TerresEauVie Quarterly Report Q2 FY20

The activity was re-named from Water Security and Resilience Activity to TerresEauVie in consultation with USAID. The overall goal of RISE II is to support chronically vulnerable populations in Burkina Faso and Niger in managing shocks and stresses and pursuing sustainable pathways out of poverty. The TerresEauVie Activity aims to enhance social and ecological risk management systems through three intermediate results: Improved water security, Enhanced sustainable productive land use, and Improved management of shocks, risks, and stresses. Winrock International is implementing this Activity across forty rural communes in the Centre-Nord, Est, and Sahel regions of Burkina Faso and in the Maradi, Tillaberi, and Zinder regions of Niger. During the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2020 (January-March 2020), TerresEauVie organized communal workshops in Burkina Faso and Niger to present the Life of Project (LoP) and 2020 Workplan to communal institutions and partners. The workshops were opportunities to elaborate and discuss how TerresEauVie's mission, objectives, and strategies corresponded to the needs and objectives of targeted communes. The workshops were held in both countries, with 6 workshops in Burkina Faso and 25 workshops in Niger, totaling more than 717 participants. In Niger, key activities and results for Q2 FY20 included analysis on groundwater resources for five communes. Groundwater analytical reports for the 5 communes were drafted and are being revised. USGS maps and software were provided and trainings delivered on interpreting and modifying USGS maps directly in the communes of Mazamni, Gouchi, Guidan Roumdji, and Chadakori, and in Niamey for Sakoira, Tagazar, and Filingué communes. The COVID-19 outbreak disrupted planned activities for the quarter and led to the development of adaptive ways to work within the TerresEauVie team, with communes, and with partners' activities. TerresEauVie staff started teleworking on March 30 in Burkina Faso and in Niger. The Chief of Party and Operations Director were evacuated to their homes of record in mid-March, while the Deputy Chief of Party remained in Ouagadougou. Through its component 3, TerresEauVie initiated support to communes to plan and manage response to COVID-19, in line with the Government directions, and initiated collaboration within RISE II activities to address this shock. TerresEauVie sent responses to USAID comments on the FY2020 Workplan and revised LoP Design in March 2020. The modified implementation/work plan responding to the COVID-19 pandemic was sent on March 25, 2020, and responses to the USAID comments on the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Plan (AMELP) were sent in early April.