Food Aid Quality Review Phase III: Quarterly Technical Report No. 21

The report was produced for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) by Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. The Food Aid Quality Review (FAQR) team submitted a series of Option Year 2 deliverables to USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), including reports and data related to supply chain optimization, data mining, commodity incident management, and knowledge sharing activities. The team also organized trainings for BHA representatives on basic supply chain modeling principles and hosted meetings of the domestic and international Interagency Harmonization working groups. The FAQR team supported the first BHA-led training on the Food Assistance Cost-Effectiveness Tool for Specialized Nutritious Foods (FACET4SNF) and revised training materials based on trainee feedback. Additionally, the team finalized two Essential Nutrient Fortification technical notes and hosted an interagency call to discuss the ratio of essential fatty acids in ready-to-use therapeutic foods. The FAQR team also helped establish a sub-working group to promote interagency collaboration related to Contaminants Testing. Furthermore, a manuscript was published during the period, titled "Biomarkers of environmental enteric dysfunction are differently associated with recovery and growth among children with moderate acute malnutrition in Sierra Leone." The supply chain optimization team embarked on a series of in-depth trainings and discussions with three designated representatives from the BHA Office of Field and Response Operations (FARO). These trainings involved an overview of supply chain operations, basic supply chain modeling principles, and the added value that a model like the one developed by the FAQR team can bring to the challenge of optimizing supply chain decisions. The FAQR team supported a training on the Food Assistance Cost-Effectiveness Tool for Specialized Nutritious Foods (FACET4SNF) led by BHA team members. The training was attended by 11 members of the BHA nutrition team and was designed to help future FACET4SNF users gain familiarity with the interface by participating in a live demonstration and a roundtable discussion. The FAQR team hosted the 12th meeting of the USAID/United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Interagency Food Assistance Technical Working Group from January 12 to 13, 2021. The meeting was attended by 50 working group members from USAID and USDA, FAQR team members, and invited guests from MANA Nutrition and other organizations. The FAQR team also began planning a Dialogue on Research and Innovation for Future Food Assistance to build on the 2020 Evidence Summit II and developing a final report on FAQR achievements and impacts from Phase I to the present.