USAID NIGERIA STEER SYSTEMS TRANSFORMED FOR EMPOWERED ACTIONS AND ENABLING RESPONSES FOR VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES QUARTERLY REPORT (FY15 Q3)

The project is a consortium of five organizations led by Save the Children, with partners including the Association for Reproductive and Family Health, American International Health Alliance, Management Sciences for Health, and Mercy Corps. STEER aims to improve the well-being of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) by enabling them to access and utilize comprehensive and coordinated services to realize their full rights. The project targets 575,000 children and 125,000 caregivers in the five states. To achieve its goals, STEER focuses on strengthening institutional and technical capacity of state/local governments and civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as households with measurably increased and ongoing capacity to meet their needs. The project's breakthrough strategy involves a 360-degree approach to systems strengthening, taking into account regional differences, religious and cultural considerations, household vulnerabilities, and gender dynamics. STEER's strategy includes four key components: strengthening families by building caregivers' capacity to serve as frontline care and support providers to children; strengthening community systems to identify vulnerable children, link them to needed services, and promote the creation of protective structures; strengthening and reinforcing state and local government leadership and ownership of the OVC response through targeted capacity building, mentorship, institutionalization of standards and practices, and increased accountability; and supporting active engagement of the private sector to address the unique vulnerabilities faced by OVC and their families. Through an innovative, competitive, and performance-based sub-granting strategy, Nigerian CSOs are rapidly scaling up quality care and support to OVC and families and increasing their technical and institutional capacity through the use of demand-driven technical assistance. STEER works through innovative yet tailored approaches to capacity building for state and non-state partners, strengthening and sustaining institutional capacity and promoting sustainability. The project's geographic coverage includes five Northern Nigerian states, with a total estimated budget amount of $XXX. Obligations to date are $XXX, with a current pipeline amount of $XXX. Accrued expenditures this quarter are $XXX, and estimated expenditures for the next quarter are $XXX. Activity cumulative accrued expenditures to date are $XXX (preliminary). The STEER project's results are expected to be achieved through four key results spanning two key areas: strengthened institutional and technical capacity of state/local governments and CSOs, and households with measurably increased and ongoing capacity to meet their needs. The project's breakthrough strategy and innovative approaches to capacity building are expected to contribute to the realization of the full rights of OVC in Northern Nigeria.