Sustainable Agriculture and Production Linked to Improved Nutrition Status, Resilience, and Gender Equity (SAPLING) Quarterly Performance Report

The project aims to increase equitable access to income and nutritious food for both males and females, improve nutritional status of children under five years of age, pregnant and lactating women, and adolescent girls, and prepare institutions and households to respond effectively to shocks. During the first quarter of fiscal year 2016 and Implementation Year Two (IY2), the project focused on recruiting and on-boarding staff, drafting and negotiating the Host Country Agreement (HCA) with the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs (MoCHTA), and locating and leasing a project office in Bandarban. Key project documents, including the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) for IY2, Indicator Performance Tracking Table (IPTT), IY2 budget, and Annual Estimate of Requirements (AER) for FY 2016, were developed. Implementation planning was a major focus of the quarter, with the Country Director and other senior staff participating in a day-long IY2 work planning workshop. This led to the development of SAPLING's FY 2016 Pipeline and Resource Estimate Proposal (PREP), submitted to USAID on December 16, 2015. HKI also participated in a series of meetings with USAID, the Ministry of Finance, and MoCHTA to establish the HCA. Training modules are being developed for homestead food production (HFP) activities related to gardening and animal-source food production, as well as how to engage the marketing sector. The existing Essential Nutrition Actions Plus (ENA+) training module is being reviewed and will be reprinted for SAPLING. An existing Adolescent Nutrition outline developed by HKI under FANTA will be developed into a full curriculum following formative research. A full-time Senior Gender Specialist was hired to lead gender integration for SAPLING, and initial gender integration activities are currently being planned. These include internal capacity building for primary project staff and conducting a gender analysis to inform the development of the SAPLING gender strategy. The SAPLING team has also prepared a scope of work and initiated processes to contract a consultant to develop a project-specific Initial Environmental Examination (IEE).