WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by country | Page 98

Standard Project Report 2016
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Gender considerations—Women's involvement in asset creation increased in 2016 as a result of specifically
designed activities for women, such as mushroom or pickle production and nursery; in partnership with the
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), WFP began work on
a plan to introduce the safe markets model in 2017; and new gender indicators were developed and used as
work began to improve the gender focus of skills training programmes.
Purchase for Progress (P4P) activities within the PRRO—Integration of P4P began in the second half of 2016
with full integration expected in the first quarter of 2017.
Working as One with UN partners—Some work was done in the area of joint and collaborative programming
with United Nations partners, though actual delivery as one is yet to be achieved. Regarding joint programmes,
WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have selected the Samangan
province of the northern region for a joint programme on building resilience among communities through the
implementation of disaster risk reduction activities. The initial surveys were completed and both agencies
agreed on the nature, scope and timeframe of the work. Technical and operational support to operationalise the
Afghanistan Food Security and Nutrition Agenda (AFSANA) was included in the UNDAF action plan for 2016 as
joint activities by WFP, FAO and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and collaborative efforts
continue.
Expanding funding opportunities—Towards the fourth quarter of 2016, WFP was expanding its donor base as a
way to mitigate against reduced funding from the traditional donors in the future.
Use of Programme Assistance Team—WFP benefited from the internal audit recommendations in 2015 on the
use of third party monitors which provided guidance for the way forward. Their performance is monitored and
evaluated on an annual basis and their contracts were adjusted accordingly.
Improved communication with beneficiaries and communities—There was progress towards improving
communication with beneficiaries, partners and field-based staff through the nutrition media campaign under
P4P and strengthened engagement with the local authorities and communities in asset creation activities. WFP
has improved its collaboration with the community development councils in the provinces to strengthen
women's involvement in designing and implementing gender-sensitive asset creation such as home gardening
and home-based nurseries. The compliance unit proactively monitored hotline calls and the issues raised by the
beneficiaries through the calls were discussed and followed up in a monthly compliance committee meeting.
Data management—During 2016, the Country Office Tool for Managing (programme operations) Effectively
(COMET) was rolled out in Afghanistan and used for programme management, capturing and reporting of
programme data, as well as reconciliation with commodity movements captured under the Logistics Execution
Support System (LESS). WFP plans to launch improved technology for mobile data collection and analytics
(MDCA) in 2017, a newly developed data management system developed in the WFP regional bureau for Asia
and the Pacific.
Motivated by the need to monitor ‘people on the move' under the new EMOP, and supported by the vulnerability
analysis and mapping (VAM) team in Rome and the regional bureau, WFP Afghanistan piloted the use of the mobile
VAM (mVAM) application for rapid food security and market assessments, enabling WFP to assist people in
hard-to-reach areas, especially women. WFP continues to conduct mVAM surveys to monitor the market feasibility
and functionality for cash-based interventions, and monitoring and emergency assessments of IDPs and returnees.
The first mVAM pilot survey was conducted in October 2016 and by the end of the year, three rapid assessments
were conducted in the conflict-affected districts in Faryab and Kunduz; one market monitoring survey in the capitals
of Farah, Helmand, Kandahar and Urozgan provinces; and three assessments monitoring the food security and
market situation in Laghman, Kunar and Kabul provinces, all areas with a high number of internally displaced
persons (IDPs) and returnees. The mVAM pilot was successful in terms of its relevance, accuracy and, most
importantly, timeliness, as it informed emergency responses of both WFP and the humanitarian community.
In an environment characterised by increasing insecurity, accessing beneficiaries at the time when assistance is
needed the most will continue to be a major challenge for WFP Afghanistan. In 2016, with facilitation from WFP
global headquarters and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, the country office conducted
training for all of its access teams. This training resulted in the introduction of a systematic approach to manage
access issues coupled with timely assessment of risks and management decision-making. This new approach
improved WFP's reach to beneficiaries and credibility with partners and local authorities. In addition,cash-based
transfers were deployed successfully on a number of occasions to overcome physical challenges of moving food,
particularly in areas where markets continued to function despite the clashes and siege of population centres.
These programmatic tools still need to be systematically used to overcome access constraints with forward planning
to include contingency purposes.
Afghanistan, Islamic Republic of (AF)
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