USAID KENYA Support for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Nairobi and Coast Counties of Kenya (Nilinde) Quarterly Progress Report

The project's primary objective was to provide critical services to OVC households, including household economic strengthening, health and nutrition services, education support, and protection services. During the quarter ending December 31, 2015, the project continued its start-up activities, including staffing, submission of key deliverables, and transition planning with Pathfinder International. By November 2015, all five key staff members had been brought on board, providing a seamless project management handover from the surge team support from Plan US and Kenya offices. The project also completed the recruitment of additional staff, including a Senior Accountant, two accountants, a Grants Manager, Grants officer, a Management Information System (MIS) specialist, and a Learning and Knowledge management expert. A second project office was set up in Mombasa, and most of the non-key staff were hired. The project undertook various courtesy visits at both the national and county levels to introduce the project to key stakeholders, garner government support prior to implementation, and manage expectations. Courtesy visits targeting Kwale, Lamu, and Taita Taveta were planned for the following quarter. Pathfinder International and Plan International agreed on a plan for transitioning project beneficiaries from APHIAplus Nairobi/Coast to Nilinde. This plan was submitted to USAID on November 10, 2015, and emphasized a smooth transition of services, a "phase out" of certain aspects of the Pathfinder-led APHIAplus delivery model, and a "phase in" of the Nilinde project methodology, which emphasizes a family-centered approach to OVC support. As of December 2015, Nilinde served a total of 157,510 OVC with critical services, building on the OVC project transitioned from APHIAplus Nairobi/Coast. In addition to meetings with Pathfinder International, the project held planning meetings with other USAID-funded projects, including ASSIST, Afya Jijini, and PIMA, to identify areas of synergy and collaboration in the implementation of Nilinde. Plan International commenced the acquisition of Danya International Africa's portfolio and the seamless transfer of the 5 Danya M & E staff working on Nilinde, including key personnel, Gilbert Aluoch, M & E Specialist. A Request for Application (RFA) was issued on December 23, inviting 80 organizations to submit proposals for service delivery as part of the "phase in" of the Nilinde project methodology. The key constraints during this period related to the partial transfer of OVC data from APHIAplus Nairobi/Coast, which was attributed to the lack of coordination and communication between the two projects.