Coordination of International SUPPORT to Somalis

food security and economic development sectoral committee

Cash Based Response Working Group

Minutes

Cash Based Response Working Group

Wednesday 7thMarch 2012 10:00 am

Acacia Conference Room, Ngecha Road

Participants:

Name / Organization / Name / Organization
Catherine Marangu / COOPI / Alexa Swift / Horn Relief
Ekeno Amana / FAO / Agnes Shihemi / Horn Relief
David Mugo / FAO / Chester Oluoch / SAF
Francesco Baldo / FAO / Eng. Warfa A Barow / SWRDA
Tamsin Scurfield / World Concern / Festus Muindi / FAW
Winnie Mapenzi / AFREC / Harald Mannhardt / WFP
Leticia Amuduki / HARDO / Ahmed Adow / BWDN
Chris McDonald / Tear Fund / AbdikadirMohamed Ibrahim / BWDN
Astrid Manstenbrock / Tear Fund / Feisal Abdikadir Issack / GARAD
Henry Macharia Maina / ASAL / Hibak Kalfan / ACTED
Benson Wakoli / CARE / Farah Adan / ACTED
Sam Ogolla / VSF G

Agenda:

1.Review of February 2012 Meeting Minutes, and follow up of Action Points

2.Presentation: KCAL Maps Methodology – by Francesco Baldo, FSC Co-coordinator

3.Presentation: Animal Health Vouchers in Puntland by VSF G.

4.Update: Inter-Cluster Coordination – David Mugo

5.Update: CBRWG’s TOR

6.Agency Updates

7.AOB

Documents distributed:

  1. February 2012 draft meeting minutes
  2. Proposed Agenda
  3. Cash Programming Resource Materials
  4. CBRWG draft TOR for 2012
  5. Inter-cluster cash coordination matrix
  1. Review of February2012 Meeting Minutes, and follow up of Action Points

The chair opened the floor for comments or corrections to the February 2012 minutes, there was a correction made on ASAL project that they increasing the number of HH in their ongoing project which is in Bosaso and not as it read before in the agency updates, following which the minutes were endorsed.

Review of Previous Action Points

  1. KCAL Maps Methodology used to assess need that is included in the inter-cluster mapping exercise. done
  2. Alexa to share an updated CBRWG TOR. Done.
  3. Thomas Meyer to send the “Impact of Cash transfer on gender in Somalia” briefing note to the chair for dissemination to members.Not Done
  1. Presentation : The Kcal Maps Methodology

Francesco Baldo who is the Co coordinator of FSCinitiated the presentation by bringing a clear picture of Food Security Cluster, which he stated that it came into being as a result of merging Food Assistance Cluster and Agriculture & Livelihoods. He later stated that as from September 2011, the FAC and A&L clusters commonly reported their food access responses based on the estimated number of KCals each response provided.

He further explained on the data collected from October 2011 to January 2012 indicated in the KCals Maps are in different phases. A member raised a question on the January Map as to why there is still under coverage or low coverage of needs met while in the previous reports it was mentioned that the Somali famine is over. An explanation given to this was that it could be due to Donors diverting funds to other project since the famine is over, or the security situation hindering accessibility and the ban issued on the 16 NGOs. He further reiterated that the maps do not capture the post harvest assessment results and this would be included in the next analysis. It was noted that a reduction of funds and inaccessibility paints a grim picturein that the areas in Phase 5 (Famine) in the Map are increasing hence agencies should concentrate in increasing resilience in order to minimize the disaster.

  1. Presentation : Animal Health Vouchers in Puntland by VSF G

Sam Ogolla of VSF G, mentioned that VSF G who are implementing partner for Save the Children is actively involved in implementation of vouchers and their main activity is animal health vaccination In Puntland which entails the establishment of Rural Veterinary service infrastructure and animal treatment. He mentioned that they work together with the Government to develop policies and regulations. He further elaborated on why they decided to use the Voucher system and as well explained some of the challenges they encountered while implementing this. He mentioned that during their implementation they targeted 4000 beneficiaries and they managed to treat 221000 animals and that this was there 3rd Voucher project.

  1. Update: Inter-cluster coordination

David Mugo provided an update on cash based interventions in Somalia matrix the Inter-cluster coordination team had managed to compile. The matrix has information related to conditional cash, unconditional cash and voucher-based interventions garnered from across all the sectors covering the period from September 2011 to July 2012. The data for interventions up to Feb 2012 indicated the ACTUAL transfers implemented by agencies / organizations, while the data from March 2012 to July 2012 reflected projections. The meeting was informed that some NGOs are hesitant to provide their up to date data but the inter-cluster coordination assistants are following up on that and will get the updated data for the next April release. It was further stated that the February data release excluded the food voucher because it has been reported to FAC hence avoid duplication however some members argued that it was necessary to have it included in the next release as they are also injecting cash into the economy, The matter was left to the inter-cluster team to consult further. It was further stated that the information is updated monthly (ongoing), and in this respect, David and Amana will continue with the bilateral meetings with agencies to provide the missing information especially for those agencies that have not yet submitted.

Action Point: Inter-cluster coordination team to consult and see whether Food vouchers can be included in the next monthly data release.

  1. Update: CBRWG TOR

There were no new suggestions received due for update since it was sent out to members for their comments. The chair mentioned to members that TOR has been updated. Measurable indicators for the activities were added to make it more precise while a timeline would be added at some point. Since there were no further comments raised in the meeting, the TOR was endorsed and the co chair mentioned that this will cover 2012 to 2013.

Action Point: Alexa to share the endorsed TOR with members

  1. Agency Updates

WFP: In February 2012 WFP began cash vouchers in Burao targeting 2000 HHs through DRC and Medair. The vouchers are conditional and are a family protection ration given to households with malnourished children under five years who visit the Targeted Supplementary Feeding Project (TSFP) Centres. The cash voucher is worth $80 and redeemable for food items only, with both commodity and meat traders participating in the programme. Households are also given supplementary Plumpy as an individual food ration for the child in addition to this family voucher.

There was no new update from the other agencies in attendance

  1. AOB
  • There being no other business the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting will be on 04th April 2012

Action Points arising from this meeting

  1. Inter-cluster coordination team to consult and see whether Food vouchers can be included in the next monthly data release.
  2. Alexa to share the endorsed TOR with members
  3. Circulation of the animal health Vouchers in Puntland Presentation and Kcal Maps Methodology

1

Coordination of International Support to Somalis–Cash Based Response Working Group Minutes