Program OverviewPresented to: World Food Programme (WFP)

29 February 2016

Grand Hyatt, Amman, Jordan

AGA KHAN DEVELOPMENT NETWORK

Overview

• Objectives:

• Understanding of AKDN’s program philosophy

• Identify areas of livelihoods programming which can be replicated and scaled up

• Agenda:

1. Overview of AKDN operations inside Syria

2. Programmatic ethos

3. In focus:

1. Food assistance

2. Livelihoods Programming

3. Employability and Employment Programming

4. Impacts

5. Future Programming

6. Takeaways

5

Resident and IDP Population, 2015

300,000 – 350,000

Villages130

Accessibility

Economic situation

(Agriculture & Civil Servants)

Basic social services

(Water, Health, Education)

Pre-Crisis Initial Crisis ProgramSyria Crisis Response

Program

2011 - 2012 2013 - presentPre-2011

• Conservation agriculture

• Community organizations

(civil society)

• Public health promotion

• Early Childhood

Development

• Shifting from development program to

a humanitarian crisis response

• Mobilizing resources to address urgent

humanitarian needs

• Establishing infrastructure for aid

distribution

• Scaling up humanitarian assistance

• Shift towards resilience-based

development/early-recovery

approaches

• Civil society

Understanding vulnerability in Salamieh

7

Receipt of Aid

Household Composition

Age, sex, marital status,

employment, health status

Household Status

Hosting, displaced, shelter

Financial Security

Household Priorities

Access to Water

Household Damage

Employability

Psychosocial Support

Access to Health Services

Income Generation Activities

NFI Support

Access to Education

Food Security

30,000

AKF Syria Program Strategy: Matrix of Resilience Programming

8

Safeguard Coping

Capacity

Accelerate Early

Recovery & Build

Economic

Resilience

Sustainability &

Policy Interventions

HUMANITARIAN DEVELOPMENT

Expanding Community Health

Basic Minimum Package of

Health Services

Incident Command System

Stockpiles of Emergency Health Supplies Training Health Workers

Provision of Emergency Health Materials

Health Counselling Centre

CERTs

ELCsPsychosocial Support

Water Storage

School Transition Programs

EDUCATION HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE ECONOMIC RECOVERY

CRISIS RESPONSE

CEC

Early Learning Curriculum

PTAs

Water Systems

Alternative Energy

Strengthen resource service delivery

Cash for Work

Agriculture Inputs

Access to Financial Services

Value Chain Development

Agro Processing

Producer Associations/Co-ops

Food Aid

Cash Assistance

SECTOR LEGEND

Emergency Water

Trucking

School Improvement

Programme

CIVIL SOCIETY

Comm. Org

Urban Enterprise Promotion

AKDN RESILIENCE-BASED STRATEGIC GOALS & PROGRAMMING MODALITIES

50Liters of water per

person per day for the

whole district. Currently,

4% of Salamieh District

with adequate water

Establish local capacity to pump, treat, and distribute

clear water

Improve integrated water management

Support rehabilitation of community spaces

Promote alternative means to meet household energy

requirements (e.g. Solar PV)

INFRASTRUCTURE Reestablish access to quality public goods and services

50%Expecting mothers

accessing antenatal care

Expand reach of health system to ensure population

has access to a ‘basic package of health services’

Improve capacity and practice of health workers

Increase health awareness and improve practice of

the community

Increase quality of Maternal, and Child Health related

services

Increase coverage of emergency trauma services

HEALTH Expand access and improve quality of health services

30minsAccess to essential

health services for every

community.

100%Children 0-6 have access

to ECD

Expand access to quality Early Childhood Development

services and programs

Improve parental involvement in child development

Enhance capacity of teachers to create positive

learning environments

Expand community-based psychosocial support

activities

EDUCATION Increase access to quality education services

100%Assets replaced of

vulnerable farmers

Improve recovery of staple economic sectors (e.g.

agriculture)

Support the creation of sustainable micro-enterprises

and employment

Increase access to financial services to promote

household savings

Improve employability of young women and men

ECONOMIC RECOVERY Improve capacity to regenerate household income

100%Extremely vulnerable

households with food

assistance

Supporting coping capacity of vulnerable households

with food and unconditional cash assistance

Establish an Incident Command System (ICS) to

coordinate effective response

Establish blanket coverage of Community Emergency

Response Teams (CERTs)

PLANNING & PREPARDNESS Establish community emergency response

systems and capacity

100%Villages with one

community organization

Establish a network of community organizations which

are able to develop and implement social development

programming

Develop and deliver capacity building program to

strengthen community organizations

Foster a culture of civic engagement

CIVIL SOCIETY STRENGTHENING Promote active community engagement

and ownership

Parents engaged in

child’s education

50%

AKDN has established sector-based resilience targets which actively guide program

activities. Various implementation modalities used to achieve targets span the

humanitarian-development continuum. From distribution and emergency assistance to the

creation of community based organizations, AKDN is able to effectively address short-

term needs while establishing sustainable local recovery capacity

SNAPSHOT: AKDN ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE

718Health workers trained on

priority health topics

27Health facilities supported with

equipment and supplies to

provide essential health

services

2,000Children attending project-

established Early Learning

Centers

9Early Learning Centers actively

providing learning opportunities

for children aged 3-6

4,000Livestock producers

supported with inputs

and veterinary technical

assistance

$2.1MGenerated in the local economy

as a result of agriculture input

production support provided to

6,000 farmers

EDUCATION HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE ECONOMIC LIVELIHOODS CRISIS RESPONSE

4,000Women provided with iron folic

supplements, new-born kits,

and post-partum supplies to

safe guard pregnancies

2,500Parents trained in early

childhood development and

helping children in crisis

1,550,000 LOf community managed water

storage capacity installed

throughout Salamieh District

2,165Patients suffering from non-

communicable diseases and

mental health provided with

quality health services and

treatments

50Schools benefited from upgrades

in water and sanitation

infrastructure and facilities

10,000 MTOf food aid delivered directly to

27,000 vulnerable families

35,000Instances of cash assistance

provided to vulnerable

household to address non-

food item needs

370Temporary jobs created as a

result of solid waste removal

cash for work programming

75Young women and men

receiving training on market

relevant skills and vocations

200Micro agro-processing

businesses opened with

technical and asset support

$

“Islands of Stability”: Building and Strengthening Civil Society

AKF-Syria

Local Salamieh Water Authority

Hama Water Authority

Community Water Resource Management Groups

Salamieh Hospital Oversight Committee

Primary Health Care Units

Health Workers

Hama Health Authority

Community Health Advisory

Community Emergency Response Teams

Village Organizations

Producer Groups

Salamieh Chamber of Commerce

Teacher Associations

Parent Teacher Associations

School Management Committees

• AKDN understands civil society in the

broadest sense of civic institutions

working for the public good. A strong

civil society enhances social

cohesion and pluralism, advances

meritocracy, ethics and standards

of quality, acts as a bulwark against

volatility in times of crisis and

protects communities against state

failure.

• Pre-crisis: Limited development of civil

society

• The creation of local partnerships for

program delivery has the long term

objectives of cultivating local

community-based organizations,

maintain/cultivating social

cohesion, and underwriting Islands

of Stability

FOOD SECURITY & LIVELIHOODS

12

VIDEO

Food assistance

• Partnership with WFP since 2014

• 27,000 households supported, 10,000 food baskets monthly

• 8,500 children supported with Plumpy Doz

• Working through community organizations

• Household assessment and identification of vulnerability

Inputs for rain and irrigated crops procured and distributed

15

• Agriculture as a primary economic staple in the

program area

• Importance of re-activating agriculture

economies for resilience

• Barriers to production:

• Access and cost of essential inputs (over

90%)

• Access to farming lands

• Implementation modality:

• Targeting vulnerable households

• Distribution of seeds

• Sustainability:

• Achievement in Y0 higher than expected

• Decreasing number of individuals

supported gradually as markets strengthen

• Focusing on supporting local suppliers and

markets

• Over 6,000 farmers reached to date 9%

7%

13%

4%

10%

5%

5%

14%

Crops burning

Trees burning

Disability of crop harvesting

Losing livestock

Inaccessibility of grazing

Unaffordability of input costs

Death of breadwinners

Destruction of assets

Displacement of families

Agro

-econo

mic

im

pacts

Socia

l im

pa

cts

>90%

Impact of Agro-Inputs on Farmers

INPUTS FARMERS HARVEST

• Barley, wheat,

vetch, seeds

distributed

directly or

through local

input suppliers

• 6634 farmers

supported

• Cost of production

borne by the

farmer (tillage,

labour, transport,

storage, etc.…)

• Sale to local

markets, peer-to-

peer farmer

sales, and

storage

• Household

expenditures

patterns

USD 250USD 81USD 40

Food Items28%

Education3%

Health8%

NFI39%

Debts8%

Other14%

Aga Khan Foundation Syria, 2015. Data reflects the impact of input support provided in Oct-Dec 2014. Figures showing only barley seeds.

Restarting local value chains

USD 2.1 million

Inputs for livestock producers procured and distributed

17

• Feed support during lean and low grazing

seasons

• Focus on controlling animal diseases vectors in

partnership with AKDN Veterinary Service

Laboratory

• Targeting vulnerable households unable to

afford required feed stocks

• Mitigating negative coping strategies

• Premature sale of productive assets to

cope with impacts of lean and low grazing

seasons

• Layered hen support to female-headed

vulnerable households

• Over 4,000 farmers reached to date; 100

households reached with layered hens kits

Required agro-processing inputs and support services provided to bulgur, molasses, and olive processors

Progress to date

55 household producers

supported (54F:1M)

Olive fly disease mitigation

initiative

18

• Supporting the generation of household incomes through sale of agro-

processed goods

• Targeting vulnerable households (focus on female-headed)

• Provision of equipment and trainings

• Facilitating access to markets

• Women’s economic empowerment

• Access to resources (assets and capital)

• Enhancing power and agency

• Project to be scaled up in 2016

• Case Study: Olive Fly – Olive Production in 2015

Continuing Education Center

• Youth development challenge within the context of the crisis

• Market relevant skills and misaligned labour markets

• Non-traditional employment sectors for women

• Labour market transition support

• Setting realistic expectations

• Targeting the most vulnerable, often rural households

• 2016 new vocations coming online

19

Progress to date

75 young women and men

received training in office

management, English, household

electrical wiring, and air

conditioning repair.

Job Creation

• 2015: Solid Waste Management Project in partnership with UNDP

• 370 temporary jobs created

• Targeting highly vulnerable individuals (IDPs, economically insecure, etc…)

• Working through local community organizations (Salamieh Friends’ Association)

• Program-based Employment Creation

• Education

• 117 Early Learning Center Teachers and Educators

• Health

• 720 Health Workers

• Infrastructure

• Engineering

20

FORWARD: Community driven resilience-based development • OBJECTIVES:

• 1. Mobilize and empower communities to undertake their own resilience initiatives.

• 2. Reduce the need for food aid, and increase food security by increasing family incomes.

• 3. Assist households to cope with the stress placed on basic production inputs and services.

• 4. Support early recovery by increasing and sustaining productivity of the farming systems.

• Tal al Tout, Barri, Agareb, Sa’an, Zegreen, Taldara

• Community management groups

• Target: 3,936 households (approx. 19,680 individuals)

• AKF Technical Assistance

• “Menu” of interventions

• Integrated Water Resource Management

• Drip irrigation, water efficient plants, conservation agriculture, intercropping, water harvesting

• Agro-Processing and Dairy Products

• Bulgar, Molasses, Dried Vehatables, Milk, Cheese

• Home and Kitchen Gardens

• Food assistance

• Extremely Vulnerable on a Monthly Basis

• Moderately Vulnerable – food vouchers / bi-monthly

Highly Vulnerable

Moderately Vulnerable

Self-sufficient

Community Management Group

Minimal Monthly Survival Income

(approx. USD 160 per household)

# of households qualifying for food

assistance to meet food security

needs

FORWARD: Employability, Job Creation, Economic Livelihoods, Financial Security

• Realistic expectations

• Urban environment

• Focus on non-agriculture economic activities

• Continuing Education Center (Vocational Training) represents a good model to improve employability

• Scale up plans for 2016 by bringing online new market relevant vocations)

• Focus on labour market transitioning

• Pilot: Creating new energy markets (Solar PV)

• Urban enterprise creation

• Access to capital

• Understanding realistic, durable market opportunities

• Accepting risk

• Pushing the scope of First MicroFinance Institute

• Community-based Savings Groups

Expanding geographies of operation

Key takeaways

Understanding context and drivers of vulnerability

• Household assessments and knowledge of the program area considered a key success factor

• Creating a conceptual and practical understanding of resilience – improvements in M&E

Investing in people and communities

• Strong recognition that investments in people (doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc.) and their assets as well as community organizations creates a strong foundation for sustainable programming, ensures social cohesion, and underwrites islands of stability

Blended approach, multi-year planning

• Humanitarian – development continuum is not linear, it must be done simultaneously and across multiple sectors

• Planning on 3-5 year cycles has enabled a longer term vision and more strategic investments

Importance of food assistance while strengthening recovery capacity

• While important gains have been made in economic livelihoods, the durability of these gains are limited at this time. Food assistance continues to be a requirement while recovery capacity is strengthening.

• However, experience suggests that if timed correctly and with the right mix/amount, other interventions came be equally impactful on strengthening household resilience

Moving Forward – Highlight of immediate priorities

Continued support across humanitarian

modalities

Aggressively expand community

organization development platform

Expand to identified geographies with a

mix of AKDN programming

Deeper investments in agriculture sectors

Deployment of urban-oriented enterprise

support

Scale-up vocational training and labour market transition

Contact Information:

Riaz Nathu – Programme Support Unit Coordinator, Aga Khan Foundation Syria

riaz.nathu@akdn.org

Thank you