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VAC

2007 VAC System Annual Organizational Meeting (AOM) on Vulnerability, Food Security Early Warning and Reporting in Southern Africa

Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa 3 4 December, 2007

Workshop Report

Background The 2007 SADC Regional Vulnerability Assessment Committee (RVAC) Annual Organization Meeting (AOM) was held from 3-4 December, 2007 at Birchwood Conference Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. The AOM had representation from 12 of the 14 SADC Member States. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Mauritius were unable to send delegates. The AOM was organized around the main theme of; Enhancing organizational, technical and institutional efficiency in Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (VAA) practice. The aim of the meeting was to provide National Vulnerability Assessment Committees (NVACs) and cooperating partners with an opportunity to share lessons learnt and thus advance the adoption of good practices among Vulnerability Assessment Committees (VACs) in the region. The AOM is also a forum that brings together NVACs and the RVAC to review their progress over the past year and plan for the year ahead The meeting focused on discussions / presentations on various institutional and technical around the following sub themes; 1) Day 1, Morning session: Current Situation Analysis, SADC VAC Regional Updates Afternoon session: Innovations in VAA-Improved Market Analysis and Response Options 2) Day 2, Morning session: Innovations in VAA, Policy Formulation & VAC Institutional Frameworks. Afternoon session: NVACs Annual Work plans and Resource Requirements. The 2007 AOM was held at the back drop of the following milestones: 1. The successfully establishment of a Project Management Unit (PMU) in Gaborone to oversee the implementation of the SADC RVAC Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) five-year programme. The PMU is based at the SADC secretariat in Gaborone and now has a full complement of staff consisting of three SADC staff namely, the Programme Manager, VAA specialist and Finance and Administration Officer. In addition, cooperating partners the Regional Hunger & Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) and the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (WFP)/Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) have seconded one technical advisor each to supplement the technical staff capacity and provide support to the PMU. 2. Training and Capacity Building initiatives on vulnerability assessments and analysis to member states. The SADC PMU provided Guidance on national planning to a majority of the member states in 2007 including: Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. The PMU also actively supported the rural vulnerability assessments that were undertaken by member states in May/June 2007. The support ranged from; reviewing assessment tools and analytical frameworks through e-mail and telephone contact, to providing or facilitating assistance in data analysis which was requested by Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho. 3. Initiation of NVAC technical exchange programme: Lesotho VAC to Swaziland (Analysis of Household Economy Approach data), Namibia Visits to Malawi VAC (Institutionalization). 4. Expansion of VAC to all SADC Member States. During the latter part of the year, ToRs were finalized and consultancies endorsed to establish and/or strengthen the establishment of VACs in Madagascar, Angola, and Namibia. Implementation of the consultancies began in November/December 2007. 5. Facilitation of strategic planning for capacity building and training as well as the development of the Centres of Excellence. The SADC PMU drafted a discussion document which identified 4 short courses for 2007. This includes

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The AOM was preceded by a training workshop on Improved Monitoring and Integration of Food Security Scenarios into the VAC Process and Products. from the November 29th December 1st; This training workshop facilitated by FEWSNET, forms part of a series of joint activities planned for 2008 by FEWS NET and the SADC RVAC with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Developments Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance. The objective is to help support and build capacity within the NVACs.

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Day 1: 03 December 2007 Morning session: Current Situation Analysis, SADC VAC Regional Updates 1. Introduction The SADC VAC Chair opened the meeting by introducing all participants present. This was followed by opening remarks from the FAO representative on behalf of the RVAC members/partners (FEWSNET, RHVP, WFP, WHO, OCHA, UNICEF, FAO, Oxfam, Care.). She described the progress the RVAC 5-year programme to strengthen vulnerability analysis in the SADC region had made. She noted that it was pleasing to see the PMU operational and fully staffed. In this regard, she welcomed the new Programme Manager of the PMU who had come on board in November 2007. The SADC Food Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) Director then officially opened the AOM. In her speech she reminded participants that the goal of the RVAC is to provide regional co-ordination; build technical and institutional capacity in the field of vulnerability analysis; and inform policy formulation within the SADC region. She then highlighted some of the RVACs main achievements in 2007, which included technical backstopping missions to NVACs; facilitation of NVAC technical exchange programmes; progress in setting up NVACs in Madagascar and Angola; and the selection of the regional Centre of Excellence (CoE) in VAA. She informed the AOM that these activities would continue in the coming year, but in order to do that, the NVACs would need to outline their 2008 workplans, and clearly identify where SADC support and political engagement would be required. She also noted in her speech that despite the progress made, some challenges were being experienced regionally including: Insufficient technical capacity at country level, which is compounded by high staff turnover among NVACs; Slow progress at institutionalization of the VACs within National Government structures resulting in lack of full-time or dedicated staff with associated budgets; Lack of champions at national level to advocate for VAC issues; Lack of clear roles among NVAC members; Late mobilization of funds leading to delays, particularly in conducting annual assessment; Lack of harmonization of assessments at national level; and Conflicting interests and sometimes disagreement among RVAC members leading to delays in implementing programmes.

The Director then reiterated that she expected the meeting to address some of the issues above and identify lasting solutions. She concluded her speech by expressing her sincere appreciation for both the technical and financial support of all the RVAC partners without which the RVAA work could not have succeeded. The PMU outlined that the main objective of workshop was to stimulate interest and should individual VACs request support in following up on any of the innovations, the PMU would facilitate further discussion or exchange.

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2. Seasonal rainfall performance and prognosis,: The SADC Regional Remote Sensing (RRSU) presented the Southern African Regional Climate Outlook Forums (SARCOF) forecast for October-December 2007 and January-March 2008. The main issues to note from these forecasts were: 1) Northern DRC, northern Angola and the coast of Tanzania are likely to get below-normal rain in both of these periods. 2) Mozambique and Madagascar are again likely to get above-normal amounts of rainfall in Jan-Mar, which indicates floods and cyclones. 3) Rains have mostly been starting on time in most areas, and actually 10 to 20 days earlier than usual. 4) Other areas are still awaiting normal onset of effective planting rains, 5) In some of the northern parts of Tanzania, the start of the rainfall season is more than 30 days late. 6) Above normal rains have so far fallen in some areas including Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, and southern Zimbabwe Issues raised in plenary:
The contribution of other factors than rainfall alone, like agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers should be taken into account. Malawi was commended for her efforts in subsidised inputs distribution, which has significantly contributed to the last 2 years of bumper harvests. However, it was noted that in Mozambique, inputs do not appear to be readily available. The meeting noted that as yet there was no information on the status as regards supply of farm inputs for the other SADC countries. Concern was raised regarding the discrepancy between the SARCOF forecast and the subsequent picture of the seasonal rainfall performance as this suggests that the SARCOF forecasts have limited predictive power. In response, it was noted that rainfall estimates depend on rain gauge data. However, the rain-gauge network is limited and forecasters have to rely on satellite observations (which are less reliable) to triangulate the data.

3. Integrated Phase classification ( IPC) A representative of FAO from their Headquarters in Rome made a brief introduction to the idea behind the IPC, highlighting that: The IPC is an information protocol, a meta-analysis-tool, basically a way of synthesizing information. It is not an information-system in itself. He also explained the value-addition of such a tool, its current status of development and possible complementarities in the SADC region. It was important to note that 7 key agencies are aligned in their efforts of implementing the IPC as a global system, and are working together at global level through a technical working group. The IPC relies on data generated by the ongoing food security assessments in a country. The merging issues are able to be prioritised and it provides decision makers with a six month forecast of how the situation could evolve. This affords a transparent means for humanitarian and other actors to defend their decisions to prioritise one region/district over another. This was followed by a presentation from Kenya (Office of the President and FAO Kenya) on their IPC experience, outlining the institutional environment of food security analysis in Kenya and how the IPC had been introduced in this context. They explained that it had been necessary for them to modify the IPC classification by introducing a new phase that distinguished the generally food secure according to their resilience.

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FAO Zimbabwe shared their views on the IPC, highlighting their interest in participating in a pilot but indicated the challenges they foresee in adopting this approach, which included the need; To reclassify the phases to better suit the context in Southern Africa For a common understanding of the system and buy-in by stakeholders (decision makers & technicians), which will require the lead institution to have the necessary authority For capacity building and upfront clarity on technical matters such as the use (or otherwise) of qualitative indicators.

Issues raised in plenary:

The concerns raised by Zimbabwe were acknowledged, and there are plans for FAO and others working with IPC at a global level, to engage the local stakeholders in Zimbabwe through a workshop in late January and ensure that the IPC can be made context-specific to the country and Southern Africa. This more so given that with the present indicators, few countries in the SADC region would be classified as a humanitarian emergency post 2002. It had been stated in the presentations that IPC is in itself not a response tool. The presenters explained this by saying while the IPC is always linked to a response framework, giving possible alternative responses and their consequences, it does not provide an analysis of partner capacity, political considerations, logistic etc. The IPC will not itself improve the quality of information in a country; it will just extract the maximum amount of logic from the information currently available. It will however (through the analysis) clearly point out where there are concerns with the quality and/or quantity of information. Regarding methodology, it was stated that the IPC system is based on a convergence of evidence and thus works with information generated through assessments, regardless of the methodology employed to generate it (though this should be credible). On the added value provided by IPC given that other classifications already exist in different countries, it was explained that the IPC has learned from all earlier classification systems that were largely developed using proprietary agency methodologies for internal decision-making purposes. The IPC seeks to create consensus on one common classification system to be used by all stakeholders. There was acknowledgment that the IPC only touches marginally on health issues, because while they contribute to food insecurity, they are not core factors. There are nevertheless continuing discussions with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF to identify which indicators would be most useful. Given the already complex nature of the system in its current form, there may be consideration to look into conducting separate exercises for each sector. There were questions as to how IPC deals and reflects with temporal insecurity. On this, FAO shared that apart from looking at the likelihood of the situation changing, the tool also takes into account how many years a certain region has been in a certain phase, thus allowing comparison backwards in time. For future predictions the focus is on creating scenarios that elaborate on how likely a change in phase may be depending on different events. It was however noted that while this tool can help decision makers to make certain decisions, it can only go so far in doing so. There was acknowledgement that this is a potential valuable tool and suggestion that SADC form a working group to input into the global process. To this end, FAO will organise a full briefing for SADC RVAC members on the IPC system, early in 2008 in Gaborone.

4. Scenario building in VAC work (FEWS NET) FEWS Net then made a short presentation on the training workshop on Improved Monitoring and Integration of Food Security Scenarios into the VAC Process and Products.. This will be an ongoing training exercise that will be conducted in three phases; the first being the one conducted in December 2007, the second one is earmarked to take place around June/July 2008 and the third one towards the end of the year. In the interim, each of the participating NVACs committed to undertake specific activities to incorporate scenario analysis into their VAC process.

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5. PMU Progress Report; The SADC PMU gave a report outlining; - Activities accomplished by the PMU in 2007 - Progress towards achieving the SADC RVAA 5-Year Programme and priority activities for 2008 Issues arising in plenary:
SADC appealed to the International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) to as much as possible, work through the SADC VAC system when carrying out their activities in the region Regarding political will of National Governments to support the VACs, the point was made that Governments have sent high level representation (Permanent Secretary Level) to Regional VAC meetings when requested. The endorsement of the SADC RVAA 5-Year Programme by Integrated Council of Ministers. The PMU is continuing discussions in member states to entrench the acceptance of the VACs by ministries, but it must be acknowledged that this is a slow process. However definite progress has been made such that even Member States without NVACs, have asked SADC for support to establish these structures.

6. Regional Synthesis Report: The PMU provided the meeting with a synthesis of the Regional food security situation in 2007, based on results of the June assessments and October updates where available. Issues arising in plenary:

The SADC RVAC chair observed that ongoing differences persist in data reported by CFSAM and NVACs and said there is need for reconciliation of these figures. Mozambique, Zambia and Malawi delegations raised issue on the figures quoted in the PMU report. It was agreed that bilateral discussions would allow for the correct data to be provided to the PMU and SADC It was further noted that the presentation weighed heavily on results of assessments in the six EMOP countries and SADC should be providing a regional picture. In this regard, SADCs response was that they sometimes face difficulty in accessi ng timely information directly from national government bodies. In these cases they need to source if from elsewhere, which is not ideal. There is a responsibility incumbent upon the VACs to be proactive in providing information to SADC through the PMU The FANR Director made mention of some issues that they are called upon to explain/defend during the Council of Ministers meetings. In the last meeting, the Ministers wanted to know why despite Mozambique producing a surplus of maize, they were still requesting International assistance for the vulnerable. The response was that though there may be a national surplus, problems of poor infrastructure make it difficult to move cereal from the more productive areas in the North to the chronically vulnerable areas in the South. This highlighted the need for greater dialogue between SADC and the VACs and it was suggested that the VACs could consider presenting their results in a way that better highlights these challenges.

7. Presentation on Regional Core Common Indicators: Following on the discussions about the food security and vulnerability situation in the region, the PMU went on to remind the meeting that during the last AOM, a set of Core Common Indicators were agreed on by the

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VACs and a commitment was made to collectively report on the basic nine indicators. This was in an effort to better allow for comparability of the food security situation across the countries in the region. Issues arising in plenary:
There was agreement that this is an important issue to address, however, not all VACs have implemented the resolution fully. Swaziland VAC indicated that their last assessment incorporated the majority if not all of the indicators; however countries like Zambia said they are unable to incorporate such issues when carrying out rapid assessments. RVAC members pointed out that, it may not be necessary for the VAC to directly collect such data (e.g. mortality rates, prevalence of malnutrition etc), but these data can be obtained from other responsible partners whose core mandate it is to generate the information. It was asked whether there would be an attempt to create a weighting system for these indicators to allow for more meaningful comparison between countries. The RVAC response was that this would be hard to do but interesting. Drawing the discussion back to the earlier one on the IPC system, participants wanted to know how these or other core (common) indicators could be linked to the IPC process. The response from the Kenyan team was that it is only at the stage of converging evidence that the relative importance of one piece of information over another is determined. However, in Kenya, they found that IPC has helped to resolve this issue. It was further pointed out that many of the Core Common Indicators are part of the IPC and therefore would certainly feed directly into that process. They further advised that it is indeed a good idea to harmonize indicators as this promotes comparability across countries

8. Update on SADC Centre of Excellence (CoE),: The PMU presented a short update on the progress made in developing a capacity building and training programme for vulnerability analysis in the SADC region. SADC explained that the selection of the African Centre for Food Security Studies (ACFS) of the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) as a SADC CoE for Vulnerability and Food Security studies had followed a well-documented 3 step consultation process. Following the identification of the CoE, they prepared and presented a draft action plan to design and deliver 4 course modules in the short term. Funding was committed through partners to support the design & delivery of these modules and SADC is now awaiting an implementation plan on how this work will be carried out as well as a long-term strategic planning document that articulates how the longer term vision for the academic programme will unfold. As part of finalizing a MoU with ACFS, SADC will commission an institutional review and verification mission to ACFS. Issues arising in plenary:
The South African participants indicated that they were not provided with an opportunity to input into the needs assessment that resulted in the identification and prioritisation of the Regional training and capacity building needs. It was acknowledged that this was an oversight and SADC would follow up with the CoE on this.

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Afternoon session: Innovation in VAA & Improved Market Analysis and Response Options 9. Presentation on Incorporation of HIV/AIDS into VAA: The high prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the SADC region, makes it necessary to ensure that assessments take the issue into account. WFP presented their recent efforts to include HIV/AIDS into the household survey methodologies. The presentation focused on recommendations and lessons learned on the use of the questionnaire regarding chronic illness as a proxy for HIV/AIDS status, and how to analyse such data. Some of the challenges include finding appropriate proxy measures for HIV infection. In the absence if other viable alternatives, chronic illness is commonly used as an indicator, but the drawback is that it is only effective where the HIV/AIDS prevalence is high, plus the fact that the assessments are unable to determine whether the chronic illness is HIV linked. There is also no specific threshold proposed by the literature, but there given the scale of the pandemic in Southern Africa, it is generally agreed that most countries in Southern Africa would qualify for the use of this indicator. WFP stressed that this is a work in progress and they are engaged in on-going work with Michigan State University, to refine the tools. They are therefore looking at other methodologies to see how their recommendations can stand up to the others. The hope is sharing information in this manner will generate discussion and feedback from other actors. Issues arising in plenary:

WHO noted that there is indeed the danger of overestimating HIV prevalence through use of chronic illness as an indicator is a serious concern and suggested that the best approach would be to use clinical signs of the disease to determine infection. However, this could only be adequately done in a medical setting such as a hospital or clinic and would need competent medical staff to achieve, hence the preference of the Chronic Illness proxy.

WFP noted that there are efforts to more precise in asking about some symptoms that are common in HIV/AIDS, but this does also introduce an element of bias because this assumes the respondents are able to distinguish the symptoms. There may be some merit in looking at opportunistic diseases such as TB that are strongly associated with HIV/AIDS.
There was however general acknowledgment that though chronic illness can be an imprecise indicator, it nevertheless has proved useful to enhance out understanding of the impact of illness on food security The meeting was informed that a Demographic Household Survey (DHS) in Cameroon performed bloodtests in addition to asking about Chronic Illness but early results showed poor correlation between the two. Over time, monitoring of HIV affected households has not conclusively shown them to be more or less food insecure than non affected ones when their food consumption adequacy is assessed. However, there is increasing attention to exploring the level of livelihood stress experienced by such households, and results show clearly that these households engage more frequently in a range of destructive coping strategies In particular, there appears to be a higher likelihood of them engaging in coping mechanisms that are related to agricultural production as their available pool of human labour is depleted due to illness or death of one or more of their members. There is therefore reduction in the quality and quantity of food that they are able to produce.

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10. Profiling chronically vulnerable populations: The Lesotho VAC (LVAC) made a presentation of their efforts in profiling chronically vulnerable populations. The LVAC baselines have been compared with official poverty lines to see how the different wealth groups using the HEA approach fit into official poverty classification as developed by the Household Budget Survey. This analysis seems to indicate that the LVAC data is congruent with HBS data and can be used to identify household based targeting for both humanitarian and social protection programmes. Issues arising in plenary:
The meeting commended LVAC for their work in this area and SADC asked to what extent policy makers are actually making use of such information. Lesotho responded that in their case, there is extensive use by the government and partners as the basis of their planning. The objective of engaging in this work was to be able to guide government appropriately with regards to the implementation of social protection programmes. There was some question on the validity of the conclusions made and whether the poverty level percentages actually were congruent with the LVAC wealth groups, especially given that LVAC assesses rural populations, while the figures against which they are comparing their data are national (i.e incorporating both rural and urban populations). It may therefore be purely by chance that there appears to be agreement. Lesotho acknowledged that there are limitations which they are working to overcome and this is a work in progress. With more recent national data expected, the work will continue to be refined and should produce further and more reliable analysis. It was also noted that the US$1/day threshold should not be converted using the direct exchange rate, but rather the purchasing power parity rate. There is also need for further studies on the national economies in the SADC region, as this figure of US$ /day needs to be validated. In this analysis, LVAC adopted a poverty level lower than this international benchmark. The poverty line in this work was established using a basic basket of goods for an average Lesotho and according to that standard, half of Lesotho was classified as ultra poor. SADC noted that these type of initiatives need to be followed up by the RVAC as they have potential to help us to draw better conclusions about the nature and character of vulnerable populations

11. Decision making tool for markets analysis: CARE presented a market analysis tool they are developing to assist them in decision making as to the most appropriate interventions and policy responses to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. The presentation highlighted the use of the Decision Tree in Market Analysis as a potential tool to support VAA analysis and outputs. The tool is still in development phase and broader technical engagement is required, including piloting in several countries. The work has been necessitated by the fact that cash programming is relatively new or newly revived. There is therefore need to understand how to programme cash effectively and also understand what kind of response analysis needs to happen to reach the decision as whether cash or food represents the most appropriate response. Achieving the right form of transfer is important to ensure that the most appropriate help is given to secure livelihood recovery. Market assessments are crucial to inform this type of programming and yet they have not been done as often as they could be. Ultimately, CAREs goal is to figure out the type of market assessments that will be needed and that will be effective. Of necessity, these should have elements of both the local and regional context. The hope

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is that over time, this tool will prove effective and suitable for adoption by Governments as well as other NGOs. Issues arising in plenary:
There was concern that cash transfers do not always benefit nutrition status as the cash is often used for purchases other than food. CARE responded that their pilots to this point have been on a small scale. However, some studies do suggest that availability of cash within the household increases the dietary diversity but not necessarily caloric intake. There is definite attempt to target women to receive the funds as women are generally more likely to buy food with their money. In Malawi, CONCERN implemented a programme where they targeted money to women and cautioned them against doing anti social things with it. This created pressure for families to avoid being caught doing these things, lest they lose their benefits. There are dangers that cash transfers may result in prices being hiked by local traders with the result that the amount being disbursed does not in the long run allow the households to purchase adequate amounts of food for their families. However, there is on-going work to explore the potential of indexing cash to food prices. The tool attempts to explore issues of competition, potential for monopolistic activity and where it is evident that this could be the result, CARE is more cautious about implementing a cash programme. It is however not possible to guarantee an absence of cartel behaviour but the tool can help to anticipate what is likely to happen. There is need to flexibility in the programming to allow for a shift from cash to food if things are going poorly. Lesotho noted that their assessments have shown a need for cash as well as food and this has been borne out in their analysis. Apart from food, households have other needs such as schooling, health, soap, Vaseline. They therefore saw this CARE presentation as being of assistance in helping them in their efforts to arrive at a determination of the right balance of food and cash. Further, work is presently on-going with WFP to research how market analysis information can be incorporated into the analyses With so many different organizations piloting cash transfers in the region, the meeting felt it would be helpful for CARE to work with these other actors rather than have each organization testing different approaches on their own.

12. VAA Information Management Systems: It was noted that the challenge/lack of a system to centrally manage vulnerability assessment data has been highlighted continuously by NVACs. The presentation by SAHIMS outlined how they are working in partnership with the SADC RVAC on the National Data Management System to support VA using the DEVINFO application software. The application facilitates data centralization and accessibility through good data management and structured data processing. It was indicated that the system is interoperable and designed to accept the different types of data used by NVACs thus complying with existing systems standards as well as maintaining quality data. The presence of such as system implies that there is a structured way of managing and storing data assets. The value lies in the fact that this allows the same data to be used again and again by different parties. At present, most NVACs have information sitting on a number of computers and as data is modified, one set of actors may end up working on a different data set than their peers, thus resulting in the drawing of different conclusions from what is presumed to be the same data set. SAHIMS indicated that there is funding and technical support available to not only put these systems in place, but also train people on how to use them. Dev Info has been installed in some NVAC countries as part of a pilot

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exercise, but use post training has been disappointingly low. This is unfortunate as MDG, poverty and vulnerability analysis and monitoring can benefit from such a structured information system. It was suggested that as a way forward, there is need to tailor and information system that meets the needs of each individual country. NVACs also have to commit to use and update the system. Issues arising in plenary:
It was indicated that the strength of Dev info l ies in its utility for data dissemination. There is need to consolidate what has been done in the pilot countries. Malawi has advanced. They have MASEDA, a national central database on MDGS, which is available on the net and based on Dev Info technology. In Swaziland, Swazi Info is available and is managed by government through CSO.

13. Adding Markets to the VAA in Malawi The presentation by FEWS NET indicated that market information systems have todate emphasized price monitoring. This data is used for early warning and food security monitoring. Policy interventions have been used to stabilize food prices in Malawi, but the market system still has to be well-understood. As a region, there is need to share experiences with RVAC as well as ideas on useful tools. Issues arising in plenary: Within the National VACs, there are member agencies that are tasked with markets and MISs. However, often, this issue is addressed from the commercialization perspective rather than food security. VACs need to establish what they want and move towards securing technical support from the relevant agencies. Some of the analysis is something the VAC can contract others to do in order to add to their analysis 14. Resource and training materials: The PMU presented some training materials for the HEA approach (from RHVP) and household survey analysis and needs assessments (from WFP).

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Day 2: 4 December 2007 Morning session: Innovations in VAA, Policy Formulation & VAC Institutional Frameworks 15. Cross Boarder Food Trade Monitoring FEWS NET and WFP have been jointly implementing a Cross Border Food Trade Monitoring Project since 2004. A total of 29 borders are being monitored across 7 countries in the region. The purpose of the project was to monitor and quantify informal cross border trade in cereal. The information and data collected through the project is vital for food security analysis in the monitored countries. Regular country, regional and border reports were produced by the project. The project funding has now ended and there are plans to negotiate with SADC and specifically the PMU (which plays a regional coordinating function) to see how this work can be carried forward and even extended to other NVACs. Issues arising in plenary:
The exercise was commended. The PMU was urged to continue the initiative and need was expressed to extend the monitoring system to other countries like Lesotho.

16. Rapid Assessment Approaches: SAHIMS led this discussion and began by saying there is critical need for SADC countries vulnerable to natural disasters such as to floods, cyclone and drought to generate national rapid assessment tools and guidelines including response strategies. It was reiterated that there is an urgent need to develop a regional strategy for responding to sudden onset disasters. There is a need to empower NVACs to carry out timely assessments when these sudden disasters strike. SADC RVAC can help by developing a multi-hazard rapid assessments toolbox for use by NVACs. Training can also be provided to VAC members on how to conduct effective rapid assessments. NVACs need to advise SADC PMU as to how they can be supported to strengthen national components and what training can be provided to build capacity. Issues arising in plenary:
A question was posed as to whether there are actually separate methods for assessing rapid onset disasters or if rather it is a question of how we respond. There was acknowledgment that we do not always respond quickly enough. In response, the presenter noted that indeed there are very specific approaches for rapid assessment and the challenge is how we can be proactive as R/NVACs to ensure we can provide information in a timely manner to align with appeal and response processes of the donors.

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17. Crop Food Supply Assessment Missions (CFSAM) FAO led the discussion on CFSAM with the objective of fostering greater understanding of the CFSAM process. They began by noting that this exercise is not negotiated. It is expected to be an independent verification mission in cases where wide scale crop failure is anticipated or evident. Admittedly, there have been fewer CFSAMs since early 2000. Such missions are undertaken at the request of the National Government. The CFSAM was said to be an audit exercise that does not generate new data. CFSAM is supposed to be based on what is existing within country. The mission should and does endeavour to work with the NVAC and thus early enough provide the best scenario for the coming season. It would be ideal to work only with the VAC data, but often this data has not yet been generated at the time the CFSAM mission is in country. Issues arising in plenary: The meeting requested FAO to share on how the Sahelians are conducting CFSAM missions. FAO responded that in this case, the CFSAM has become more of a joint process with govt and partners. CILSS (The equivalent of the VAC system), carries out an independent assessment on the production across all West Africa. These results and those of government agencies are then reviewed by a joint panel of government and NGOs and consensus reached as to what the severity of the situation is. It appears that the VACs in the SADC region are creating the same type of environment. The age old question of differences in methodology and findings of the VAC and CFSAM remains a burning issue. There also is the issue of which results carry weight/authority i.e whose numbers are correct. SADC added their voice to this, saying that Member States believe they have the systems to collect and analyse the required information. There is however a perception that the CFSAM is necessary only because it is a requirement of the donor community and guides their contribution to Humanitarian efforts. There was a call for the expertise for conducting CFSAMs to be transferred to national VACs or other national institutions. FAOs response was that much of what was being raised was historical, however, there has been a conscious effort to move away from this type of approach and there would hopefully be less contention. Critical issues related to timing of the two assessments as well as the generation of different figures. There was acknowledgement that if Government is calling for CFSAMs because they believe it is a condition of the Appeal process, then they are being coerced. WFP and FAO have proposed that the CFSAM be conducted in two stages first the FAO side and then when the VAC results are available, the CFSAM conducts an audit of their findings to verify the number in need of food assistance. This approach is being piloted in Ethiopia and feedback on this two stage process is not so positive. However, it is crucial to note that if the VAC does not provide detailed information by May/June, then it is too late to mobilize the donor community to provide assistance. We need to move to a situation where we can categorically say that as SADC and the NVACs we have confidence in the VAC process and that the figures can be relied on. IN such a case, there would be no need to undertake a CFSAM. There is however need to engage in advocacy to ensure that all stakeholders share this opinion

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18. Zambia VAC process of feeding information into policy: Zambia highlighted the steps they are taking to streamline the VAC into the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU). This example was an inspiration to other NVACs as Zambia. DMMU has requested the Government of Zambia to approve two full time positions for VAC secretariat staff. Specific TORS for the staff have been drawn up. The full time staff will manage the day to day coordination of the VAC activities and also oversee the set up/strengthening and implementation of a vulnerability and food security monitoring system. Issues arising in plenary:

Given that Government is scaling down its staff complement, it is not easy to create new staff positions. Gaps exist in the Early Warning System (EWS) and these relate to both technical and staff constraints. There is need to have all the elements of the EWS (Water Affairs - hydrobiology, Meteorological Unit and the Early Warning Unit) to work together to feed into one system. The time frame required to establish a position in government is very lengthy as once a position is approved, it often has to wait for the next budget cycle for the necessary funds to be approved and allocated for the position to meet salary costs etc. In this case, the hope is that the positions will be operational by the 2nd quarter of 2008. SADC commended this as a step in the right direction, noting that SADCs goal is to entrench the VACs within national processes, with government providing budgetary support for core VAC activities. Madagascar indicated that they have commissioned a study to define the set-up of their NVAC. Their Disaster Management Unit is also being restructured and the NVAC staff requirements will be considered in that structure

19. Mozambique / Malawi Institutionalisation: Malawi and Mozambique were presented as examples of countries within the SADC region that have made significant strides in institutionalising their NVACs. Malawi VAC is housed within the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development (MEPD), a Ministry with a coordinating function. The Malawi VAC has a dedicated budget for their activities. The main contributor to this is DFID. In the secretariat, there is a Technical Advisor seconded by Save the Children (US), two Economists and an Administrator. MEPD has also provided office space to the VAC secretariat. Plans are now underway to recruit a National VAC coordinator who will understudy the Technical Advisor with a view to take over the functions of the Advisor within two years. On the other hand, the Mozambique VAC is housed within the Ministry of Agriculture.

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Issues arising in plenary:

In response to a query on how long it took Malawi to institutionalise their NVAC, they stated that the process began in 2002, after the devastating drought. At that time, every ones interest was raised to have a VAC to improve capacity to anticipate and respond to shocks in a timely manner, as well as keep abreast of the changing vulnerability and food insecurity situation over time. This desire coincided with the SADC RVAC initiative to establish NVACs in all Member States. This took two years to achieve. In the first year, the NVAC focused on organisational issues such as the placement of the VAC within government. Several options were proposed and MEPD was selected because of its coordinating function. From there, it took a further two years to institutionalise. The structure was in place by 2005. The Malawi VAC reported that DFID is the main source of funding for the running of the MVAC secretariat. The breakdown of contributions to the MVAC activities is as follows; DFID provides 57%, Govt 3%, RHVP 10%, EU 30%. While there was appreciation that the MVAC has funds to run their activities, concern was raised regarding the very low level of financial contribution by the Malawi Government as this questions the sustainability of the MVAC process in the long run. The example of Zambia was cited as a good institutionalisation model to follow, where the VAC is firmly embedded within government and specific VAC posts are funded within the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit which is the hosting agency. This in contrast to Malawi which ahs adopted more of a project approach. However, it was noted that for Malawi, the project approach has yielded the desired results. Reports are produced on time and fed into relevant policy processes. It was stressed that for the VACs to be taken seriously by government and other stakeholders within the country, it is necessary for the VACs to produced quality products and thus stimulate demand for their products. The VACs were asked if they were building capacity to support policy monitoring and reform. Malawi reported that the VAC is engaged in following up on progress towards the attainment of the MDGs. It was suggested that the PMU facilitate the documentation of the progress towards institutionalisation of the VACs including information such as where the VACs are housed in each country and this may lead us to some conclusions as to which arrangement works best in a given environment

Afternoon session: VAC Annual Work Plans and Resource Requirements The whole afternoon session was devoted to completion and plenary presentation of VAC work plans by NVACs. The AOM was officially closed by the Director, SADC FANR.

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Annex 1: List of Participants & Contact Details

Name PMU Duncan Samikwa Gary Sawdon Clare Mbizule Isaac Tarakidzwa Angola VAC Maria Eugenia F. da Silva Botswana Chada Koketso Obakeng Phaladze Lesotho VAC Mats'elitso Mojaki Mokotla Ntela Mbatlokoa Maloi Malawi VAC Hannock Kumwenda Walusungu Kayira Charles Rethman Sam Chimwanza Evans Chapasuka Masozi Kachale Madagascar Mr Charles Dsir Alexandre Rambolarson Maherisoa Rakotonirainy Federica Pretolani Mozambique Francisca Cabral Sissenando Marcelino Olanda Bata Antonio Mavie Namibia Gabriel Kangowa Ms Judith Malambo Chris Wimmerth Abel Hamutenya Swaziland VAC Mduduzi Gamedze Thembumenzi Dube Benjamin Flomo Tanzania Winnie Bashagi Edgar Senga Omabeli Lemweli Zambia Domeniciano Mulenga Anderson Banda Isabel Tembo Chansa Mushinge Allan Mulando Zimbabwe VAC George Kembo Blessing Butaumocho Faith Chikomo Ms Fungai Makarudze Clever Chingwara Sydney Mhishi James Acidri Douglas Magunda Jean Calude Urvoy South Africa Gabriel Mmila Sandile Ngcamphalala Position Updated e-mail address Contact numbers

Programme Manager - SADC/RVAC PMU Technical Advisor (RHVP) - SADC/RVAC PMU Technical Advisor (WFP/FAO) - SADC/RVAC PMU VAA Specialist - SADC/RVAC PMU Angola VAC Member Botswana VAC Botswana VAC Disaster Management Agency - VAC Chair DMA - VAC Member DMA - VAC Member Ministry of Economic Planning and Development - VAC Chair

dsamikwa@sadc.int gary@rhvp.org; sawdon@it.bw Clare.Mbizule@wfp.org itarakidzwa@sadc.int muesi_7@hotmail.com ckoketso@gov.bw

+267 72112031 +267 7421 7119 +267 7211 2032 244 926 279851 267 391 4938/3950181

dce@dma.gov.ls ntelam@dma.gov.ls @yahoo.com chairperson@malawivac.net wvkayira@yahoo.co.uk techadvisor@malawivac.net schimwanza@fews.net echapasuka@fews.net masozi.kachale@wfp.org

266 22 312183 266 22 312183 266 22 312183 265 17 88 888 265 09 512928 265 08 966605 265 09 918936 265 08 763740 265 88 74497

Disaster Management Unit - National VAC focal point WFP - VAC Member FAO VAC Chair Country Rep - FEWSNET - VAC member FEWSNET - VAC member VAC Chair Office of the Prime Minister - Namibia VAC Office of the Prime Minister - Namibia VAC

protimamoa@yahoo.fz mherisoa.rakotonirainy@wfp.org

261 324 557033 261 320 713692

fcabral@setsan.org.mz sma obata@fews.net amavie@fews.net gkangowa@opm.gov.na jmalambo@opm.gov.na aha@windhoekcc.org.na

258 82 3943820 258 82 9047020 264 61 273550

264 61 273550 264 61 2902812 268 6045976 268 6087333 268 6028553 255 754865664 255 756880834

Swazi VAC Coordinator Swazi VAC Coordinator WFP - VAC Member

gamedze@gmail.com dubethe@gov.sz benjamin.flomo@wfp.org wbashagi@chemonics.net lemweli@yahoo.com

Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit - VAC Chair DMMU - VAC Member Pam - VAC Member FEWSNET - VAC Member

vacsecretariat@yahoo.com andybanda@hotmail.com isabel_tembo@yahoo.com cmushinge@fews.net

260 211252692 260 977774436 260 126275011

Food and Nutrition Commission - VAC Chair FEWSNET - VAC Member FEWSNET - VAC Member CSO CSO Director - Dept of Social Welfare

gkembo@sirdc.ac.zw bbutaumocho@fews.net fchikomo@fews.net

263 4862586 260 1 26275011 263 912252521

mhishi@sdf.org.zw douglas.magunda@wfp.org jeanclaude.urvoy@fao.org

263 4720692

263 9122373011 27 12 3196735 27 12 3196800

Department of Agriculture - Food Security Unit Department of Agriculture - Food Security Unit

gabrielmm@nda.agric.za sandilen@nda.agric.za

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