What happened this quarter? (brief synthesis of activities)

Information sharing: news, publications, vacancies

During the first quarter of the year 2017 there were many tasks to accomplish. Among them some important ones are highlighted below:

RSP Capacity Building:

Several tools and techniques are adopted to build the capacity of the RSPs. One of them was joint meetings with RSPs in Haripur. A meeting was conducted on 14th Jan in Haripur in one of RSPs' office where advocacy by RSPs and its planning was discussed. Another agenda point was to discuss the 3rd F2F and Konrad's visit to Pakistan. Deadlines were set to finish MIs as well as endline and then expected dates of Konrad's arrival to Pakistan. But then IFOAM guided us to carry out endline on the same dates when baseline was done. So now the deadlines are changed. RSPs are busy in their micro interventions,which will be finished by mid of May. After mid of May RSPs will carry out endline in their respective areas.

Webinars are supposed to again train the RSPs on certain issue. But in the previous ones there were always so many issues such as low connectivity of internet, language hurdle and absence of so many RSPs. Therefore this time RSPs decided that instead of webinar they will ask local expert to give them lecture. But one the RSPs Mr. Manzoor voluntarily offered his services. So a one day session was conducted on silage making and its importance in sustainable agriculture. It was a one day session in which almost 18 RSPs participated and some influential of the area including manager of Agriculture Developmet Bank Haripur, some people from agriculture department and local elected representatives. Mr. Manzoor Khan took a two hour session on silage followed by progress sharing of each cluster. At the end participants saw live practical demonstration of silage making.

Two days Training on Advocacy and Knowledge Management:

A two days training on Advocacy and Knowledge Management was held in Islamabad on 15th - 16th March. It also included inclusion of Urdu Language on MAAN. The first day was planned for advocacy and Urdu Language while on second day knowledge management session was held to identify best stories from the field. On first day participants were oriented on advocacy,what IFOAM means from Advocacy in NMA. Why it is important and where it lies in the project. In the end it was concluded that advocacy is sharing of information, information campaign and knowledge sharing. So RSPs will narrate their stories in it.

The breakthrough at MAAN was discovering the method of writing in Urdu. The IT manager of IC followed some instructions given by a Nepali colleague and finally got succeeded in writing Urdu on the page. This was a bit tricky method and not every one could follow it so the second half was reserved for this. During the session the RSPs learnt how to write Urdu. They were given Urdu keyboard so that they could follow it. At the end of the session each cluster was asked to write in Urdu there.  Participants became enthusiastic to write in urdu they were of the view that now they won't feel any hesitation in sharing any stuff on MAAN because now they can write in their national language.

On the second day Elsbeth Horbaty International Program Advisor IC and Sadaf Tahir Program Officer Knowledge Management and Acquisition took the session. All the participants were divided into their respective cluster and Market place exercise was done. All the RSPs shared their best practices and results within their cluster and then with the larger group. Now these findings are consolidated and case studies are identified.

Virtual TOT Workshop on Advocacy by Louise Luttikholt:

A two hours virtual TOT workshop was organized by Louise Luttikholt for RSP facilitators. In the workshop advocacy was explained very clearly and what role RSP facilitators and advocacy person have to play project.The training was attended by Pakistan team and then later n delivered to all RSPs.

Networking:

Besides RSPs capacity building and supporting them in micro interventions IC team also worked on networking. Several national and provoncial events were attended by NMA team. They were 

a) SUN-CSA's consultation on unfolding of Multi sectoral Nutrition Strategy to the parliamentarians at provincial level. 

b) SUN Cell Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) govt's workshop on Role of CSOs in implementation of Multi Setoral Integrated Nutrition Strategy at provincial level.

c) National Seminar on Maternal Malnutrition with regard to International Women Day at federal level. The semniar was organized by Micro Nutrient Initiative (MI) in collaboration with SUN-CSA.

d) National Conference on Nutrition by Action Against Hunger at national level.

Besides all these activities RSPs were also facilitated to carry out advocacy activities at the district level. In those activities the Advocacy committee met with several departments at district level and sensitized them on the importance of sustainable agriculture and its promotion in the area.

What activities are not on track according to the plan? (Any issues you would like to raise and get feedback)

What are your plans for next quarter?

The team had recently organized a workshop on Knowledge Management so more focus will be given to compile stories from the field. In this venture Knowledge management team of IC is backing NMA team. Few visits will be made to collect stories from the field and then their compilation.

Endline of the MIs is also expected in the coming quarter i.e in the 2nd half of May.

Sustainable Agriculture exhibition is also planned at the district level which will be used as a tool for further advocacy.

Advocacy messages will be designed in the coming quarter.

The team will also work on IEC material too.

Regular field monitoring visits and progress sharing meetings with RSPs will be as usual carried out.