Rapid Mobilization and Transition Plan for Suaahara II Good Nutrition Program

The program was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-367-A-16-00006. Helen Keller International (HKI) managed the program in partnership with Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, Inc. (CARE), Family Health International 360 (FHI 360), Environmental and Public Health Organization (ENPHO), Equal Access Nepal (EAN), Nepali Technical Assistance Group (NTAG), Vijaya Development Resource Center (VDRC), and other organizations. The program aimed to transition activities and responsibilities from Phase one of the Suaahara Good Nutrition Program to Phase two, which started on April 1, 2016. HKI worked diligently to ensure a well-managed transition between Suaahara I and Suaahara II, with a focus on maintaining necessary core Suaahara I activities that would be built upon in Suaahara II to achieve positive health, nutrition, and food security outcomes. The transition process involved a two-month program overlap (April-May) due to the delayed award of Suaahara II. HKI's involvement in Suaahara I officially ended on May 31, 2016, giving the Suaahara II team an additional three months to achieve full transition of all program and management duties. The Chief of Party (CoP) focused full-time on Suaahara II from April 20, 2016, and HKI Country Office staff worked closely with him to facilitate a timely transfer process during the transition period. A district-level handover plan was prepared in agreement with the Suaahara I leadership for the handover from Suaahara I to Suaahara II. The handover process was conducted in all non-HKI districts by April 30, 2016. Checklists that included a list of key documents, vehicles, and equipment, including furniture to be transferred, were prepared, verified, and handed over. As far as possible, project personnel were retained from the Suaahara I district teams, and internal vacancy announcements were issued to all Suaahara staff in early April. The importance of a smooth transition was also discussed with the Child Health Division Director and Nutrition Section Chief at the Department of Health Services. They provided input on the importance of retaining the trained and interested staff from Suaahara I and requested that the trained and experienced partner NGOs, who qualified following the Pre-Award Assessment, should also be continued. The Suaahara II Good Nutrition Program aimed to foster an overall environment within which changing perceptions and practices were accepted and incorporated into social structures and systems. Emphasis was placed on communicating the concept of institutionalizing a 'way of life' for families, 'a way of working' for government, and a 'way of investing' for the private sector. This would ensure that norms were shifted and new habits were adopted and sustained that addressed poverty, food security, and nutrition for future generations. The program's startup benefited from new partners that brought additional technical expertise to process and programming, and that could leverage their long-term presence in Nepal and existing relationships in many districts and with various national government agencies and private sector partners to 'hit the ground running.' HKI planned to retain as many of the staff from Suaahara I as possible and to continue working with the majority of the partner NGO implementers during Suaahara II, thereby making the transition relatively smooth, particularly in terms of technical continuity and program implementation at the community level.