Semi-Annual Program Performance Report: Operational Barriers to Applying LEGS

The program is funded by the US Agency for International Development's (USAID) Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) under Award AID-OFDA-A-17-00039. The program's overall goal is to increase the effectiveness of LEGS guidelines through the identification and testing of models that allow LEGS standards to be applied while complying with key donor regulations. The program's activities are focused on partner identification, team recruitment, research design and model development, operational research, global stakeholder survey, and compilation and dissemination of results. Partner identification is a critical component of the program, and the selection criteria include operational partners providing veterinary support and/or livestock feed supplementation in emergency situations, currently in receipt of or in the process of applying for OFDA funding, and willingness to work with the LEGS Project and OFDA on operational research. After OFDA provided a list of partners in Africa working on livestock, the program decided to approach potential partners in the Horn/East Africa region for the first partnership, focusing initially on potential partners working on animal health. Correspondence was initiated with several organizations, including CARE Ethiopia, Oxfam GB Ethiopia, VSF-Suisse: Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Sudan, and VSF-Germany: Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. Initial plans to work with VSF-Suisse in South Sudan had to be abandoned due to the lack of a functioning market for veterinary pharmaceuticals. The program then agreed to move forward with Oxfam GB in Ethiopia, which was in the process of preparing a proposal to extend their emergency response work in Somali Region to include support to animal health and community animal health workers. The program's team recruitment process involved advertising the position of International Team Leader, and from a total of eight applications, a shortlist of three candidates were interviewed. Simon Kihu was the successful applicant, and his appointment was confirmed by OFDA on 16th January 2018. The Team Leader has prepared a literature review of key documentation and drafted an initial research model, which was shared with Oxfam GB to help inform the partnership negotiations. The program's research design and model development activities are ongoing, and the Team Leader has completed a literature review of key documentation and developed a first draft of the research model. The draft model will be adjusted in discussion with Oxfam GB to reflect the joint procurement process, and the revised draft model will be shared with OFDA technical advisors for comment and feedback. The program's operational research activities are expected to begin once the partnership is confirmed with Oxfam GB, and the research team will make their initial visit to the partner and develop a joint workplan. The data collection and analysis plan will be produced by the Team Leader and submitted to OFDA, and the National Consultant will visit the partner three times in the coming 6-month period, with the first and last accompanied by the Research Team Leader. The program's global stakeholder survey and compilation and dissemination of results activities are planned for the future, once the research model has been finalized and the research is underway with the first partner. The initial beneficiaries of the proposed research are implementing partners, both those selected as research partners and others through the wider dissemination of the findings, while the ultimate beneficiaries will be the livestock keepers affected by crisis that LEGS aims to support through the promotion of standards and guidelines based on global best practice. The main challenge experienced during the reporting period was the identification of a suitable partner for the research, and the reluctance of partners to go through the OFDA procurement process confirms the need for the research, but also makes it difficult to find an active partner for the project. However, the agreement from OFDA to allow the procurement process to take place following the award of the funding rather than as a requirement prior to confirmation of funding is a positive solution, as it will also enable the procurement requirements to be scrutinized as part of the research process.