. The Commodity Incident Reporting Business Process Review team completed a review of recent incidents, key information interviews, and a first draft of the final report. The Supply Chain Optimization team started holding biweekly meetings with key partners from USAID/BHA, continued to generate and test scenarios related to the global warehouse location model, and completed a first draft of the final report on the supply chain optimization demonstration model. The Cost-Effectiveness team officially launched the Food Assistance Cost-Effectiveness Tool for Specialized Nutritious Foods (FACET4SNF) during a well-attended webinar and began conducting a series of trainings for potential users of the tool. The FAQR Field Study Data Mining team completed their additional analysis of the Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone field study data and a first draft of their final report. The BHA Population-Based Survey Data Harmonization team presented an update on their progress in harmonizing and pooling data to USAID/BHA, worked closely with the BHA Monitoring and Evaluation team to address issues identified with the datasets provided by evaluation partners, and completed a first draft of their final report. The Research Engagement on Food Interventions for Nutritional Effectiveness REFINE Open Access Data Study team presented their preliminary findings and recommendations to USAID/BHA and completed a first draft of their final report. The FAQR team embarked on a series of discussions related to Essential Nutrient Fortification with USAID/BHA and select partners and drafted technical notes to document these discussions and the latest evidence related to vitamins A and D and essential fatty acids in food aid products. The Interagency Harmonization team organized planning calls in preparation for the upcoming meetings of the domestic and international interagency working groups to be held in early 2021. The team managed The Future of Food Assistance for Nutrition: Evidence Summit II and presented key findings, challenges, and emerging concerns from the event at a webinar hosted by CORE Group's Nutrition Working Group. The report highlights the team's achievements in various workstreams, including the Commodity Incident Reporting Business Process Review, Supply Chain Optimization, Cost-Effectiveness, FAQR Field Study Data Mining, BHA Population-Based Survey Data Harmonization, and Research Engagement on Food Interventions for Nutritional Effectiveness REFINE Open Access Data Study. The report also highlights the team's efforts to advance the evidence base for food assistance for nutrition research and programming. The FAQR team completed additional analyses using qualitative and quantitative FAQR field study data, focused on thematic areas related to quality of feeding and care in the household, child growth, and quality of programming in supplemental and blanket feeding programs in Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso. The team finalized a report titled Additional Analysis of Two Field Studies Comparing Four Supplementary Foods for Treatment or Prevention of Malnutrition, which included recommendations on future research priorities as well as program design. The report concludes by highlighting the team's progress in advancing the evidence base for food assistance for nutrition research and programming. The FAQR team's efforts aim to support the U.S. Government's humanitarian agenda by establishing evidence-based information systems, tools, and data-gathering and evidence-sharing platforms on food aid for nutrition. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the team's achievements and progress during the quarter, highlighting the team's commitment to advancing the evidence base for food assistance for nutrition research and programming.