FY 2015 QUARTER 1 PROGRESS REPORT: USAID KENYA Nutrition and Health Program plus

The program works closely with the Ministry of Health-National Department of Nutrition, Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, and Kenya Nutritionists and Dieticians Institute to enhance existing capacity at the national and county levels for health managers, healthcare workers, and community health volunteers. During the first quarter of 2015, program activities focused on meeting contractual requirements, vetting and identifying commodity manufacturers, completing recruitment of key personnel, setting up the office, customizing in-house financial monitoring systems, and holding consultative meetings with key stakeholders. The program successfully submitted its proposed five-year Work-plan Budget and Narrative, Branding and Marking plans, revised Organogram, and the Project Monitoring Plan, which included a Logical Framework and Indicator Matrix for the program. As part of its post-implementation strategy, the program held consultative meetings with select USAID Feed the Future partners and select donor agencies implementing partners and stakeholders to share approved NHPplus objectives and mandates, identify common result areas for potential collaboration, and set strong foundations and linkages with national government and relevant units for nutrition and agriculture-related activities. Food manufacturers who scored above 50% in the last Supply Quality Assessment were invited to submit bids for consideration for the supply of Fortified Blended Food and Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food commodities. To inform program requirements and identify intervention gaps, SMART surveys and operation research activities will be conducted to complement results from routine data sets. These activities were included as part of the draft work-plan submitted to USAID. SMART surveys will be used to assist in prioritizing resources and monitoring the extent to which program activities meet the needs of the population and the overall impact of the response. The program was incorporated into and will continuously participate in and provide technical assistance to the National Nutrition Inter-Agency Committees and its sub-committees and technical working groups to further support the implementation of the National Nutrition Action Plan and the Scaling Up Nutrition initiative. The program will also provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to strengthen the capacity of health managers, healthcare workers, and community health volunteers in nutrition and health service delivery. In addition, the program developed and is implementing a rapid mobilization plan to ensure continuity of services from the NHP program. The program also completed procurement of 92 metric tons of Fortified Blended Food as it awaits disposition of 40 metric tons of Fortified Blended Food carried over from the NHP program to mitigate against anticipated stock-outs.