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2007 VAC System Annual OrganizationalMeeting (AOM) on Vulnerability, Food

Security Early Warning and Reporting inSouthern Africa

Birchwood Hotel, Johannesburg, South Africa3 4 December, 2007

Workshop Report

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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 AOMhad 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) andcooperating partners with an opportunity to share lessons learnt and thus advance the adoption of goodpractices among Vulnerability Assessment Committees (VACs) in the region. The AOM is also a forum thatbrings together NVACs and the RVAC to review their progress over the past year and plan for the year aheadThe 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 UpdatesAfternoon 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 theimplementation of the SADC RVAC Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) five-yearprogramme. 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 andAdministration 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. TheSADC 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 vulnerabilityassessments that were undertaken by member states in May/June 2007. The support ranged from; reviewingassessment tools and analytical frameworks through e-mail and telephone contact, to providing or facilitatingassistance in data analysis which was requested by Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Lesotho.

3. Initiation of NVAC technical exchange programme: Lesotho VAC to Swaziland (Analysis of HouseholdEconomy 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 inMadagascar, 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 theCentres of Excellence. The SADC PMU drafted a discussion document which identified 4 short courses for2007. This includes

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The AOM was preceded by a training workshop on Improved Monitoring and Integration of Food SecurityScenarios 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 andthe 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. IntroductionThe SADC VAC Chair opened the meeting by introducing all participants present. This was followed by openingremarks 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 tostrengthen 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 hadcome 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 technicaland institutional capacity in the field of vulnerability analysis; and inform policy formulation within the SADCregion.

She then highlighted some of the RVACs main achievements in 2007, which included technical backstoppingmissions 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 theAOM that these activities would continue in the coming year, but in order to do that, the NVACs would needto outline their 2008 workplans, and clearly identify where SADC support and political engagement would berequired.

She also noted in her speech that despite the progress made, some challenges were being experienced regionallyincluding:

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 identifylasting solutions. She concluded her speech by expressing her sincere appreciation for both the technical andfinancial 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 VACsrequest support in following up on any of the innovations, the PMU would facilitate further discussion orexchange.

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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 theseforecasts 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:

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 statusof development and possible complementarities in the SADC region. It was important to note that 7 keyagencies are aligned in their efforts of implementing the IPC as a global system, and are workingtogether at global level through a technical working group.

The IPC relies on data generated by the ongoing food security assessments in a country. The mergingissues are able to be prioritised and it provides decision makers with a six month forecast of how thesituation 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 IPCexperience, outlining the institutional environment of food security analysis in Kenya and how the IPChad been introduced in this context. They explained that it had been necessary for them to modify theIPC classification by introducing a new phase that distinguished the generally food secure according to

their resilience.

The contribution of other factors than rainfall alone, like agricultural inputs, especially fertilizers should be takeninto account. Malawi was commended for her efforts in subsidised inputs distribution, which has significantlycontributed 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 theseasonal 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.

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FAO Zimbabwe shared their views on the IPC, highlighting their interest in participating in a pilot but indicatedthe 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) ofqualitative indicators.

Issues raised in plenary:

4. Scenario building in VAC work (FEWS NET)FEWS Net then made a short presentation on the training workshop on Improved Monitoring and Integrationof Food Security Scenarios into the VAC Process and Products.. This will be an ongoing training exercise thatwill be conducted in three phases; the first being the one conducted in December 2007, the second one isearmarked 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 intotheir VAC process.

The concerns raised by Zimbabwe were acknowledged, and there are plans for FAO and others working withIPC 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 bysaying 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 oflogic 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 workswith 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 wasexplained 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 contributeto 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 separateexercises for each sector.

There were questions as to how IPC deals and reflects with temporal insecurity. On this, FAO shared that apartfrom 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 workinggroup 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.

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The SADC RVAC chair observed that ongoing differences persist in data reported by CFSAM and NVACs and said there isneed 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 SADCshould be providing a regional picture. In this regard, SADCs response was that they sometimes face difficulty in accessing

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 ofMinisters 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.

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:

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

Issues arising in plenary:

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

SADC appealed to the International Cooperating Partners (ICPs) to as much as possible, work through the SADCVAC 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 havesent 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.

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VACs and a commitment was made to collectively report on the basic nine indicators. This was in an effort tobetter allow for comparability of the food security situation across the countries in the region.

Issues arising in plenary:

8. Update on SADC Centre of Excellence (CoE),:The PMU presented a short update on the progress made in developing a capacity building and trainingprogramme for vulnerability analysis in the SADC region. SADC explained that the selection of the AfricanCentre 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 ofthese modules and SADC is now awaiting an implementation plan on how this work will be carried out as wellas a long-term strategic planning document that articulates how the longer term vision for the academicprogramme will unfold.

As part of finalizing a MoU with ACFS, SADC will commission an institutional review and verification mission toACFS.

Issues arising in plenary:

There was agreement that this is an important issue to address, however, not all VACs have implemented theresolution 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 rapidassessments.

RVAC members pointed out that, it may not be necessary for the VAC to directly collect such data (e.g. mortalityrates, 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 othercore (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 thatmany 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

The South African participants indicated that they were not provided with an opportunity to input into theneeds 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 takethe 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 thequestionnaire regarding chronic illness as a proxy for HIV/AIDS status, and how to analyse such data. Some ofthe challenges include finding appropriate proxy measures for HIV infection. In the absence if other viablealternatives, 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 chronicillness 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 thisindicator.

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 theirrecommendations 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 illnessas 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 arecommon in HIV/AIDS, but this does also introduce an element of bias because this assumes therespondents 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, itnevertheless 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 blood-tests 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 foodinsecure than non affected ones when their food consumption adequacy is assessed. However, there isincreasing 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 usingthe 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:

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 mostappropriate interventions and policy responses to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. The presentationhighlighted the use of the Decision Tree in Market Analysis as a potential tool to support VAA analysis andoutputs. The tool is still in development phase and broader technical engagement is required, including pilotingin several countries.

The work has been necessitated by the fact that cash programming is relatively new or newly revived. There istherefore 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 appropriateresponse. Achieving the right form of transfer is important to ensure that the most appropriate help is given tosecure livelihood recovery.

Market assessments are crucial to inform this type of programming and yet they have not been done as often asthey could be. Ultimately, CAREs goal is to figure out the type o f 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

The meeting commended LVAC for their work in this area and SADC asked to what extent policy makers are actuallymaking 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 governmentappropriately 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 actuallywere 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 limitationswhich 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 thepurchasing 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 todraw better conclusions about the nature and character of vulnerable populations

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is that over time, this tool will prove effective and suitable for adoption by Governments as well as otherNGOs.

Issues arising in plenary:

12.VAA Information Management Systems:It was noted that the challenge/lack of a system to centrally manage vulnerability assessment data has beenhighlighted continuously by NVACs. The presentation by SAHIMS outlined how they are working in partnershipwith the SADC RVAC on the National Data Management System to support VA using the DEVINFO applicationsoftware. The application facilitates data centralization and accessibility through good data management andstructured data processing. It was indicated that the system is interoperable and designed to accept thedifferent 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 dataassets. The value lies in the fact that this allows the same data to be used again and again by different parties. Atpresent, most NVACs have information sitting on a number of computers and as data is modified, one set ofactors may end up working on a different data set than their peers, thus resulting in the drawing of differentconclusions 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, butalso train people on how to use them. Dev Info has been installed in some NVAC countries as part of a pilot

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 foodwith 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 theamount 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 evidentthat 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 intheir 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 forCARE to work with these other actors rather than have each organization testing different approaches on their

own.

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exercise, but use post training has been disappointingly low. This is unfortunate as MDG, poverty andvulnerability 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 ofeach individual country. NVACs also have to commit to use and update the system.

Issues arising in plenary:

13.Adding Markets to the VAA in MalawiThe presentation by FEWS NET indicated that market information systems have todate emphasized pricemonitoring. 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, thereis need to share experiences with RVAC as well as ideas on useful tools.

Issues arising in plenary:

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).

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 haveMASEDA, 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.

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 needto 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

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Day 2: 4 December 2007

Morning session: Innovations in VAA, Policy Formulation & VAC Institutional Frameworks

15.Cross Boarder Food Trade MonitoringFEWS NET and WFP have been jointly implementing a Cross Border Food Trade Monitoring Project since2004. A total of 29 borders are being monitored across 7 countries in the region. The purpose of the projectwas to monitor and quantify informal cross border trade in cereal. The information and data collected throughthe 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 (whichplays a regional coordinating function) to see how this work can be carried forward and even extended to other

NVACs.

Issues arising in plenary:

16.Rapid Assessment Approaches:SAHIMS led this discussion and began by saying there is critical need for SADC countries vulnerable to naturaldisasters 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 forresponding to sudden onset disasters.

There is a need to empower NVACs to carry out timely assessments when these sudden disasters strike. SADCRVAC can help by developing a multi-hazard rapid assessments toolbox for use by NVACs. Training can also beprovided 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 andwhat training can be provided to build capacity.

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.

A question was posed as to whether there are actually separate methods for assessing rapid onset disastersor 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 thechallenge 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 basedon what is existing within country. The mission should and does endeavour to work with the NVAC and thusearly enough provide the best scenario for the coming season. It would be ideal to work only with the VACdata, 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. FAOresponded 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 productionacross 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. Itappears 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 aburning 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 tocollect 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 toHumanitarian efforts.

There was a call for the expertise for conducting CFSAMs to be transferred to national VACs or othernational 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 hopefullybe less contention. Critical issues related to timing of the two assessments as well as the generation ofdifferent figures. There was acknowledgement that if Government is calling for CFSAMs because theybelieve 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 andthen 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 twostage process is not so positive. However, it is crucial to note that if the VAC does not provide detailedinformation 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 haveconfidence in the VAC process and that the figures can be relied on. IN such a case, there would be noneed 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 andMitigation Unit (DMMU). This example was an inspiration to other NVACs as Zambia. DMMU has requestedthe 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:

19.Mozambique / Malawi Institutionalisation:Malawi and Mozambique were presented as examples of countries within the SADC region that have madesignificant strides in institutionalising their NVACs. Malawi VAC is housed within the Ministry of EconomicPlanning 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 thesecretariat, 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 recruita National VAC coordinator who will understudy the Technical Advisor with a view to take over the functionsof the Advisor within two years.

On the other hand, the Mozambique VAC is housed within the Ministry of Agriculture.

Given that Government is scaling down its staff complement, it is not easy to create new staffpositions.

Gaps exist in the Early Warning System (EWS) and these relate to both technical and staffconstraints. 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 isapproved, 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 willbe operational by the 2nd quarter of 2008.

SADC commended this as a step in the right direction, noting that SADCs goal is to entrench theVACs within national processes, with government providing budgetary support for core VACactivities.

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

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Issues arising in plenary:

Afternoon session: VAC Annual Work Plans and Resource Requirements

The whole afternoon session was devoted to completion and plenary presentation of VAC work plans byNVACs.

The AOM was officially closed by the Director, SADC FANR.

In response to a query on how long it took Malawi to institutionalise their NVAC, they stated that theprocess 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 thesustainability 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 firmlyembedded 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 projectapproach. 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. Malawireported 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 theVACs 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

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Annex 1: List of Participants & Contact Details

Name Position Updated e-mail address Contact numbers

PMU

Duncan Samikwa Programme Manager - SADC/RVAC PMU dsamikwa@sadc.int +267 72112031

Gary Sawdon Technical Advisor (RHVP) - SADC/RVAC PMU gary@rhvp.org; sawdon@it.bw

Clare Mbizule Technical Advisor (WFP/FAO) - SADC/RVAC PMU Clare.Mbizule@wfp.org +267 7421 7119Isaac Tarakidzwa VAA Specialist - SADC/RVAC PMU itarakidzwa@sadc.int +267 7211 2032

Angola VAC

Maria Eugenia F. da Silva Angola VAC Member muesi_7@hotmail.com 244 926 279851

Botswana

Chada Koketso Botswana VAC ckoketso@gov.bw 267 391 4938/3950181

Obakeng Phaladze Botswana VAC

Lesotho VAC

Mats'elitso Mojaki Disaster Management Agency - VAC Chair dce@dma.gov.ls 266 22 312183

Mokotla Ntela DMA - VAC Member ntelam@dma.gov.ls 266 22 312183

Mbatlokoa Maloi DMA - VAC Member @yahoo.com 266 22 312183

Malawi VAC

Hannock Kumwenda Ministry of Economic Planning and Development - VAC Chair chairperson@malawivac.net 265 17 88 888

Walusungu Kayira wvkayira@yahoo.co.uk 265 09 512928

Charles Rethman techadvisor@malawivac.net 265 08 966605

Sam Chimwanza schimwanza@fews.net 265 09 918936

Evans Chapasuka echapasuka@fews.net 265 08 763740Masozi Kachale masozi.kachale@wfp.org 265 88 74497

MadagascarMr Charles Dsir Alexandre

Rambolarson Disaster Management Unit - National VAC focal point protimamoa@yahoo.fz 261 324 557033

Maherisoa Rakotonirainy WFP - VAC Member mherisoa.rakotonirainy@wfp.org 261 320 713692

Federica Pretolani FAO

Mozambique

Francisca Cabral VAC Chair fcabral@setsan.org.mz 258 82 3943820

Sissenando Marcelino sma 258 82 9047020

Olanda Bata Country Rep - FEWSNET - VAC member obata@fews.net

Antonio Mavie FEWSNET - VAC member amavie@fews.net 264 61 273550

Namibia

Gabriel Kangowa VAC Chair gkangowa@opm.gov.na

Ms Judith Malambo Office of the Prime Minister - Namibia VAC jmalambo@opm.gov.na 264 61 273550

Chris Wimmerth Office of the Prime Minister - Namibia VAC

Abel Hamutenya aha@windhoekcc.org.na 264 61 2902812

Swaziland VAC

Mduduzi Gamedze Swazi VAC Coordinator gamedze@gmail.com 268 6045976

Thembumenzi Dube Swazi VAC Coordinator dubethe@gov.sz 268 6087333

Benjamin Flomo WFP - VAC Member benjamin.flomo@wfp.org 268 6028553

Tanzania

Winnie Bashagi wbashagi@chemonics.net 255 754865664Edgar Senga

Omabeli Lemweli lemweli@yahoo.com 255 756880834

Zambia

Domeniciano Mulenga Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit - VAC Chair vacsecretariat@yahoo.comAnderson Banda DMMU - VAC Member andybanda@hotmail.com 260 211252692Isabel Tembo Pam - VAC Member isabel_tembo@yahoo.com 260 977774436Chansa Mushinge FEWSNET - VAC Member cmushinge@fews.net 260 126275011

Allan Mulando

Zimbabwe VAC

George Kembo Food and Nutrition Commission - VAC Chair gkembo@sirdc.ac.zw 263 4862586

Blessing Butaumocho FEWSNET - VAC Member bbutaumocho@fews.net 260 1 26275011

Faith Chikomo FEWSNET - VAC Member fchikomo@fews.net 263 912252521

Ms Fungai Makarudze CSO

Clever Chingwara CSO

Sydney Mhishi Director - Dept of Social Welfare mhishi@sdf.org.zw 263 4720692

James Acidri

Douglas Magunda douglas.magunda@wfp.org

Jean Calude Urvoy jeanclaude.urvoy@fao.org 263 9122373011

South Africa

Gabriel Mmila Department of Agriculture - Food Security Unit gabrielmm@nda.agric.za 27 12 3196735

Sandile Ngcamphala la Department of Agriculture - Food Security Unit sandilen@nda.agric.za 27 12 3196800