The project strategy is based on proven approaches developed by CFTC and ACDEP, integrating food security and sustainable livelihoods interventions that increase adaptation to climate change and reduce vulnerability to disasters. RESULT Project implementation strategy is all embracing, including:
Targeted – The RESULT Project targets poor, food insecure households that have few assets and sources of income, and are therefore vulnerable to endogenous (e.g. illness or death in the family) or exogenous (e.g. droughts or floods) shocks and stresses. These households are either chronically food insecure, or easily become food insecure when a shock occurs.
Integrated - The RESULT Project provides an integrated set of interventions designed to strengthen and diversify livelihood activities through increased, diversified and more equitable crop, animal and aquaculture production (Intermediate Outcome 1) and increased, diversified and more equitable incomes and assets from both agricultural and non-agricultural activities (Intermediate Outcome 2) – in turn increasing the capacity of households to produce or buy food to meet their nutritional requirements.
Flexible - the RESULT Project is flexible in its approach, adapting to the assets and opportunities that are available to the targeted households while overcoming some of the common constraints and challenges faced by those households.
Responsive - The RESULT Project is responsive to the needs, strengths and interests of beneficiaries, both men and women, while also increasing their knowledge, skills and assets in areas of relevance to their livelihoods.
Equitable – The RESULT Project addresses equitable access to and control over the benefits of the project between men and women, as a means of ensuring that the objectives are achieved.
Linkages – The RESULT Project links to key stakeholders - including Government ministries, non-governmental and community-based organizations, financial institutions, marketing bodies, and suppliers - to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of the project interventions. It will also liaise with other food security and agricultural programming in Northern Ghana to reduce duplication and increase synergies – programs such as the Northern Rural Growth Program and the Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW) project.
Sustainable – The RESULT Project promotes the economic, environmental, and financial sustainability of its interventions to ensure that the results achieved can be maintained over the longer term.
The RESULT project is in full alignment with CFTC and Ghana Country Programming Framework. and CIDA’s Policy for Environmental Sustainability and Gender Equality Policy.
CFTC's, ACDEP’s and others’ experience indicates that food insecurity in northern Ghana can be addressed through an integrated set of interventions; targeted at poorer, food insecure smallholder households; supporting and expanding their livelihoods; gradually building up and strengthening their asset base; and providing greater resilience in the future.[3] Interventions need to be designed not only to increase agricultural production and productivity and related incomes, but also diversify income sources to smooth income over the lean season and reduce dependence on rain-fed agriculture.
With the use of appropriate inputs, extension services, and sustainable and appropriate technologies – which take the needs of women into consideration - it is estimated that yields for key crops in Northern Ghana (maize, rice, millet and sorghum) could be increased by over two hundred percent.[4] While these potential yield increases are hypothetical, recent programs and projects have realized substantial increases – for example, the Northern Rural Growth Program reported a 150% increase in maize yields from 2009 to 2012.[5] Similar improvements in animal production and productivity can be realized from the provision of improved breeds, improved animal management practices, and the extension of veterinary services. Support to aquaculture can improve fish production for both food consumption and for income. Alternative income-generating activities that are less dependent on farming can further increase the resiliency of smallholders and reduce their vulnerability to food insecurity.
When faced with food insecurity, households adopt various coping mechanisms to deal with food shortages. These are often negative coping strategies that include selling animals and household assets, reducing the frequency of meals, relying on less preferred or cheaper foods, and prioritizing feeding of particular family members. Not only do negative coping strategies affect household health and deplete accumulated assets, they also make households more vulnerable to further stressors and shocks. Targeted interventions to increase the resilience of farming households would prevent them from engaging in negative coping strategies. Increasing and diversifying incomes and assets moves farmers to a level of resilience where they can deal with shocks without falling below a level at which they cannot cope with additional stressors, and graduates them out of cycles of food insecurity, poverty, and high levels of vulnerability.
The project is addressing barriers to food security by working with local agricultural experts (Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) to introduce more effective farming techniques, and providing key resources like seeds, tools and livestock that are helping farmers to increase their harvests.
RESULT Project addresses gender barriers to food insecurity through the following key approaches: promoting equality; targeting and tailoring interventions to women and to poorer female headed households (FHHs); addressing women’s practical needs and strategic interests; promoting participation and empowerment; encouraging collective action through groups; supporting transformative change; promoting an enabling environment for capacity development; supporting the human rights of women and girls; and building and strengthening networks and linkages among women’s groups.
The RESULT Project will rely on results-based management systems, tools and techniques consistent with Global Affairs Canada's Results Based Management (RBM) Policy. This means:
- Defining realistic expected results and targets based on appropriate analysis and benchmarks;
- Clearly identifying project beneficiaries and designing interventions to meet their needs;
- Monitoring progress towards results and targets and the resources used through the use of appropriate indicators;
- Identifying and managing risks while bearing in mind the expected results and necessary resources; and
- Increasing knowledge by a continuous review of progress, capturing lessons learned and integrating them into planning and decision-making.
RESULT’s approach to RBM will be based on partnerships and shared accountability for results, relying on participatory processes with beneficiaries, ACDEP, implementing organizations and key stakeholders.
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