Attachment_J.4__Sustainable_Livelihoods_PAD.pdf

Sustainable Livelihoods PAD [Public Version] t I

USAID/MALAWI

FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Sustainable Livelihoods

Project Appraisal Document

Approved:

Peter Trenchard

Acting Mission Director

Date:

Table of Contents

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................... i

1. Relationship to USAID/Malawi’s CDCS, FTF Multi-Year Strategy, and USAID’s Global

Climate Change Initiative

1.1 Development Problem

Development Hypothesis and Project Linkages to Other Development Objectives and

Supporting Intermediate Results (SIRs)

The 3C Approach and Multiplier Effects and Activities

1.3 Alignment with USAID’s Feed the Future Multi-Year Strategy, Global Climate Change

Initiative, and Biodiversity Policy

2. Relationship to Partner Country and other Development Partners’ Programs

2.1 Alignment with GOM Priorities

2.2 Alignment with Development Partners Activities

2.3 Alignment with other US Government Agencies

3.1 Summary Project Description

3.2 Logical Framework

3.3 Development Hypothesis and Key Assumptions

3.4 Geographic Focus and FTF Zone of Influence

3.5 Description of Results

Project Goal: Sustainable Livelihoods Increased (CDCS DO 2)

Purpose 1: Agricultural Growth Strengthened

Outcome 1.1: Increased Production of Targeted Commodities

Outcome 1.2: Agriculture Trade Expanded

Purpose 2: Improved Nutrition-related Behaviors

Outcome 2.1: Availability, Access and Utilization of Nutritious Foods Increased

Purpose 3: Resilience to Climate Change Strengthened

Outcome 3.1 Adaptive Capacity Improved

Outcome 3.2 Forest Cover and Sustainable Access to Biomass Increased

Outcome 3.3 Biodiversity Conserved

Cross-cutting: Power connections increased

Cross-cutting SIR 3: Policy and systems strengthened

Potential Private Sector Competitiveness Investments

3.6 DFAP and Project Linkages

4. Summary Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

4.1 Performance Monitoring

4.2 Evaluations

4.3 Learning

4.4 Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

5. Analytical Requirements and Sustainability

5.1 Gender Analysis Summary

5.2 Sustainability Analysis Summary

5.3 Environmental Analysis Summary

5.4 Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis Summary

5.5 Institutional Analysis Summary

5.6 Agriculture Small and Medium Enterprises Analysis

5.7 Youth Analysis Summary

5.8 Social Soundness Analysis Summary

5.9 Disadvantaged Groups Summary

6. Conditions, Covenants and Required Actions

Acronyms

A&A Acquisition and Assistance

A&O Administration and Oversight

AATF African Agriculture Technology Foundation

ACE Agricultural Commodity Exchange

ADC Area Development Committees

ADMARC Agriculture Development and Marketing Corporation

ADS Automated Directives System

AFDB African Development Bank

AFR/SD African Bureau/Sustainable Development

AGRA Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa

AICC African Institute of Corporate Citizenship

AIP Agriculture Innovations Partnership

AMEP Activity Monitoring and Evaluation Plans

AOR Authorized Organization Representative

APR Annual Percentage Rate

APS Annual Program Statement

ASME Agricultural Small and Medium Enterprise

ASWAp Agricultural Sector Wide Approach

AUPS African Union Personnel Security

AVC Area Village Committees

BCC Behavior Change Communication

BDS Business Development Services

BFS Bureau of Food Security (USAID/Washington)

BHEARD Borlaug Higher Education in Agricultural Research and Development

CAADP Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program

CBNRM Community Based Natural Resource Management

CBO Community Based Organization

CC Climate Change

CDCS Country Development Strategy Document

CFR Code of Federal Regulations

CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

CIDA Canadian International Development Agency

CIMMYT International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center

CIP International Potato Center

CISANET Civil Society Network for Agriculture

CLA Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation

CMAM Community Based Management of Acute Malnutrition

COMESA Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa

COR Contracting Officer’s Representative

CSA Climate Smart Agriculture

CSO Civil Society Organization

CWT Combatting Wildlife Trafficking

DA Development Assistance

DAC Development Assistance Committee

DAES Department of Agricultural Extension Services

DAI Development Alternative Incorporated

DAPS Department of Agricultural Planning Services

DARS Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services

DCA Development Credit Authority

DCAFS Donor Committee for Agriculture and Food Security

DCENRCCM Donor Committee for Environment, Natural Resources, and Climate Change

Management

DFAP Development Food Assistance Program

DFID Department for International Development

DHS Demographic and Health Surveys

DID Difference-in-Differences

DMD Deputy Mission Director

DO Development Objective

DOAG Development Objective Agreement

DoNut Donor Group for Nutrition

DP Development Partner

DQA Data Quality Assessment

DTMA Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa

EBF Exclusively Breast Feeding

EC-LEDS Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development Strategies

EGRA Early Grade Reading Activity

EMMP Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan

ENA Essential Nutrition Actions

ERP Economic Recovery Plan

ESCOM Energy Supply Corporation of Malawi

EU European Union

EXO Executive Office

FAA Foreign Assistance Act

FAM Fertilizer Association of Malawi

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization

FBO Faith Based Organizations

FEWSNET Famine Early Warning Network

FFP Food for Peace

FICA Flanders International Cooperation Agency

FISH Fisheries Integration of Society and Habitats

FISP Farm Input Supply Program

FMO Financial Management Office

FSN Foreign Service National

FTF Feed the Future

FTFMS Feed the Future Monitoring System

FUM Farmers Union of Malawi

FY Fiscal Year

GBI Green Belt Initiative

GC/AFR General Counsel/Africa Bureau

GCC Global Climate Change

GDA Global Development Alliance

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GFSI Global Food Security Initiative

GHCS Global Health and Child Survival

GHG Greenhouse Gas

GHI Global Health Initiative

GIS Geographic Information System

GIZ German Society for International Cooperation

GMO Genetically Modified Organism

GOM Government of Malawi

HHS Household Hunger Scale

HPN Health, Population, and Nutrition

HR Human Relations

ICRISAT International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics

ICT Information Communications Technology

IDIQ Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity

IEE Initial Environment Examination

IFPRI International Food Policy Research Institute

IHS Integrated Household Survey

IITA International Institute for Tropical Agriculture

IIU Intelligence and Investigations Unit

IMF International Monetary Fund

INVC Integrating Nutrition in Value Chains

IP Implementing Partner

IPR Investment Planning Review

IR Intermediate Results

ISFM Integrated Soil Fertility Management

ISO International Standards Organization

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency

LMO Live Modified Organism

LOP Life of Project

LUANAR Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MAD Minimum Acceptable Diet

MALEZA Malawi Enterprise Zone Association

MAPS Malawi Agriculture Policy Strengthening

MCC Millennium Challenge Corporation

MCCCI Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry

MCHN Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition

MDG Millennium Development Goals

MDGS Malawi Development and Growth Strategy

MDHS Malawi Demographic Health Survey

MDTF Multi-Donor Trust Fund

ME&L Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

MELS Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Support

MEO Mission Environmental Officer

MFI Microfinance Institution

MGDS Malawi Growth and Development Strategy

MISST Malawi Improved Seed Systems and Technologies

MMPA Malawi Milk Producers Association

MOAFS Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security

MoAIWD Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development

MOH Ministry of Health

MOIT Ministry of Industry and Trade

MoNREM Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MSME Micro-, Small, and Medium Enterprise

MSW Men having sex with Men

MVAC Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee

MW Megawatts

MYS Multi-Year Strategy

NAP National Agriculture Policy

NAPA National Adaptation Programs of Action

NAPAS New Alliance Policy Acceleration Support

NASFAM National Association of Smallholder Farmers of Malawi

NCCP National Climate Change Policy

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NJIRA Pathways Project

NNPSP National Nutrition Policy and Strategic Plan

NNSP National Nutritional Policy and Strategic Plan

NRM Natural Resource Management

NSA Non-State Actors

NSO National Statistics Office

NTCCC National Technical Committee on Climate Change

OAA Office of Acquisition and Assistance

OECD Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development

OFDA Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance

OFM Office of Financial Management

OFSP Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato

OPC Office of President and Cabinet

OPC-DNHA Office of President and Cabinet-Department of Nutrition, HIV/AIDS

OR Operations Research

OVC Orphans and Vulnerable Children

PAD Project Appraisal Document

PaMawa Tomorrow Project

PBS Population-Based Survey

PD Public Diplomacy

PD&L Project Design and Learning

PDA Private Development Assistance

PEPFAR President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Response

PERFORM Protecting Ecosystems and Restoring Forests in Malawi

PERSUAP Pesticide Evaluation Report and Safe Use Action Plan

PFEM Public Financial and Economic Management

PIRS Performance Indicator Reference Sheets

PL Public Law

PMEP Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

PPL Bureau of Planning, Policy, and Learning

PPP Public Private Partnership

PPR Performance Plan and Report

REA Regional Environmental Advisor

REDD Reducing Emissions through Deforestation and Forest Degradation

REPA Rapid Elephant Population Assessments

RLA Regional Local Authorities

RLDC Relatively Least Developed Country

SADC Southern Africa Development Community

SANE Strengthening Agriculture and Nutrition Extension

SAT Scaling Agricultural Technologies

SBCC Social and Behavioral Change Communications

SEBAP Strengthening Evidence Based Agriculture Policy

SEG Sustainable Economic Growth

SIR Supporting Intermediate Result

SME Small and Medium Enterprise

SPA Small Project Assistance

SPS Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary

SPSD Standardized Program Structure and Definitions

SSDI Support for Service Delivery Initiative

SSU Seed Services Unit

STAM Seed Traders Association of Malawi

STEPS Supporting the Efforts of Partners

SUN Scaling Up Nutrition

SWAP Sector Wide Programs

TEC Total Estimated Cost

TL Traditional Leaders

TOGETHER Tomorrow’s Generations Empowered: Trade, Health, Environment, and

Reading

TWG Technical Working Group

UBALE United in Building and Advancing Life Expectations

UNDP United Nations Development Program

UNFPA United Nations Population Fund

UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund

USADF United States African Development Foundation

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USDA United States Department for Agriculture

USFS PAPA United States Forest Service Participating Agency Partnership Agreement

USG U.S. Government

VDC Village Development Committees

VSL Village Savings and Loan

WALA Wellness in Agriculture and Life Advancement

WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

WB World Bank

WCIU Wildlife Crime Investigations Unit

WFP World Food Program

ZOI Zone of Influence

Executive Summary

The USAID/Malawi Mission Director authorized the five-year Feed the Future (FTF) Project

Appraisal Document (PAD), which included agriculture and nutrition activities, on 6 August

2014 at a value of $125 million. The five-year Tomorrow’s Generations Empowered: Trade, Health, Environment and Reading (TOGETHER) PAD, which included environment and other

Mission activities, was authorized in August 2013 at a value of $104 million. Agriculture and environmental issues are addressed separately in those PADs respectively.

In early 2016, the Mission began planning for its new environmental flagship activity. The proposed activity is not covered under any PAD. In recognition that environment, agriculture, and nutrition issues in Malawi are so entwined, the Mission decided to amend the FTF PAD to include environment activities. This amendment, renamed the Sustainable Livelihoods Project, formalizes the integration of Feed the Future, Health/Nutrition, and Global Climate Change initiatives under the USAID/Malawi Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).

The approach mirrors the CDCS Development Objective (DO) 2, Sustainable Livelihoods

Increased, covering agriculture, nutrition, and environmental investments, and acknowledges the overlapping nature of these sectors as identified in Agency policy. The “Climate Smart

Agriculture in Feed the Future Programs” white paper, in particular, discusses at length the intersection and interplay between agriculture and environment.

The conceptual foundation of this Project is fundamentally about advancing Mission integration priorities, sector linkages, and bridging programming gaps. Malawi continues to face huge challenges to building resilience and addressing food and nutrition security, in a manner that can break the cycle of chronic humanitarian crises, exacerbated by the compound climatic crises of consecutive poor agricultural seasons, the worst floods disaster in 50 years in early 2015, and the effects of El Nino, the second strongest since 1900. The cumulative effect of these challenges is widespread food insecurity and compromised health and nutrition for the population, especially the high at-risk groups.

In April 2016, President Mutharika declared a disaster in face of impending food shortages for an estimated 6.5 million Malawians, nearly half the total population. This declaration is helping to mobilize a robust donor response. More importantly, the declaration affirmed to both Malawians and the development partners that the Government of Malawi takes the crisis seriously. It demonstrated that the GOM is preparing itself to respond though immediate actions with the expressed intent of “Breaking the Cycle” -- from the annual humanitarian response to address chronic food security -- to a more productive and sustainable resilience building approach.

The Project is both transformative and focused. It will support Malawian efforts to reduce dependency on maize, increase small-scale irrigation, expand water harvesting and soil conservation, encourage farmer-assisted tree regeneration in the field, and promote alternative livelihoods. Consistent with one of the core operational principles of USAID’s Building

Resilience to Recurrent Crisis , the Project will utilize three integrated approaches to “breaking

Building Resilience to Recurrent Crisis. USAID Policy and Program Guidance. December 2012 the cycle”. The approach includes layered programs across sectors and funding streams;

integrated programming to address multidimensional challenges; and strategic sequencing of programs to maximize long-term impact. Coupled with a robust policy engagement, the Project will provide: humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable (mainly through Title II funding, but in close coordination with project activities); intensive support for agricultural diversification heavily rooted in legumes with a full value-chain focus on soy, groundnut, pigeon pea, and

OFSP; investments to improve natural resource management, including urgent priorities for watershed management and building soil fertility; and support for increased energy access and power connections as a key foundation for growth.

The Project will address cross-sectoral development problems with a cross-sectoral strategy.

The Project brings an increased focus on resilience, climate change impacts, and food security under one conceptual roof. This will include: (1) the use and integration of climate adaptation funds into agriculture diversification and El Nino resilience activities; (2) a more coherent and integrated policy engagement with the Government of Malawi and Development Partners; (3) a greater focus on Climate Smart Agriculture; (4) a market-driven value chain approach; and (5) an acknowledgement of water management as an area of opportunity for adaptation to climate change. The Project also will cover upcoming program activities such as the new environment flagship activity, Power Africa, and Combatting Wildlife Trafficking. From a management perspective, the Project provides the conceptual basis for a reduced number of Mission management units.

This Project amendment fits within the CDCS as a central component of an integrated, multi-sector approach to improving Malawians quality of life. As part of this integrated approach, the

Project links to and supports (directly and indirectly) concurrent projects and investments in health, education, and democracy and governance by contributing to fundamental aspects of

Malawian livelihoods. Interventions under the Project will foster growth in the agricultural sector; improve the nutritional status of women and children through a proven nutrition-sensitive approach of layering agriculture and nutrition behavior change interventions in communities; and strengthen resilience to climate change. The Logical Framework for the Project is found in

Section 3, Figure 2.

The Sustainable Livelihoods Project will target thirteen districts. Eight districts in the Central and Southern Regions make up the Primary FTF Zone of Influence (ZOI) to include: Mchinji;

Lilongwe Rural; Dedza; Ntcheu; Balaka; Machinga; Mangochi, and Blantyre Rural. Two

Southern Region districts make up the Secondary (Resilience) FTF ZOI: Chikwawa and Nsanje.

Food for Peace (FFP) Development Food Assistance Program (DFAP) will target the Secondary

(Resilience) ZOI with a comprehensive set of food security interventions, while a limited set of complementary FTF activities will invest in increasing access to and adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices in those districts. Environment/Global Climate Change

(GCC) activities target three districts outside the FTF ZOIs: Zomba, Ntchisi, and Mzimba, in addition to Balaka, Machinga, and Mangochi noted above, and will continue to work in and around protected areas and lakes.

1. Relationship to USAID/Malawi’s CDCS, FTF Multi-Year Strategy, and

USAID’s Global Climate Change Initiative

1.1 Development Problem

Agriculture forms the basis of the Malawian economy. It represents over 38 percent of Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) and employs over 85 percent of the labor force. Unfortunately, the agriculture sector faces a litany of challenges: small land holdings, a poorly developed seed sector, weak agricultural extension services, limited access to finance, uncertainty due to climate change, significant policy constraints, and meagre irrigation infrastructure meaning a near-total dependence upon timely and sufficient rains. Climatic and world price fluctuations of Malawi’s few cash crops for export (tobacco, tea, cotton, etc.) expose families and the economy to external shocks undermining economic growth. Partly as a result of these challenges, 70 percent of the population of Malawi lives below the poverty line.

This Project will address Malawi’s development challenges at the nexus of agriculture and the environment. While climate change dynamics have caused much of the poor harvests, skewed agricultural and trade policies, a failure of the Government of Malawi (GOM) to plan and budget for sound or timely interventions, and rampant corruption perpetuate a cycle of agriculture underperformance and food insecurity. At this nexus, a growing body of evidence confirms the importance for countries like Malawi to embrace Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) for “sustainably increasing productivity, income, and adaptation capacity, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions below current levels when appropriate as an ancillary benefit.”

In April 2016, President Mutharika declared a disaster in face of impending food shortages for an estimated 6.5 million Malawians, nearly half the total population. This declaration is helping to mobilize a robust donor response. More importantly, the declaration affirmed to both Malawians and the development partners that the Government of Malawi takes the crisis seriously. It demonstrated that the GOM is preparing itself to respond though immediate actions with the expressed intent of “Breaking the Cycle” -- from the annual humanitarian response to address chronic food security -- to a more productive and sustainable resilience building approach.

The Project is both transformative and focused. It will support Malawian efforts to reduce dependency on maize, increase small-scale irrigation, expand water harvesting and soil conservation, encourage farmer-assisted tree regeneration in the field, and promote alternative livelihoods. Consistent with one of the core operational principles of USAID’s Building Resilience to Recurrent Crisis , the Project will utilize three integrated approaches to “breaking the cycle”.

The approach includes layered programs across sectors and funding streams; integrated programming to address multidimensional challenges; and strategic sequencing of programs to maximize long-term impact. Coupled with a robust policy engagement, the Project will provide:

humanitarian assistance for the most vulnerable (mainly through Title II funding, but in close coordination with project activities); intensive support for agricultural diversification

Climate Smart Agriculture in Feed the Future Programs, USAID, February 2016

Building Resilience to Recurrent Crisis. USAID Policy and Program Guidance. December 2012 heavily rooted in legumes with a full value-chain focus on soy, groundnut, pigeon pea, and OFSP;

investments to improve natural resource management, including urgent priorities for watershed management and building soil fertility; and support for increased energy access and power connections as a key foundation for growth. Malawians have a poorly-diversified diet, dominated by maize, and combined with chronic food insecurity, 37 percent of Malawian children under age five are left stunted from malnutrition.

until recently, 67 percent of sixth graders were still at the pre-literate level.

Malawi’s fertility rate has dropped from 5.7 to 4.4 children per woman . Despite having fallen significantly in the past decade, maternal mortality is still 675 deaths per 100,000 live births . The perfect storm of malnutrition, poor schooling, and limited functional literacy, and a rapidly-growing population pose daunting structural challenges that perpetuate a cycle of under-development. Poverty affects outcomes across social sectors, including health and education. A 2014 USAID- supported assessment of student repetition and attrition in primary school in Malawi found that poverty was one of the main factors contributing to pupil attrition. Low levels of education and literacy inhibit the absorption of important agricultural extension and nutrition messages. At the same time, the economy cannot grow when the people who feed that economy do not have enough to eat. More than one-third of the population in Malawi consumes less than the required caloric intake. Of children under five, 12 percent are underweight, and 63 percent are anemic.

Poor nutrition hampers response to medical treatment and makes people more susceptible to illness in a country wracked by diseases such as

HIV/AIDS and malaria. Weak human capital and high rates of malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, and malaria in turn affect agriculture and economic growth by hampering productivity and labor markets.

Malawi ended 2015 with 25 percent inflation, a 40 percent depreciation in its currency, Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3 percent, a growing fiscal deficit that threatens its International

Monetary Fund (IMF) program, and declining investor confidence. With almost 70 percent of

Malawians living below the international poverty line ($1.90/day), the world’s lowest GDP per capita

($255), the second-highest rate of inflation rate in Africa, and the rising cost of the staple maize, the average Malawian is stretched thin. U.S.-Malawian bilateral trade is only $117 million annually, with tobacco accounting for more than half of Malawi’s exports to the U.S. (followed by coffee, tea, nuts, and sugar). Malawi’s imports from the U.S are primarily pharmaceuticals and high-tech manufactured goods. Malawian smallholder farmers continue to experience poor agricultural yields across all crops, leading to food and nutrition insecurity. This is due significantly to climate change. In addition, an unfavorable economic climate, weak private sector, and limiting government policies diminish the farmers’ ability to access agricultural inputs, also leading to low yields. In 2015, shifting and erratic rainfall patterns, a reliance on uni-modal rain-fed agriculture, mono cropping, and the lack of access to improved seeds and fertilizers resulted in annual harvests 30 percent below normal for smallholder farming families, leaving 2.85 million Malawian smallholder families in need of food assistance between October 2015 and April 2016.

Malawi Demographic and Health Survey of 2015/2016, Key Indicators Report, 2015

Ibid, Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2015/2016, Key Indicator Report, 2015

Malawi Demographic and Health Survey, 2010

Malawi Demographic and Health Survey 2015/2016, Key Indicator Report, 2015

The El Niño climatic episode experienced across the country during the 2015-16 agricultural season led to another failed harvest in May 2016, potentially rendering 6.5 million Malawians, or 39 percent of the country’s population of 16.8 million, dependent on food aid for survival through

March 2017

Agricultural policies and practices also contribute to Malawi’s low yields. For example, weak and unaligned seed policies have resulted in minimal access to seeds, and most poor farmers simply cannot afford to buy improved seeds and fertilizers. The GOM’s unsustainable Farm Input Subsidy

Program (FISP) is depleting the agricultural sector budget needed for other important agriculture functions.

These challenges, their underlying drivers, and options for addressing them are further elaborated upon in the Expanded Project Description and the suite of analyses conducted for this project design. Stated simply, poverty, under nutrition, and climate change are livelihood challenges that diminish the quality of life for the people of Malawi.

1.2 Alignment and Linkages with CDCS and Development Objectives

USAID/Malawi began implementing a five-year CDCS in March 2013. The overall goal of the

CDCS is “Malawians’ Quality of Life Improved.” This goal and the CDCS Results Framework form the overarching structure under which all projects in the Mission are designed across all sectors. The CDCS emphasizes an integrated approach across three Development Objectives

(DOs) that include sector investments in health, agriculture, the environment, education, and democracy and governance. Figure 1 presents the Results Framework for the CDCS.

USAID Malawi intends to amend its CDCS, a process to begin in 2017, for the period ending in

2023. Activities authorized under this Sustainable Livelihoods Project, including a proposed environment/GCC flagship instrument, would run until close to that end date. By aligning the

Sustainable Livelihoods Project dates with the new activities and the likely time frame of a revised

CDCS, all elements of the project cycle would be largely in sync. If the CDCS process results in sufficiently drastic strategic shifts, the Project will be amended to reflect those changes.

In support of the CDCS goal of “Malawians’ Quality of Life Improved,” this Project comprises the core set of interventions under DO 2 “Sustainable Livelihoods Increased,”- the Project goal.

The Project goal as reflected in the comprehensive Logical Framework and CDCS Results

Framework (see Annex B, Figure 2) aims to reduce poverty and undernutrition and to strengthen resilience to climate change by addressing the integrated purposes of “agricultural growth strengthened”, “nutrition-related behaviors improved”, and “resiliency to climate change strengthened.”

Results of the 2016 Food Security Assessment, GOM Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development.

Press Statement. June 2016

Under the purpose of agricultural growth strengthened, the necessary outcomes include:

production of targeted commodities increased (1.1); and agriculture trade expanded (1.2).

Under the purpose of nutrition-related behaviors improved, the necessary outcome is: the availability, access and utilization of nutritious foods increased (2.1). Under the purpose of resiliency to climate change strengthened, necessary outcomes include: adaptive capacity improved (3.1); forest cover and sustainable access to biomass increased (3.2); and biodiversity conserved (3.3). Strengthening the policy enabling environment is captured within the cross-cutting supportive intermediate result: policy and systems strengthened (SIR3). In recognition of its economy-wide nature and influence on all three purposes, investments through Power

Africa to increase the number of power connection are included as a cross-cutting outcome, Power Connections Increased.

The Project purposes and outcomes align directly with the CDCS Intermediate Results (IR) 2.1

“Resiliency to climate change strengthened,” IR 2.2 “Production of targeted commodities increased,” IR 2.3 “Nutrition status for targeted communities improved,” and IR 2.4

“Agricultural trade expanded.” This Sustainable Livelihoods Project incorporates numerous activities in support of IR 2.1 authorized under the Tomorrow’s Generations Empowered:

Trade, Health, Environment, and Reading (TOGETHER) PAD which was approved in August

2013. The Sustainable Livelihoods Project goal, purposes and outcomes are further elaborated upon in Section 3 below.

Development Hypothesis and Project Linkages to Other Development Objectives and

Supporting Intermediate Results (SIRs)

The development hypothesis of the Sustainable Livelihoods Project connects closely to the

CDCS development hypothesis. The CDCS hypothesizes that if assistance is integrated then development results will be enhanced, more sustainable, and lead to achievement of the CDCS goal.

As a subset of this larger integration hypothesis, the Project hypothesizes that if market-led, climate-smart, value chain development is integrated with improved nutrition-related behavior and investments to improve natural resource management then sustainable livelihoods will increase. Increasing household incomes, improving the nutritional status of women and children, and strengthening resilience to climate change forms a central component of the Mission’s integrated development approach, and when combined with activities and interventions focused on the CDCS DO 1 “Social Development Improved” and DO 3 “Citizen Rights and

Responsibilities Exercised,” the Project will contribute substantially to the CDCS goal.

Following the integrated nature of the CDCS, the Project will directly contribute to the Mission’s other two DOs as well as all four of the cross-cutting Supporting Intermediate Results (SIRs) in the following ways:

DO 1 - Social Development Improved: The Project will improve both the availability and quality of essential social services (IRs 1.1 and 1.2 respectively) provided by the Ministry of

Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) and the Ministry of Natural

Resources, Energy and Mining (MoNREM). Government extension systems will reach a greater number of beneficiaries through improved extension services, and government seed testing and certification systems will provide more accountable regulatory services. Nutrition activities will work in tandem with Health Surveillance Agents at the District level to improve nutrition behavior change messages for pregnant and lactating women as well as children under five. Crop diversification and intensification in production at the household level will be key. Systematically applying a “climate lens” to ensure inclusion of climate-proofed strategies and policies will be crucial. Successful and sustainable adaptation strategies to climate change are those that provide farmers and households with multiple options, and ultimately build adaptive capacity and contribute to greater resilience under changing climate conditions.

DO 3 - Citizen Rights and Responsibilities Exercised: Policy support systems under the Project will facilitate higher levels of gender equitable citizen participation in agriculture policy dialogue and decision making as well as in the environment and general climate change arena. The

Project will build robust campaigns to help farmers and their families, e.g., men, women, and youth, to help address adversity without resorting to alternative livelihoods that are detrimental to the environment such as the illegal cutting of trees, selling of firewood and charcoal, and contributing to the general degradation of the environment including encroachment on protected biodiversity, e.g., forests and fish, and trafficking in wildlife.

Figure 1: USAID/Malawi Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) Results Framework

SIR 1 - Capacity of Institutions Improved: The Project will build the capacity of a range of actors in the targeted value chains and within the environmental sector that include male and female farmers, farm families, farmers’ associations, local NGOs, civil society, the GOM, and small and medium enterprises

(SMEs), e.g., input dealers, traders, transporters, processors. The Project will incorporate local capacity development into all activities, taking different approaches to engaging local institutions depending on the circumstances and the existing human, technical, and organizational capacity of the institutions. SIR

1 interventions are discussed across the proposed Project activities.

SIR 2 - Use of Technology and Innovation Increased: Technology and innovation underpin every component of the Project. Interventions in agricultural productivity, integrated soil fertility management, new business models, market information, e-vouchers for subsidized fertilizer, mobile money, and new finance products will harness and promote improved technologies and stimulate innovation. The Project also embraces the growing body of knowledge related to Climate Smart

Agriculture, which incorporates the specific goals of sustainably increasing productivity and income, increasing adaptation, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions as an ancillary benefit. The Project will identify and evaluate what farmers and households are currently doing with a view of improving practices with the aid of research. Reducing the harmful effects of climate change on agriculture production, household incomes, and nutrition security is fundamentally a matter of not only general diversification but also the adoption of science-based approaches to increasing productivity, such as the double-up legume system USAID is helping pioneer.

SIR 3 - Policy and Systems Strengthened: The Project highlights the importance of strengthening policy and systems. The Project will provide assistance to the GOM to improve evidence-based policy development and monitoring, and will strengthen policy advocacy skills among civil society and other non-state actors (NSAs) in the agricultural, nutrition, and environment sectors. The Project, along with other development partners, will seek to improve government systems to effectively implement the

Agriculture Sector Wide Approach (ASWAp), the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition, the

National Climate Change Policy (NCCP), Power Africa, and others.

SIR 4 - Positive Behaviors Adopted: Throughout the Project, positive changes in behavior are critical to bring about sustainable results. The Project will use behavior change approaches in areas including adoption of new agricultural technologies and practices, such as climate smart agriculture; improving business practices; and changing consumption patterns and hygiene practices. For example, the Project will incorporate the PaMawa activity, originally authorized under the TOGETHER PAD, to increase the adoption of positive behaviors related to climate change adaptation and sexual reproductive health and family planning among youth.

The 3C Approach and Multiplier Effects and Activities

The Mission’s 3C approach is a central tenet of its CDCS wherein the Mission aims to create synergies between activities and interventions throughout the Mission’s development portfolio. In turn, this approach underpins the entire Project design. The 3C’s refer to:

Co-locating interventions to the extent that it is sensible;

Coordinating better within USAID and with other development partners (DPs); and

Collaborating to foster linkages among implementing partners and the DPs to improve results and sustainability.

Under the first “C” of co-locating, the Mission is moving towards concentrating resources geographically in the three CDCS focus districts (Balaka, Machinga and Lilongwe Rural). Through co-locating with interventions in other sectors, the Mission hypothesizes that development results will be enhanced.

For example, if the Project succeeds in reducing poverty and undernutrition, and strengthening resilience to climate change, more families will be able to afford keeping their children in school, the students will not arrive at school hungry. Reduced poverty, improved nutrition, and strengthened resilience to climate change could thus augment development results in education and other areas where co-location exists. Likewise, a more educated populace will be more ready to absorb extension services, benefit from nutrition messaging, and adapt to climate change, thereby bolstering results under the Project.

Under the second “C” of coordinating, the Project will be coordinated across the Mission’s technical teams to ensure alignment with the broader Mission portfolio. In particular, the integration of agriculture, nutrition, and climate change within the Project directly strengthens the relationships among economic growth, health, and the environment. The Project also builds on the Mission-wide effort to improve decentralized government through advancing policy reform in the agriculture and natural resource sectors and bringing non-state actor voices into policy dialogue. Outside of the Mission, the

Project exemplifies coordination by building on existing coordination frameworks with the GOM and other DPs through such mechanisms as the ASWAp Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF), the National

Technical Committee on Climate Change (NTCCC), and others.

Under the third “C” of collaborating, the Project will utilize both USAID-driven and implementing partner-driven collaboration efforts. Every solicitation under the Project will include a collaboration requirement to stimulate prospective project implementers to seek opportunities for collaboration with other implementing partners or pre-existing awards from the earliest stages of their activity development. Through this approach, the Project will allow implementing partners to utilize their creativity, expertise, and on-the-ground presence to identify practical, grassroots approaches to improving collaboration. At the same time, USAID will foster additional collaboration through regular

Project partner meetings, broader USAID partner meetings, and District level meetings focused on improved collaboration.

Specific examples of improved co-location, coordination, and collaboration that the Project will engender include:

An “ecosystem approach” – The existing Integrating Nutrition in Value Chains (INVC) activity has used an ecosystem approach in working with partners. INVC involves a prime contracting mechanism and 9 sub-partners. Each of the sub-partners brings a unique set of development expertise. Under INVC, these different types of expertise are leveraged across agricultural value chains through careful orchestration by the prime implementing partner. For example, an agricultural production implementing partner is linked to a market-focused implementing partner and, meanwhile, nutrition- focused implementing partners are linked to the same beneficiaries. Under the Project, this ecosystem approach will be continued and built upon. The layering of nutrition and climate smart agriculture activities under this approach is a best practice for nutrition-sensitive agriculture highlighted in USAID’s Multi-Sectoral Nutrition

Strategy.

Working through existing structures – In many communities, especially where USAID interventions are highly saturated, community members may be part of multiple clubs, associations, or other groups involved in development activities. The Project will make the most of these existing structures. For example, where HIV/AIDS activities are already underway, the Project will bring nutrition and climate smart messaging to these pre-existing groups through collaboration with the appropriate implementing partners.

Linking separate activities – Separate activities, both within and outside of the Project, can benefit from forming functional linkages. For example, the Mobile Money activity will be linked to implementing mechanisms that can benefit from utilizing mobile money applications in their work. Climate change activities in forestry and fisheries, for example, can form natural linkages to the agriculture and nutrition activities under the Project. These activities already have language on the 3C Approach and integration in their scopes of work and program descriptions. For example, soy is a primary ingredient in fish feed for aquaculture, so beneficiaries in the fisheries activity could form a ready-made market for the Project.

Knowledge and information sharing – The Project will support an activity that focuses on better coordinating with DFAP efforts through knowledge and information sharing among partners, sub- partners, and other relevant stakeholders. Through these platforms, participants will generate ideas and options that they can implement for enhanced collaboration. See section 3.6 for information about DFAP activities.

The 3C Approach is an evolving concept, and the Project will evolve with it. As lessons are learned during early integration efforts, the Project team will practice adaptive management, continually monitoring and adjusting activities to achieve maximum development impact.

1.3 Alignment with USAID’s Feed the Future Multi-Year Strategy, Global Climate

Change Initiative, and Biodiversity Policy

While the Agency’s Bureau for Food Security (BFS) guidelines for integration of Feed the Future (FTF)

Multi-Year Strategies (MYS) came after CDCS development, the Mission still adhered to key guiding principles. These included a high level focus on poverty reduction and reduction of malnutrition, alignment with Malawi’s development strategies, and focus on a limited and prioritized set of interventions. Subsequently, BFS approved USAID/Malawi’s FTF MYS and extended the strategy through the approved CDCS validity date of FY 2018.

The Mission’s May 2011 FTF MYS incorporates relevant components of other Agency-wide strategies and Presidential Initiatives (e.g., the Global Health Initiative-GHI; Global Climate Change-GCC; etc.)

and is fully integrated into the CDCS. The three pillars of the Multi Year Strategy, e.g., Improved nutrition related behaviors, Investment in high potential value chains, and Improved policy environment are all reflected in the CDCS Results Framework. Expected Project results represent specific efforts to better align agriculture, nutrition programming, and the environment in Malawi and to leverage resources from across the FTF, GCC, and GHI portfolios. The coordination of these three Presidential

Initiatives reflects the “coordinating” element of the Mission’s 3C approach and is a critical component of USAID’s integrated assistance strategy for Malawi.

The Project is fully aligned with the GCC Initiative and adheres to the five essential programs within the USAID Climate Change and Development Strategy (2012-2016): low emission development;

adaptation; clean energy; sustainable landscapes; and climate integration. The Project will authorize continued implementation of the U.S. Government Enhancing Capacity for Low Emission Development

Strategies (EC-LEDS) initiative within Malawi. USAID and State Department take a leadership role in this initiative, partnering with other USG agencies such as the Department of Energy, the Department of

Agriculture, the Forest Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

In Malawi, the Project will provide technical assistance and capacity building to advance Malawi’s low-emissions and climate-resilient development and to implement the Statement of Cooperation between the GOM and the USG. This effort is aimed at advancing economic growth while achieving significant long-term greenhouse gas emissions reductions in key sectors.

USAID’s investments will seek to leverage private investment in low emission development through partnerships and investor matchmaking. The Project will seek to mobilize public and private sector participation by partnering with the GOM, investors, and financial intermediaries to undertake projects that they otherwise would not.

The Project also will strengthen Malawian capacity to develop systems for forest carbon measurement and monitoring, as well as conduct greenhouse gas inventories, and support the application of science and technology for improved and more cost efficient management and monitoring systems. USAID will help to improve tools and capacity for land use planning that reduces deforestation while also ensuring the rights and engagement of local and indigenous communities. The Project will support demonstration activities to test approaches to forest-related emissions reductions and sequestration.

The Project’s adaptation activities will focus on increasing resilience of Malawian communities, individuals, and natural assets to climate change and variability. Adaptation efforts help protect existing investments from climate impacts, maintaining development gains and contributing to economic security. By addressing long-term vulnerabilities to climate change, the Project will support Malawian efforts to reduce the risks of economic losses and the toll on human development. Consistent with the

USAID GCC strategy, the Project will help improve Malawian access to science and analysis for decision making, establish effective government systems, and identify and take actions that increase climate resilience.

The vision of USAID’s Biodiversity Policy (2014) is to conserve biodiversity for sustainable, resilient development. The goals of the policy are: 1) to conserve biodiversity in priority places, and 2) to integrate biodiversity as an essential component of human development. The objectives are to: support enabling conditions for biodiversity conservation; reduce priority drivers and threats to biodiversity;

integrate conservation and development for improved biodiversity and development outcomes; build partnerships to mobilize resources in support of biodiversity conservation; influence key international policies in support of biodiversity conservation; and apply science, technology, and learning to enhance biodiversity conservation practice. The Project will help Malawi conserve biodiversity through strategic actions to reduce threats to priority biodiversity, notably fisheries, and to target key trans-boundary and global drivers, such as wildlife trafficking, that contribute to biodiversity loss.

In February 2016, the GOM and the USG entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize Malawi's participation in Power Africa. The MOU outlines the relationship between EC-

LEDS and Power Africa programs. The Project will draw from Power Africa objectives to help Malawi mitigate the release of current and future greenhouse gas emissions by supporting “clean” energy development, including renewable energy technologies (e.g., wind and solar) and technologies that displace the reliance on diesel fuel for electricity generation.

2. Relationship to Partner Country and other Development Partners’ Programs

2.1 Alignment with GOM Priorities

Activities within this Project are closely aligned with the GOM’s 2010-2014 Agriculture Sector Wide

Approach (ASWAp), particularly the pillars for Food Security and Risk Management, Commercial

Agriculture, Agro-processing and Market Development, and Institutional Strengthening and Capacity

Building. The ASWAp is Malawi’s Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Program

(CAADP) National Agriculture Investment Plan (for details on Project alignment with the ASWAp, refer to Annex N). Project activities support aspects of Malawi’s National Nutrition Policy and

Strategic Plan (NNPSP), Malawi’s National Agriculture Policy (NAP), and promote access to quality nutrition and other related services for the effective management of nutrition constraints among women, men, boys and girls.

Furthermore, the GOM placed climate change, natural resources, and environmental management as priorities in its development strategy, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS II 2012-

2016). In addition, the National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPA 2006), focuses on agriculture as the key sector to address the nation’s challenges and vulnerabilities. The Malawi

Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (2013) concluded that despite the fact that Malawi’s agriculture is rain fed and highly vulnerable to climate change, especially floods and drought, not much effort has been done to mainstream climate change explicitly in the country’s sectoral policies and strategies. This Project will move aggressively to fully integrate climate change into national strategic planning and programs of action.

2.2 Alignment with Development Partners Activities

USAID/Malawi is the largest bilateral donor in country and plays a key role in formulating Development Partners’ (DPs) response to the GOM’s agricultural, climate change, and food security development objectives. DPs working in the agriculture, environment, and food security sector include the World

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