Resilience Food Security Activity: Okhokelamo ni Solha Quarterly Performance Report FY23 Q2

The program aims to sustainably improve nutrition outcomes for children under 2 years of age (CU2) in Zambezia Province, Mozambique. The program will take a life-stages approach to strengthen the skills, capacity, agency, resilience, and confidence of women and adolescent girls, while also engaging adolescent boys, husbands, fathers, and the community at large for collective action to achieve this goal. The program plans to reach 1,157,575 participants, members of vulnerable and very vulnerable households, in six districts of Zambezia Province. The program's implementation is ongoing, with various activities and deliverables submitted during the reporting period. These include scopes of work for formative research, a year 1 workplan, staff development plan, and detailed implementation plan, which were submitted and approved by USAID/BHA. The program has also made progress in setting up offices and operations, with the existing Save the Children office in Quelimane being converted to serve as the main project office for Okhokelamo ni Solha. The Regional Project Offices in Morrumbala, Mocuba, and Alto Molocue are being prepared with minor improvements to adequately house the regional teams. Equipment such as vehicles, motorbikes, furniture, and supplies are being procured, and subaward agreements with GAIN and PCI Media have been executed. Recruitment for key personnel positions has been completed, with the remaining position of the Nutrition Technical Lead being filled. However, recruitment for next-tier support and program/technical positions has been slower due to the lack of interest from qualified candidates to be based in Quelimane and the regions/districts. The program has also made progress in commodity logistics, with the First Call Forward for FY23 commodities being submitted. A total of 4,740 metric tons of commodities, including Super Cereal Plus and corn-soy blend (CSB+), was requested, and it is expected that these commodities will arrive at the primary and secondary warehouses in September. The program has met with the Government of the Republic of Mozambique to discuss the duty-free import process and has received helpful assistance from USAID/Mozambique in this process. The Refine and Implement (R&I) Inception Meeting was held in January 2023, with the participation of USAID/BHA's technical program quality team, geographic bureau, and USAID/Mozambique Mission offices, among others. The meeting met its key objectives, including reviewing key knowledge gaps, prioritizing formative research plans, and establishing a positive working relationship between USAID/BHA and Okhokelamo ni Solha. The program has also made progress in developing a Fumigation Management Plan, which is expected to be submitted during the first week of April. The program has secured a contract for a secondary warehouse in Alto Molocue and has identified a secondary warehouse in Morrumbala, with the expectation that a contract for this warehouse will be signed in Q3. The procurement process for securing fortified vegetable oil started in this quarter and is expected to be completed in the next quarter. Overall, the Okhokelamo ni Solha Resilience Food Security Activity has made significant progress in its implementation, with various activities and deliverables submitted during the reporting period. The program continues to work towards its goal of sustainably improving nutrition outcomes for children under 2 years of age in Zambezia Province, Mozambique.