Second Quarterly Report: New Alternatives Program

The program is achieving this through three program components: Transition Activities, Capacity Building, and Communications Activities. Transition Activities comprise the set of activities that engage post-eradication communities, secure their commitment to remain free of coca cultivation, and coordinate and implement a set of activities designed to facilitate committed communities transition to licit lifestyles. NAP consolidated an excellent working relationship with the DEVIDA regional teams while successfully negotiating 42 community agreements that culminated in the signing of coca-free post-eradication agreements by over 1,600 households in the Monzon and Huipoca areas. To achieve this, NAP worked with DEVIDA and other implementation partners to offer an integrated package of benefits that includes immediate small infrastructure projects, household gardens, Healthy Communities activities, which are anchored in the development of high-quality long-term crops, including cacao and coffee. Capacity Building Activities comprise the set of activities designed to strengthen the capacity of public and private stakeholders to carry out activities and functions that contribute to the success of post-eradication activities. NAP strengthened its engagement with DEVIDA through a broad set of capacity building activities that are augmenting the impact of current DEVDIA efforts while building sustainable capacity centrally and among the regional teams to carry out post-eradication activities. Program support for strategic planning made important inroads to securing non-NAP funding for post-eradication activities, highlighted by an agreement with DEVIDA for its $1.4M co-financing and co-implementation of the installation of 1,500 hectares of cacao and coffee in the Monzon. Communications Activities encompass a variety of strategic support and operational activities that will directly facilitate the success of transition activities, build support for program objectives among public opinion, and promote the commercialization of licit production from post-eradication areas. During NAP's second quarter, the communications program focused on installing communication spaces in the participating communities, forming media alliances to sustain and magnify communications campaigns, especially in the Alto Huallaga territory. NAP also collaborated with DEVIDA in the development of an associativity plan and continued supporting the Naranjillo Cooperative in a variety of management areas, including the recuperation of tributary credit funds. NAP made rapid progress working closely with DEVIDA and USAID counterparts advancing program activities in all three components and achieving strong early results. The team made substantial progress supporting DEVIDA to engage with public institutions to advance the goals of the program, including reaching agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI) on a shared agenda for post-eradication areas. NAP also expanded its strengthening of associativity in post-eradication areas, using the procurement of 160 thousand banana tree seedlings as an entry point to strengthen several nascent associations organize their small farmer members to produce, harvest and sell the seedlings. The installation of cacao and coffee crops in participating communities is underway, with approximately 200 hectares prepared for installation, shade crops being installed, and nurseries cultivating the seedlings required for hundreds of hectares of crops. NAP is supporting several important operational initiatives with DEVIDA, including ensuring all activities are fully compliant with Peruvian as well as USAID: 22-CFR 216 environmental regulations, building on DEVIDA's USAID-funded information monitoring system to provide access across partners to performance information storage, querying and reporting regarding all aspects of the alternative development program, and providing technical assistance to leadership for an organizational restructuring that will improve field operations.