LAHIA Non-Emergency Food Assistance Program Quarterly Report- FY15 Q2 (January-March 2015)

The program is implemented by Save the Children in partnership with World Vision International and is designed to reach 17,972 children and 20,076 pregnant and lactating mothers with a health, nutrition, hygiene, and sanitation package complemented by supplemental food rations and a protective household ration provided during the lean season. The program's strategic objectives include improving the nutritional status of children under 5 years of age and pregnant women, increasing access to food by vulnerable households, reducing vulnerability to food shocks, and improving the status of women in target households and communities. The WASH component of the program includes drilling 99 new water points, rehabilitating 40 existing water points, constructing 261 family ventilation improved pit (VIP) latrines and 25 gender-segregated public latrines, with hand-washing, latrine use, and sanitation being promoted in all project areas. The livelihoods portion of the project includes women's village savings and lending groups, post-harvest storage and value chain activities, as well as increasing dry season (vegetables) and rainy season (primarily millet and cow peas) agriculture production for improved food security. In the second quarter of FY15, LAHIA staff participated in several important workshops organized by USAID partners, including a Youth/Adolescent and Reproductive Health workshop and a resilience workshop. The LAHIA M&E team conducted reviews of the women's credit and husband school activities, which showed significant increases in the mobilization of savings funds, high participation, and large increases in the use of family planning methods and assisted births. LAHIA also piloted a series of films made with local actors to promote the adoption of key behaviors identified by SPRING around optimal complementary feeding and maternal nutrition. The behaviors promoted through these films are aligned with those that LAHIA is promoting through its Peer Educators and other community actors. The security situation in the LAHIA project area remained stable despite fighting that involved the armed forces of Chad, Niger, and Nigeria in the North of Nigeria related to combating Boko Haram. Increased military activity was observed passing through Maradi, but the situation in Maradi stayed calm. LAHIA staff remain vigilant and respect the security regulations of their respective organizations. The adoption of key maternal child health and nutrition (MCHN) practices at household level by men and women increased, with social and behavior change tools finalized and ready for reproduction. LAHIA remains optimistic that the tools developed for malnutrition and essential nutrients will be validated by UNICEF next month for use in the program. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between Digital Green and the participating Title II projects (LAHIA, SAWKI) and Resilience and Economic Growth in Sahel-Enhanced Resilience (REGIS-ER) in November, with a total of 10 villages in SAWKI and LAHIA's intervention zones being selected for piloting use of these videos. A workshop was held with 275 peer educators to assess progress to date and identify challenges going forward. Principal problems encountered were a lack of sufficient supervision by LAHIA agents and a surcharge of activities assigned to the peer educators. As a consequence, four key priority activities were identified going forward: screening for acute malnutrition and the follow-up of acutely malnourished children, promoting the use of family planning methods, increasing the use of assisted births, and promoting the adoption of key behaviors identified by SPRING around optimal complementary feeding and maternal nutrition.