Standard Project Report 2016
Results / Outcomes
Over the three-month period, WFP and the Government reached 93.2 percent of the planned beneficiaries with a full ration of Super Cereal. Due to the short duration of the response, WFP did not do any outcome monitoring. WFP further supported the Government through training of health workers and female community health volunteers, enabling the participants to maintain scheduled food distributions and deliver health and nutrition services as per plan. Initial difficulties encountered in the identification and registration of children aged 24-59 months for the first round of distribution were addressed through partner orientation sessions, which clarified distribution modalities and other pending issues. Capacity development initiatives also included provision of training to district level government and non-governmental organisation staff in nutrition counseling, management of MCHN activities, and logistics and food handling. These capacity development initiatives were expected to strengthen the implementation of the prevention of stunting programme at the district and VDC levels in the longer term, within the broader framework of the Government ' s community-based management of acute malnutrition programmes, supported by WFP through its MCHN programme.
Progress Towards Gender Equality
Under the IR-EMOP, beneficiary cards and maternal health cards were distributed with names of women. In the rural and sociocultural context of Nepal, men are mainly the recipients of benefits, opportunities and decision makers in social and public spheres while women face many discriminatory social practices ranging from seclusion from the family during menstruation and post-childbirth, to restrictive social norms in property ownership. In this background, providing beneficiary cards in women ' s names enabled them to directly access the entitlements provided, which in turn gave them a better chance of influencing household decisions on entitlements and ensuring that entitlements would be used in the best interest of the children and family. Male household members sometimes also came to collect the ration in instances where women were unable to attend, which could be an indication of increased community awareness and understanding of the importance of good nutrition for mothers during pregnancy and lactating periods, which may be attributed to the regular nutritional counselling given to parents and caregivers through the IR-EMOP.
With a view to increasing women ' s involvement in the management of the project, WFP supported the formation of community-based Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition( MCHN) committees for the management of IR-EMOP activities in the 54 health posts, in addition to the existing formal government committees at the local level( the Health Facility Operation Management Committee). The MCHN committees operated directly under the supervision of the Health Facility Operation Management Committee and helped implement the IR-EMOP activities in the health clinics. While WFP did not undertake monitoring of gender outcomes due to the short duration of the IR-EMOP, government records indicated that a majority of the membership of the MCHN committees were women and that about 65 percent of the leadership positions in these committees were also held by women.
The effort to involve more women in the management of the MCHN committees in turn ensured that the needs and concerns of women beneficiaries were better addressed. For instance, women members could better understand the challenges that pregnant and lactating women faced and could give appropriate and confidential counselling. Their presence during physical examinations helped pregnant women to dispel concerns and understand the importance of the check-up and monthly clinic attendance. Trained women members also ensured that correct Super Cereal entitlements were provided to beneficiaries and that records were properly maintained. The involvement of the female community health volunteers in all areas of programme management during monthly clinics, helped raise and address women’ s concerns for the timely delivery of high-quality nutrition-related services at the community level.
Protection and Accountability to Affected Populations
The non-governmental organisation partners— Manahari Development Institute and Support for Poor Producers of Nepal— ensured that more women staff were hired as field supervisors responsible for the delivery of antenatal and postnatal care services so that the concerns of their fellow female staff and women beneficiaries were understood and resolved. WFP and partners operated separate distribution queues for pregnant and lactating women so that they would not have to wait long to collect their entitlements. Ration entitlement boards were visibly placed so that beneficiaries could easily recognise what they would receive. Some health posts installed temporary latrines for women during the three to five day period when the monthly clinics would operate.
WFP continued to apprise the cooperating partners, District Health Officers and health post staff of the changes in beneficiary plans so that they clearly understood beneficiary eligibility criteria. Through partner staff, WFP also
Nepal, State of( NP) 22 Single Country IR-EMOP- 200983