USAID Tujitegemee FY2021 March Progress Report

The project aims to achieve two KHPQS sub-purposes: increased access to quality HIV prevention services and increased access to quality health and social services for OVC and their households. The project plans to increase OVC enrollment from 40,885 to 55,614 and AGYW enrollment from 23,099 to 29,987 as per COP20 target. During the month of March 2021, the project participated in post-award meetings with USAID and technical meetings with USAID Activity Management Team. Key start-up activities were conducted, including the onboarding and recruitment of senior project staff to support transition and co-creation processes. The project also initiated post-award engagement processes with county leadership in Mombasa and Kilifi counties, holding introductory meetings and engaging with key stakeholders. The project developed a year-one work plan, which involved engaging county leadership and DCS in a co-creation process to jointly review existing gaps and current priorities/plans on OVC and AGYW in the targeted counties. The co-created work plan was submitted to the Agreement Officer Representative within the stipulated timeframe, with fully signed-off co-creation forms by the two counties. The project also conducted an organizational capacity assessment of its four consortium partners, including The Partnership for a HIV Free Generation, Women Fighting Aids in Kenya, Council of Imams and Preachers in Kenya, and KWETU Training Centre for Sustainable Development. This assessment involved a desk review of organization policy documents followed by discussions/interviews with key management staff. To entrench a county-led approach in service delivery to targeted OVC and AGYW, the project initiated the process of developing mutual MOUs with both the county government of Mombasa and the county government of Kilifi. The draft MOU for Mombasa county was developed and shared with the relevant county authorities for review and feedback. The project has planned several activities for the next quarter, including the recruitment of additional project staff, conducting validation exercises on the caseload being inherited from outgoing implementing partners, enrollment of beneficiaries based on PEPFAR eligibility criteria, provision of OVC services based on case plans, and enhancing retention of CALHIV on treatment and VL suppression. The project's key achievements during the month of March 2021 include the successful recruitment of four out of the five intended key personnel, including the Chief of Party, Deputy Chief of Party, Finance & Administration Manager, and Grants & Compliance Manager. The project also recruited a significant number of other staff, including Technical Leads on Health/HIV, Technical Lead on social services, Senior Project Officers, Senior Grants Officer, Senior Project Accountant, Finance Officers, Procurement Officer, Administrative Officers, and project drivers. The project's start-up activities were developed and shared with USAID, and progress on implementation has been highlighted in the section that follows. The project's organizational capacity assessment and co-creation process with county leadership and DCS have also been completed, with the co-created work plan submitted to the Agreement Officer Representative within the stipulated timeframe. The project's next steps include the recruitment of additional project staff, conducting validation exercises on the caseload being inherited from outgoing implementing partners, enrollment of beneficiaries based on PEPFAR eligibility criteria, provision of OVC services based on case plans, and enhancing retention of CALHIV on treatment and VL suppression. The project has also planned to conduct site-level sensitizations, strengthen county-level engagements through joint planning, monitoring, and reviews, and strengthen bi-directional referrals for enhanced OVC/DREAMS service delivery.