My most recent placement - as Food Assistance Programme Manager with Concern, responding to the famine in Somalia. One of my most challenging posts so far, the following is just a snapshot (note - much has changed in recent weeks, but that is for a later update when the security situation allows):
The Food Assistance programme is a 6 month life-saving programme designed around Food Vouchers. It is scheduled to cover the hunger period – which as we are all aware has been exasperated by the famine in Concern’s areas of operations in south/central Somalia; between the two harvest seasons (the Gu in July and the Deyr in January). The Food Assistance programme, which also includes blanket supplementary feeding plus recovery assistance such as seed provision for the Deyr season, will be completed with the final distribution of food vouchers in late January 2012. After which there will be programme closure activities including lesson learning, evaluations and donor reporting.
More importantly, with the changing security and political situation in Somalia, the Food Assistance programme requires active management & monitoring – we have seen in September the need for first-hand engagement in programme delivery by all members of the team – in the regions, in Mogadishu and in Nairobi. On behalf of Concern, as the lead agencyin south & central Somalia, I am actively engaging with cluster coordination and peer-organisations to ensure that assistance continues in these regions during the on-going instability.
Our teams have been able to procure / pre-position food stocks for our nutrition programmes to complement the food assistance that we are providing and the focus now is on continuity of the programme activities. As the programme manager I travel in regularly to Mogadishu, leading these teams with the support of the in-country managers & coordinators. As an organisation we know, from both current and past experience, that day-to-day management will be required right up to the final distributions in January 2012, where Concern is feeding more than 200,000 people every month.
There are also a number of initiatives that I am leading including a consolidated M&E initiative with several other NGOs that offer similar modalities of assistance (cash transfers/food vouchers). This will support our own lesson learning plus broader advocacy on these types of programmes. I am preparing a Standard Operating Procedures manual to cover the various procedures (from adhering to Concern policies to checklists for field activities). And I will be supporting the programme teams as Concern prepares for the transition from Emergency to Recovery in line with the changing circumstances and operational plans for 2012.
