LIFT Project Year One Quarter Three Quarterly Report

LIFT aims to heighten the impact of work done through USAID, PEPFAR, Feed the Future, USDA, CDC, and the Peace Corps, as well as local governments, civil society, and the private sector. The ultimate goal of LIFT is to support the food security of vulnerable households by improving their livelihoods and economic circumstances. LIFT works in close collaboration with US Government agencies, implementing partners, and other key players to provide high-impact technical assistance to USG country teams and their implementing partners. The project draws together leading organizations with expertise in the areas of economic strengthening and food security, including AED, Care International, Save the Children US, and a robust group of resource organizations. LIFT also partners with FANTA-2 (Food And Nutrition Technical Assistance project) and is establishing relationships with other key USG projects and initiatives around food security. During the third quarter of FY2010, LIFT convened a strategic meeting with partners and stakeholders in Pretoria, South Africa to discuss the existing state of the practice in livelihoods and food security. The meeting aimed to engage key players around shaping LIFT's future direction and to discuss the development of a livelihoods' framework. Organizations participating in the meeting included USAID/OHA, USAID/South Africa, MEASURE Evaluation, AED, CARE, and Save the Children. LIFT also convened a Livelihoods & Food Security M&E meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss the development of cross-cutting M&E tools and resources relevant to economic strengthening, livelihoods, and food security. The meeting resulted in a rich dialogue around measurement options for the various economic strengthening components and livelihoods work to be considered by LIFT. Participants in the meeting included representatives from USAID/OHA, the PEPFAR Food and Nutrition Technical Working Group, MEASURE Evaluation, AED, CARE, and Save the Children. In addition, LIFT worked to develop a livelihood and food security conceptual framework to guide donors and practitioners in understanding and responding to livelihoods and food security realities at household level. The framework is intended for use by national governments and global livelihoods and food security stakeholders to support effective integrated and harmonized approaches. LIFT contracted Dr. Gary Woller of Woller & Associates to spearhead framework development, and a draft framework narrative was developed and circulated for comment to a range of LIFT stakeholders. LIFT has also continued to develop and expand its Global Resource Directory by incorporating additional key documents identified by research staff and partners. Over 100 key documents are currently categorized within the directory, and Save the Children is actively seeking recommended documents/studies/case studies from peer organizations. Furthermore, LIFT provided feedback into the review and refinement of the food security component of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) guidance intended to support implementation of the global nutrition and HIV indicator set. The LIFT project has made significant progress in its first year, with a strong focus on building partnerships and developing tools and resources to support livelihoods and food security interventions. The project's ultimate goal of supporting the food security of vulnerable households by improving their livelihoods and economic circumstances remains a key priority.