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Positive impact of food aid measured in Zimbabwe
Consortium for Southern Africa Food Security Emergency (C-SAFE)
June 15, 2004

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Aid agencies are actively working to ensure food aid in Zimbabwe is reaching beneficiary target groups, determine how the food is being used and measure impact on beneficiaries through an expanded practice of End Use Monitoring (EUM), developed by the USAID funded Consortium for Southern Africa Food Security Emergency in Zimbabwe.

Employed by C-SAFE members World Vision, CARE and Catholic Relief Services, the EUM is a quality, beneficiary assessment-based methodology implemented at more than 50 food distribution points in nine Zimbabwe districts.

Applied over the last six months, the monitoring tool has provided the C-SAFE program with valuable insights into levels of beneficiary food stocks, the demographics of targeted vulnerable households and C-SAFE program delivery.

Through the EUM's expanded use, C-SAFE have been able to measure the positive impact of food aid on the livelihood status of beneficiaries, with recipients indicating that food aid has improved their health and nutritional status; households are engaging in less casual labor and instead working on their own land; households are selling fewer productive assets; and orphans are attending school.

To collect the information, C-SAFE Zimbabwe interviews a random sample of approximately 300 beneficiaries, which include female heads of households, households with orphans and households with a chronically ill member, plus 100 non-beneficiaries at a C-SAFE food distribution point (FDP) each month.

In each consultation, those interviewed answer questions on the number of beneficiaries in the household, source of income and main expenses over the previous month, plus current cereal stocks, as well as satisfaction on the food registration and distribution processes. They are also given an opportunity to raise any food aid related concerns.

According to Dr Jamo Huddle, C-SAFE Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator in Zimbabwe, "The advantage of the EUM approach is that we receive feedback on a monthly basis. It also means we speak to a greater number of people over a long period of time, and build up a large body of information that we can use to improve the program. Interviewing at an FDP is efficient and timely, and an excellent opportunity to capture the views of the community when they are gathered at one place."

Information collected via the EUM has prompted fine-tuning of C-SAFE's food distribution processes, while providing valuable learning points for the Consortium. Information on current household food stocks and sources of income data has been shared with donors to engage them in C-SAFE programming and validate the scale up of distributions to meet the needs of targeted beneficiaries. Increasing understanding and verifying the current needs of households prompted the removal of a cap on maximum number of household members who could receive rations.

EUM analysis of beneficiary satisfaction with distance of travel to an FDP resulted in the dividing and relocation of an FDP to better service those collecting monthly rations. C-SAFE has also undertaken awareness raising for member organizations and communities on non-beneficiaries conducting favors to obtain food aid and promoted understanding around beneficiary eligibility criteria and ration size. The FDP's help desk function has been strengthened, with further training and education on its purpose and role. The inclusion of a suggestion box at the FDP has given community members the opportunity to voluntarily propose ideas or offer information on the food aid process.

Dr Huddle is eager to see the system develop further. "Given the EUM's success, we are going to expand the system to C-SAFE Food for Work activities in Zimbabwe to measure how food aid is being used, what the FFW population looks like demographically, and the participants perception of the FFW process."

WFP has agreed to support C-SAFE in the collection of data from non-beneficiaries in C-SAFE Zimbabwe communities, which will be complimentary to the information collected through EUM, and will provide C-SAFE with an estimate of eligible community members who have been excluded from receiving food aid (exclusion error). WFP and C-SAFE have jointly designed a tool for this purpose.

C-SAFE in Zambia is now replicating the system, using a slightly different methodology (quarterly survey at the household level). The first survey found that beneficiaries appreciate the livelihood support brought by C-SAFE food aid and that they have a good understanding of the registration and distribution systems in place.

For more information
contact Kristy Allen-Shirley,
C-SAFE Communications Coordinator
+27 72 783 3696 Or C-SAFE: www.c-safe.org

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