FY 2021 Q3 Progress Report: Strengthening Community Capacities for Resilience and Growth (AA2)

The program is implemented in close collaboration with the Leader Award and Associate Awards 1, 3, and 4, implemented by ACDI/VOCA. During the quarter of April to June 2021, the program prioritized building the capacity of local partners to implement program activities. Under Objective One, the program targeted an additional eight ward planning committees through the local partners and two wards directly. The program also conducted both contingency and development planning in these 10 additional wards. SCCRG has now facilitated ward-based development in a total of 32 wards against the target of 24 wards. The program, through the ward planning committees (WPCs), continued with their advocacy to ensure implementation of the ward development plan (WDP) priorities. The WPCs have submitted concepts to the LMS program for potential funding. Currently, the program has received applications for community projects worth KES 120 million out of the total community grants portfolio of KES 117 million, indicating a 102% utilization from the community grant portfolio. These grants are under negotiation with USAID, and several have completed the Environmental Impact Assessments and design stages. The majority of these projects address water shortages for human, livestock, and productive uses (irrigation). The program also worked closely with the SERVIR program and the county governments to support operationalization of the GIS laboratory in Wajir County and use it for learning for other counties. The learning event in the last quarter enabled the counties of Marsabit, Isiolo, Garissa, and Turkana to understand how a GIS laboratory can be used to manage and account for county and development partners' investments in a single database. The counties developed an action plan on how they intend to roll out the GIS laboratory in their counties. In this quarter, the county cabinets ratified their GIS action plans and included the budgets for roll out in the fiscal year 2021/2022. In total, LMS-SCCRG has directly worked with approximately 22,731 individuals, composed of 16,788 adolescent girls and young women, 720 adolescent girls' mentors, 330 WPC members, 33 Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) village mentors, and 4,860 ultra-poor women. The program has made significant progress in building the capacity of local partners, facilitating ward-based development, and supporting the operationalization of the GIS laboratory in Wajir County. The program has also received applications for community projects worth KES 120 million, indicating a 102% utilization from the community grant portfolio. These grants are under negotiation with USAID, and several have completed the Environmental Impact Assessments and design stages. The majority of these projects address water shortages for human, livestock, and productive uses (irrigation). The program's progress in building the capacity of local partners, facilitating ward-based development, and supporting the operationalization of the GIS laboratory in Wajir County has been significant, and the program is expected to continue making progress in the coming quarters. The program's progress in building the capacity of local partners, facilitating ward-based development, and supporting the operationalization of the GIS laboratory in Wajir County has been significant, and the program is expected to continue making progress in the coming quarters. The program's work has been closely coordinated with the county governments, and the county cabinets have ratified their GIS action plans and included the budgets for roll out in the fiscal year 2021/2022.