USAID NIGERIA STEER SYSTEMS TRANSFORMED FOR EMPOWERED ACTIONS AND ENABLING RESPONSES FOR VULNEABLE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES QUARTERLY REPORT (FY13 Q3)

The project 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. STEER targets 575,000 children and 125,000 caregivers in the five states. To achieve its goal, 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 revolves around a 360-degree approach to systems strengthening, taking into account regional differences, religious and cultural considerations, household vulnerabilities, and gender dynamics. The strategy aims to strengthen families by building caregivers' capacity to serve as frontline care and support providers to children, strengthen community systems to identify vulnerable children, link them to needed services, and promote the creation of protective structures. STEER also aims to strengthen and reinforce state and local government leadership and ownership of the OVC response through targeted capacity building, strong mentorship, institutionalization of standards and practices, and increased accountability. The project works through innovative yet tailored approaches to capacity building for state and non-state partners, including government, civil society, private sector, and families/communities. STEER engages females in decision-making on issues that affect them at all levels, with specific attention to gender integration. The project targets four 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 STEER project was awarded on April 29, 2013, and Save the Children initiated the start-up process in May and June. The first few months of start-up involved finalizing recruitments of key personnel and other key staff, as well as finalizing the office location in Kaduna. A partner kickoff meeting was convened on June 4-5, 2013, in Abuja, with all STEER partners in attendance, including USAID. The meeting discussed key project start-up milestones and an overview of the project design. To date, the following key staff have been identified: the Chief of Party (COP) started remotely from Nairobi, awaiting her visa to be processed; the Technical Director was approved by USAID during the quarter and will start part-time on the project in July; a candidate for Organizational Development (OD) Director has been identified and is awaiting USAID concurrence; and the project is still recruiting for a Finance Manager, though facing difficulty in finding qualified candidates willing to relocate to Kaduna. The Monitoring and Evaluation Director has been identified and awaiting USAID approval. Consortium partner staff have also recruited for their technical advisors and plan to report to their duty stations as soon as they are on board. The Senior OD Advisor is already in Kaduna and will be joined in the mid-August by the M&E Director, Technical Director, and the OD Director. All staff with the exception of the Chief of Party will be based in Kaduna. Specific attention has been paid to ensuring a gender-balanced team modeled from the senior management of the program. In the first three months of the project, consortium partner sub-agreements underwent final review by Save the Children and will be signed by partners during Q4. However, in the months prior to the signed agreements, consortium partners were provided an authorization letter to incur expenditures related to project start-up. A key activity during the project start-up phase is the procurement of office space, vehicles, laptops, and other items planned for in the budget. This process is well underway and further information will be provided in the annual report. The year 1 work plan for FY14 was developed and submitted to USAID on June 28th, and feedback was received. Save the Children is in the process of responding to USAID's feedback and will resubmit the work plan for approval in Q4. The main challenge during the start-up phase has been recruitment, with difficulty in getting strong candidates who are ready to move to Kaduna. This has delayed recruitment in some key positions, and many of the key staff identified at the proposal stage were no longer available.