CLUSTER: Nutrition

1 – General overview of cluster portfolio

2 - Justification•Out of 10 pre-harvest nutrition surveys already conducted in 2014, seven surveys reported a prevalence of global acute malnutrition over the threshold deemed “critical” by WHO standards (15%).•CHF funding will contribute to addressing critical humanitarian needs in the provision of life-saving management of acute malnutrition, both for moderate and severe forms of acute malnutrition, along with nutritional support for malnourished pregnant and lactating women, in areas with GAM rates above emergency thresholds•CHF funding will contribute to addressing critical humanitarian needs in the provision of interventions aimed at preventing malnutrition through the promotion and support of appropriate infant and young child feeding practices, control of micronutrient deficiencies and protection of nutritional status through blanket feeding, in areas with GAM rates above emergency thresholds•CHF funding will contribute to addressing critical humanitarian needs in nutrition surveillance and routine data collection to ensure enhanced needs analysis of the nutrition situation to information humanitarian programming

Partners’ submission PRT recommended

Core pipeline $6,002,882 $2,480,000

Frontline services $9,487,728 $2,695,000

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Lessons Learnt What key lessons has the cluster learned from previous experiences and CHF allocations

about delivering humanitarian assistance in the South Sudan context? (1-2 bullet points)• Gaps in the integrated delivery of a full package of nutrition interventions (SC, OTP,

TSFP, prevention activities and nutrition surveillance)• Nature of nutrition programming requires longer term presence on the ground. Due to

disruption in service delivery at the beginning of the year this led to CHF projects being extended

• Limited nutrition surveillance information available to inform programming and integrated phase classification

• Challenges at the start of the year in the movement of nutrition supplies to conflict-affected areas by cluster partners

• Challenges in ability of INGOs to maintain or scale-up operationally in insecure environments

How does the proposed cluster portfolio of projects reflect these lessons? (1-2 bullet points)

• Emphasized proposals that articulated a full package of priority nutrition interventions• Standard allocation gave emphasis to projects with sustained interventions since

January. Hard to reach areas were complemented through the reserve allocation.• Emphasized proposals that also included a nutrition surveillance component• Recommended that standard allocation projects increase the utilization of logs cluster

air assets• Emphasized national NGOs for certain areas with accessibility constraints 2

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Projected Burden of Acute Malnutrition by State for 2014 (SAM and MAM)

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LAKES

35,000

CENTRALEQUATORIA

40,000

EASTERNEQUATORIA

53,000

UPPERNILE

136,000WESTERNBAHR ELGHAZAL

18,000

UNITY

80,000

NORTHERNBAHR ELGHAZAL

107,000

JONGLEI

105,000

WARRAP

81,000

WESTERNEQUATORIA

20,000

100

km

Integrated Phase Classification by County – May 2014

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Cluster Strategy

How does the proposed portfolio of projects in this round fit into your cluster 2014 CRP mid year strategy (3-4 bullet points, include analysis and maps where possible)?

• The proposed portfolio covers cluster priority areas for intervention both geographically and programmatically

• The projects proposed contribute to the cluster strategy of: (a) increasing coverage of the management of acute malnutrition (both treatment and prevention activities) in areas where no nutrition actors are present (b) increasing coverage of the management of acute malnutrition (both treatment and prevention activities) in locations already covered by partners

• Proposed portfolio emphasises national NGOs in locations with accessibility constraints

• Proposed portfolio emphasises enhancing community mobilisation and integrated SAM-MAM programming to increase pace of admissions

• Enhance nutrition surveillance in order to better determine the nutrition situation and inform subsequent IPC analysis

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Cluster Strategy How does the proposed cluster portfolio of projects link to the strategy of 2014 CHF

first standard allocation round? • Second round standard allocation projects are directly aligned with the cluster

strategy developed for the first standard allocation, notably in terms of ensuring access to programmes that manage acute malnutrition and access to programmes that prevent malnutrition

• 9 projects from the first allocation also benefited from second standard allocation funding

• The performance and achievements of these projects was critically reviewed by the PRT members to ascertain viability of continued funding to maintain or expand projects

• Top up funding for additional months / increase of caseload / expansion into new areas

Are there overlaps with ongoing projects from the CHF2014 round one and/or CHF2013 allocations? How are they justified?

• Three projects with NCE will be funded under the standard allocation round 2. The PRT ensured there was no overlap by reviewing the timeframe, location and programme activities covered under the proposed projects.

• There are no projects that have been considered for both standard and reserve as the nutrition cluster clearly articulated under the reserve the need for extended on the ground presence for mobile teams doing nutrition activities 8

Secured funding and NCEs in Selection of projects

Explain how the cluster integrated the funding status of projects in the selection process.• The PRT reviewed the funding status of organizations applying and determined

whether requested funds were in line with overall CRP requirements for the year and complimented already existing funding secured.

• The PRT exempted national NGOs from the criteria of ability to mobilize resources. This was done because the PRT felt that national NGOs were fundamental in the scale-up of activities in locations with access constraints and that CHF funding would enhance the roll-out of services.

Explain how the cluster handled projects submitted from partners who have extended (through NCEs) their previous CHF projects.

• For one organisation with NCE, second round CHF funding will be supporting a separate capacity-building strategy for national NGOs to ensure continuity of services

• For another organisation the second round CHF funding is aimed at ensuring continuity of services after the NCE finishes

• For a third organisation the NCE will be over by the time CHF funding is available Explain how the proposed CHF allocation compliments other funding streams/secured

funding? (e.g. HPF)• The PRT considered all other nutrition funding streams and ensured that CHF

funding complemented and didn’t overlap with existing secured funds. For example one project was already 95% funded under the new CRP requirements and standard allocation proposal was not prioritised.

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Briefly describe monitoring tools used by the cluster to monitor progress in implementation of cluster strategies in the previous allocation rounds

• The nutrition cluster developed a detailed monitoring framework to track the implementation of cluster strategic outcomes and outputs, based on cluster strategic objectives

• To report on this monitoring framework the nutrition cluster put in place a detailed database tracking key nutrition indicators to be reported on a weekly and monthly basis

• The nutrition cluster increased its bilateral capacity-building support to partner organisations in order to improve reporting rates

• The nutrition cluster regularly updates its response matrix in order to adequately track the evolution of the needs, gaps and achievements of nutrition cluster partners at county level

• The nutrition cluster, through its cluster lead agency, increased its field presence to enhance monitoring of all nutrition projects, which include CHF-funded activities, at field level

How has the monitoring of CHF projects from previous allocations supported key learning that has enhanced programme delivery?

• Monitoring of previous CHF allocations indicated the need to enhance timely supply forecasting and supply consumption tracking. The nutrition cluster, in collaboration with pipeline managers, has developed guidelines to optimise the timely delivery and reporting of supplies

• Monitoring of previous CHF allocations indicated the need to refine tracking of achievements at the county level. This informed the nutrition cluster’s decision to track admissions at county level vs. projected county targets

Briefly describe how you used the Performance Index provided by OCHA

• The Performance Index provided by OCHA was used as a criteria to grade projects during the nutrition cluster PRT

Monitoring and Performance

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Overview of Core Pipeline Supporting Projects

Proposed number of projects: 2 Total US$ value of projects: $2,480,000 Please indicate total number of people that will benefit from the supplies, type

and quantity of supplies, transportation costs, staff costs (if any):

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Category Quantity

Total number of beneficiaries 7,900 children treated for SAM25,625 children treated for MAM22,040 children reached with BSFP

RUTF 103 MT

F75 1.9 MT

F100 0.69 MT

RUSF 141.45 MT

CSB++ 132.24 MT

Transportation Costs US$ 610,167

Staff costs US$ 269,708

Overview of Core Pipeline Supporting Projects

What key results are expected?

• Timely and sufficient supplies are made available to frontline projects for the effective implementation of nutrition activities

• Supplies are adequately forecasted and consumption tracked to enhance continuity of nutrition services

In order to enhance timely supply forecasting and consumption tracking, the proposed pipeline projects will enhance reporting tools and guidance to optimise delivery and reporting of supplies.

Proposed pipeline projects have included components to enhance monitoring of the distribution of supplies and enhanced partner capacity-building on key supply management issues

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Overview of Frontline Services Supporting Projects

Geographic coverage:• Jonglei (Akobo, Pigi, Fangak, Ayod, Pochalla, Bor, Duk) • Upper Nile (Nasir, Malakal, Longochuk, Baliet, Ulang, Melut)• Unity* (Rubkona, Koch)• Warrap (Tonj South, Tonj East)• Lakes (Yirol East, Awerial)

Number of projects: • 12 frontline projects

Total US$ value of projects:• $2,695,000

*Other counties covered under the reserve allocation: Leer, Mayendit, Panyijar, Guit

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Overview of Frontline Services Supporting Projects

What key results are expected?

• Increased coverage of nutrition activities to more sites in key priority areas• Increased number of children screened, referred and treated for acute malnutrition to

reach yearly targets• Enhanced prevention activities (IYCF-E, micronutrient supplementation) to stabilise

malnutrition prevalence in key priority areas• Increased monitoring of the nutrition situation through pre-harvest and post-harvest

nutrition surveys, FSMS and enhanced analysis of routine data to inform humanitarian needs analysis and programming

How will you ensure the frontline projects in your portfolio will receive supplies from the pipeline on time?

• Ensure better tracking of consumption and early anticipation of needs• Ensure better forecasting based on revised caseloads• Enhance buffer stocks in country• Enhance pooled transport of different nutrition supplies to optimise deliveries

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Overview of Allocation Process in the cluster

Brief explanation of the key steps of the process (2-3 bullets points). Also describe composition of the PRT (how many UN/INGO/NNGO).

• SAG meeting convened to agree upon cluster funding priorities• PRT members allocated projects to review• PRT members validate criteria for scoring nutrition project proposals• PRT ranks and prioritises projects and determines budget ceilings• Feedback and outcome of PRT meeting relayed to applicants• PRT (2 UN, 3 INGO, 2 national NGOs, OCHA)

Explain how you ensured cluster portfolio of projects provide “value for money”• Compared budgets with number of beneficiaries, site coverage and spectrum of

services provided • Factored in higher operational costs for locations with severe access constraints • Analysed salary costs, equipment and logistic requirements

Explain how gender was taken into account• Gender marker score was used a criteria to score and rank projects

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Overview of Allocation Process in the cluster

Challenges in the process (1-2 bullet points)

• Criteria for reviewing PRT membership was not clear due to lack of institutional memory and high turn-over of staff within the nutrition cluster. After consultation with OCHA and other clusters it was recommended to review PRT composition on a yearly basis, outside of CAP/CRP/CHF process

• It was challenging to concurrently manage two CHF allocations (standard and reserve) at the same time

How would you do it differently/better next time? (2-3 bullet points)• Increased support for national NGOs on CHF process and application:

-conceptualisation of CHF within CRP projects

-how to write a CHF proposal and budget (UNDP/OCHA requirements)

• Realistic timeframe to run concurrent CHF allocations

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