Quarterly Program Performance Report: January – March 31, 2015 for Project ARC II

The project, which runs from May 15, 2014 to November 14, 2015, aims to reinforce coping mechanisms and resiliency of drought and armyworm-affected households in Balaka and Machinga Districts. The project has three programmatic objectives: to increase household agricultural productivity and access to food through conservation agriculture and home gardens, to reinforce resiliency through expansion and support of village savings and loans program, and to strengthen early detection and community-based management of acute malnutrition. Under Strategic Objective 1, PCI conducted conservation agriculture barrier analysis training of trainers for project staff, and established 285 home gardens, representing a 78% achievement for the quarter. Under Strategic Objective 2, 78 Village Savings and Loans (VSL)/Women Empowered (WE) new groups were formed with a membership of 1,392 individuals, and cumulatively, these groups have saved US $30,733 and have loaned $36,908. Of the 3,973 VSL participants, 2,158 have been trained in economic activity selection and planning management (EASPM) skills, and 1,435 participants have established new and/or strengthened existing businesses with loans borrowed from the groups. Under Strategic Objective 3, PCI trained 240 Village Health Committee (VHC) members in Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) & Community Complementary Feeding and Learning Session (CCFLS), and 24 VHCs were trained this quarter. PCI is currently integrating nutrition components into VSL groups as an effective approach in ensuring that all ARC beneficiaries benefit from the three strategic objectives of the project. PCI continues to strengthen linkages between various stakeholders in the planning, implementation, and monitoring required to continue ARC II project activities after the project ends. The project team worked closely with a wide range of partners, including the Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Agriculture, to discuss and re-emphasize key activities of the project that need to continue after project ends in November 2015. In the area of agriculture and food security, PCI conducted community sensitization meetings in all 26 communities targeted by ARC II, promoting fast maturing crops, such as sweet potato vines and cow peas, among households whose crop fields were damaged by the January floods. The project conducted a total of 257 community sensitization meetings, with the participation of 12,357 individuals, and as a result, 799 new home gardens were established with vegetables such as amaranthus, luni, mustard, Chinese cabbage, and local rape. The project also promoted planting trees and vetiver grass along silted river banks, as well as gully reclamation activities including the erection of check dams along the gullies. Communities transplanted tree seedlings from the tree nurseries fomented by PCI and the Department of Forestry in 2014, and thus far, 76,600 tree saplings have been planted along the river banks, as well as in the community forests.