Quarterly Report #13 FY2013 1st Quarter October 1 – December 31, 2012

government agencies, their implementing partners, and other public, private, and civil society partners to improve the food and livelihood security of vulnerable households, with a particular focus on people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV), orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), and their caregivers. The project aims to provide global leadership and strategic learning to the field of economic strengthening through development of guidelines, trainings, and other tools to help vulnerable households—and those who serve them—engage in activities that enhance their economic and nutritional security. LIFT was launched in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 as a five-year Associate Award under the Financial Integration, Economic Leveraging, Broad-Based Dissemination and Support (FIELD-Support) Leaders with Associates (LWA) Cooperative Agreement. The project is managed and led by FHI 360 and implemented with the support of CARE International (CARE) and Save the Children USA (SC). The goal of the LIFT project is to build the continuum of care for people living with HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable households by increasing their access to high quality, context appropriate, market-led economic strengthening, livelihood, and food security (ES/L/FS) opportunities that improve their economic resilience and lead to better health. Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation (M&E) activities were a key focus area for LIFT in the first quarter of FY2013. A consultative meeting was convened on November 9 to present and solicit feedback on LIFT's approach to generating an evidence base for linking Nutrition Assessment, Counseling, and Support (NACS) clients with ES/L/FS interventions. The meeting brought together 18 of LIFT's key stakeholders to define LIFT's vision, discuss upcoming activities related to the roll out of NACS and ES/L/FS integration, and consider the different kinds of data collection and research LIFT can achieve through its dual role as a TA project for ES/L/FS services and as a global technical leader. LIFT also continued its discussions with MEASURE Evaluation (MEASURE) on the use of their Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) tool. The ONA is anticipated to be a key component of LIFT's initial engagement in selected pilot sites in supported countries as a way to understand existing services and activities related to NACS and ES/L/FS integration within a catchment area. The ONA is also expected to provide a baseline measure of client referrals between organizations and the overall strength of the network prior to LIFT's support. In addition to M&E activities, LIFT worked with implementing partners to strengthen their capacity to design and implement livelihood and food security interventions that sustainably improve the economic resilience and health of their beneficiaries. Through these approaches, LIFT aims to heighten the impact and sustainability of investments made by USAID, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Feed the Future (FTF), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Peace Corps, as well as local governments, civil society, and the private sector.