FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY INTERNATIONAL
P.L. 480 TITLE II
INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT AGREEMENT
Award #: FAO-A-00-98-00032-00
MID-TERM REVIEW REPORT
IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY 
PROGRAMMING AND RESOURCE 
MANAGEMENT
Review Team:
Team Leader: 
Phil Moses, External Consultant
Team Members: 
Dave Evans, FHI ISA Manager
Keith Wright, FHI ISA Information Technical Assistant
Joyce Kago, FHI Kenya Agriculture Program Manager
Submitted to USAID/BHR/FFP/CTO on 02 July 2001
FHI Headquarters Office Contact: 
David Evans
Director of Food Security Technical Support
2620 Low Dutch Road
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Tel: 717-337-2538 Fax: 717-337-3520
Email: devans@fhi.net
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ACRONYMS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
INTRODUCTION 4
CHAPTER ONE: 6
METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER TWO: 9
PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES FOR FIRST-HALF OF 
THE ISA 
CHAPTER THREE: 13
CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF STAFF
ISA Objective 1: Development Program Design and Implementation
Monitoring and Evaluation
Program Design
Positive Deviance
Educational Messages and Methods
ISA Objective 2: Disaster Relief 
ISA Objective 4: Commodity Management
CHAPTER FOUR: 34
ISA OBJECTIVE 3: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS
ISA OBJECTIVE 5: COLLABORATION WITH COOPERATING 
SPONSORS, and 
ISA OBJECTIVE 6: FAM MENTORSHIP
CHAPTER FIVE: 39
IMPACT ON FOOD SECURITY 
CHAPTER SIX: 41
ISA CONTRIBUTION TO FHI'S VISION OF COMMUNITY
CHAPTER SEVEN: 44
PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES 
REGARDING ISA SERVICES 
CHAPTER EIGHT: 49
LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
APPENDICES (Available Upon Request)
Appendix One: Review Questions
Appendix Two: Approved Data Collection Proposal 
Appendix Three: Focus group guide for national level field staff
Appendix Four: Focus group guide for regional level staff
Appendix Five: Focus group guide for community level staff
Appendix Six: Focus group guide for community members
Appendix Seven:Post-post tests
Appendix Eight: List of interviewees
Appendix Nine: Bibliography
LIST OF ACRONYMS
AD - Agricultural Development
CS - Title II Cooperating Sponsor
DIP - Detailed Implementation Plan
FAM - Food Aid Management
FFP - Food for Peace
FFW - Food for Work
FHI - Food for the Hungry International
ISA - Institutional Support Assistance
ISG - Institutional Support Grant
LOP - Life of Program
M&E - Monitoring and Evaluation
MCHN - Maternal-child Health and Nutrition 
PRA - Participatory Rapid Appraisal
PVO - Private Voluntary Organization
Introduction
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 3 3
Executive Summary
FHI is currently implementing a five-year ISA program that began in September 
1998 and is scheduled to end in August 2003. The goal of the ISA activities is to 
increase the impact of FHI’s Title II food security programs via the improvement 
of its technical, programmatic and managerial capability in six major 
headquarters’ and field priority areas: 1) program design and implementation of 
development programs, 2) emergency and transition programs, 3) new country 
program initiation, 4) commodity management, 5) collaborative efforts in M&E, 
monetization and local partner facilitation, and 6) information systems.
A detailed mid-term review of the program was conducted in April-June 2001 in 
order to assess progress in meeting planned objectives in activities and outputs 
as well as trends in effects and impact. This review provides FHI with critical 
information in order to refine program activities and targets for the remainder of 
the agreement period.
A review of the program indicators and reports revealed that all of the planned 
outputs and activities have been achieved with the exception of a slight shortfall 
in attendance at disaster relief workshops (nine instead of ten), and a shortfall in 
the post test score average for participants in the workshop on Educational 
Messages and Methods. Based on this appraisal of indicators, the review team 
has every confidence that FHI should have no difficulty in completing the goals of 
the ISA in the out years. 
With regards to changes in food security, it is too early in the life of the ISA to be 
able to document specific improvements in food security in the fields where the 
ISA is being conducted. Food security is a multi-faceted concept and is difficult 
to link staff-level training activities directly to household level food security 
impact. Nevertheless, the review team asked field staff for their perspectives on 
the impact of the ISA on food security to get a qualitative and anecdotal sense 
of the extent to which field staff perceive that the ISA is having a positive 
impact on food security. Staff at all levels said that ISA activities had a 
very positive impact on their work. National level and regional level staff point 
out more efficient use of resources and improvements in the quality of their 
programs that they attribute to ISA training. Community level staff and 
beneficiaries shared anecdotal evidence of improved food production, fewer 
cases of specific diseases and better management of diseases at the community 
level. They tended to attribute these improvements either to improved quality of 
their program in general, or to specific improvements that resulted from ISA 
training (such as use of an especially effective educational technique). This 
gave an indication to the review team that ISA activities were moving in the 
direction of making a positive impact on food security, although it is too early to 
document such impact. 
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 4 4
A summary of the conclusion of the review suggests that the training offered 
under the ISA to the field staff is of high quality and is much appreciated by the 
field staff. When ISA workshops have responded to felt needs of the field staff 
leadership, the fields have shown an exceptional level of competence and 
dedication in implementing the tools and practices introduced in the workshops. 
That said, in spite of much progress in implementing many of the tools and 
practices presented by the ISA workshops under Objective One: Program Design 
and Implementation, and Objective Two: Disaster Relief, the reviewers found 
many cases in which implementation is still lacking in the fields visited. These 
instances of poor implementation are the consequence of three main 
weaknesses: 1) lack of buy-in from the national level leadership; 2) many ISA 
activities are not included in the fields’ M&E plans and are thus not prioritized; 
and 3) in spite of the very high quality of training offered under the ISA, field staff 
sometimes lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence needed to implement 
properly the tools and practices covered. These main constraints will be 
addressed by FHI in the out years of the ISA.
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 5 5
Introduction
Food for the Hungry International (FHI) has been implementing Title II food 
security programs in Africa and Latin America since 1985. Despite that long 
history and contrary to many other cooperating sponsors who have been 
receiving ISG/As since the beginning, FHI received its first institutional support 
grant in 1997. The grant period for that ISG was 20 months with the goal being 
to achieve significant impact in food security via the establishment of a robust 
monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system in FHI’s Title II programs. The focus of 
the ISG activities was to design and develop methodologies and systems, and 
train and provide technical assistance to FHI Title II-related field staff in the 
following components of the food security M&E continuum: 1) macro-targeting, 
2) micro-targeting, 3) indicator development, 4) baseline data collection and 
analysis, 5) monitoring, and 6) evaluation. FHI met all and surpassed many of its 
targets that it set for the ISG outputs and activities.
As a follow-on to the ISG, FHI is currently implementing a five-year ISA program 
that began in September 1998 and is scheduled to end in August 2003. The 
program is addressing six major headquarters’ and field priority areas: 1) 
program design and implementation of development programs, 2) emergency 
and transition programs, 3) new country program initiation, 4) commodity 
management, 5) collaborative efforts in M&E, monetization and local partner 
facilitation, and 6) information systems.
The goal of the ISA activities is to increase the impact of FHI’s Title II food 
security programs via the improvement of its technical, programmatic and 
managerial capability. This is being accomplished by way of the following 
objectives: 1) Select, promote and train staff in the use of standard, high-quality 
tools for Title II program design and implementation as a follow up to the 
accomplishments achieved under the former ISG program in M&E system 
standardization; 2) Improve FHI's capacity to respond to emergencies and 
facilitate a rapid transition to development activities in Sub-Saharan Africa; 
3) Conduct needs assessments in Mali/Burkina Faso and Haiti to determine 
rationale for and feasibility of initiating activities in those countries; 4) Improve 
FHI's capacity to efficiently and effectively manage commodities; 5) Collectively 
improve a) program monitoring and evaluation, b) monetization activities and 
Bellmon analyses, and c) local capacity building via substantive collaborative 
efforts with other Title II cooperating sponsors; and 6) Via a mentoring 
agreement, contribute toward the improvement of FAM knowledge of and 
proficiency in using information technology to enhance communication and 
information flow between the PVO members of FAM.
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 6 6
FHI’s ISA program is targeted to impact three distinct sets of beneficiaries in the 
following order of importance: 1) current FHI Title II programs in Bolivia, 
Ethiopia, Kenya and Mozambique, 2) potential future FHI Title II programs, and 
3) other FAM-member Title II Cooperating Sponsors. The program is 
implemented by a five-member, multi-disciplinary team composed of 1) a team 
leader (who also serve as the technical assistant in agriculture and training 
facilitator), 2) a technical assistant and trainer in maternal-child health and 
nutrition, 3) a technical assistant and trainer in commodity management, 4) a 
technical assistant and trainer in information systems, and 5) a technical 
assistant and trainer in emergency response programming. In addition, FAM 
staff and other Title II Cooperating Sponsors provide indirect support to the 
program via the collaborative efforts described above in objective E.
FHI is now entering the third year of its ISA program having accomplished the 
great majority of its activity and output objectives for years one and two. That 
said, it is critical at this juncture to conduct a more detailed review of the program 
in order to more fully assess progress in meeting planned objectives in activities 
and outputs as well as trends in effects and impact. This review will provide us 
with critical information in order to refine program activities and targets for the 
remainder of the agreement period.
2. PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW
In keeping with USAID/BHR/FFP’s stated purpose of mid-term reviews FHI’s 
purpose in conducting this review is to assess progress in achieving planned 
results and refine program activities and targets accordingly. Specifically, mid￾term data, including qualitative and quantitative information, was used to: 
determine progress towards achieving targets; refine targets as needed; review 
the appropriateness of the activity with respect to the problem analysis in the ISA 
and any subsequent amendments; identify constraints and difficulties as well as 
successes; and make recommendations to improve the performance for the out 
years of the ISA. In conducting the review the team gave careful consideration to 
the following points: status of all monitoring indicators (targets in terms of 
planned/achieved); status of impact indicators (those designed to be assessed 
at mid-term, and those whose effect should be discernible in terms of overall 
program results); realistic appraisal based on indicator review of likelihood of 
achieving all targets; concrete recommendations for modifications to ISA 
objectives and overall performance; any changes to the M&E plan with respect to 
targets and indicators; results from any assessments, surveys or other data 
collection procedures used in the course of the mid-term review; and inclusion of 
an updated Indicator Performance Tracking Table. For a complete list of review 
questions, please see “Review Questions” in the Appendices.
CHAPTER ONE: METHODOLOGY
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 7 7
CHAPTER ONE: METHODOLOGY
Through participatory methods (see e.g., Participatory Program Evaluation: A 
manual for involving program stakeholders in the evaluation process, by Judi 
Aubel), a multi-disciplinary team composed of ISA team leader Dave Evans, 
Keith Wright, (Washington Liaison Officer), Joyce Kago (Agriculture Program 
Supervisor in FHI Kenya), and Phil Moses (external consultant and review team 
facilitator) examined FHI’s ISA program approaches and results using both 
quantitative and qualitative methods. A visit to two Title II fields allowed field staff 
and beneficiaries to provide their inputs to the review process. Due to budgetary 
and time constraints, FHI conducted the field review in only two of the four 
fields—Ethiopia and Mozambique. The reasons for selecting these fields are: 
Ethiopia represents a long-term Title II field (began programming in 1985) while 
Mozambique represents a new program (began in 1997); ISA staff believed the 
change in effect (staff who changed the way they are implementing programs as 
a result of the ISA training) in Mozambique to be relatively good (especially the 
health staff), while staff believed it to be relatively poor in Ethiopia; the 
commodity management program in Ethiopia is large and challenging (compared 
to Bolivia’s which had been relatively well run even prior to the ISA); and cost 
savings due to visits to one continent. Looking at these two fields will provide a 
good overview of the (expected) range of effect of the ISA across the two fields. 
Comparing what is presumed to be a stronger case and a weaker case can give 
the ISA team valuable insight in how to better implement the ISA in a variety of 
situations during the out years. In a letter dated November 2000, FFP approved 
FHI’s plan to conduct a review on these two fields only. The team would spend a 
maximum of four days in each of these two fields collecting data. 
All review team members except Ms. Kago met on March 27, 2001 for the initial 
planning of the review. Input on the review questions was collected via email 
from Country Directors (CD) and Title II Program Managers from all four Title II 
fields (Bolivia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique). As a result, the review team 
decided to add one additional review question: 
“To what degree did the program activities and outputs contribute to FHI’s 
mission which is to achieve our Vision of Community? “The community and its 
peoples are advancing towards their God-given potential by: being equipped to 
progress beyond the meeting of their basic needs, and having a growing group of 
Christians (loving God and one another, manifesting the fruit of the Spirit, and 
reaching out to serve others). Specifically: churches are reaching out, leaders
are solving problems, and families are meeting each others' needs.” (See 
“Review Questions” in the Appendices for a full list of review questions”)
The review team members in the US conducted and extensive document review 
(see Bibliography for a complete list of documents) and evaluated FAM 
CHAPTER ONE: METHODOLOGY
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 8 8
mentoring activities and collaborative efforts with other Title II cooperating 
sponsors (CS). On April 25, 2001 stateside review team members and ISA team 
member Merry Fitzpatrick met again to create a field data collection plan (see 
“Field Data Collection Plan” in the Appendices). The team then conducted 
phone interview with other ISA team members and developed data collection 
instruments. Ms. Kago joined the review team in Ethiopia. Her role was to help 
collect data in the field and most importantly, to provide valuable perspective as a 
field staff member. 
Field data collection
Field data collection took place in Ethiopia from May 18 to May 21, and in 
Mozambique from May 23 to May 26. Sources of data were responses from the 
following informants in Ethiopia and FHI Mozambique: all FHI Title II staff at the 
national level (including the Country Director), all FHI Title II program regional 
managers and coordinators (from all regions), all FHI Title II community level 
staff from one randomly selected region in each country, and community 
beneficiaries and community leaders from one randomly selected Title II program 
community in each country. Data sources also included scores from post-post 
tests, and program documents in each country. Data collection techniques
included focus group interviews, semi-structured individual interviews, direct 
observation of two educational activities with community beneficiaries in Ethiopia 
and one in Mozambique, the re-application of posttests from relevant workshops 
(post-post testing), and document review. 
Selection of Informants and Sites: At the level of Title II national and regional 
managers and coordinators, the number of individuals who have received 
training under the ISA and who are currently involved in Title II programs is 
relatively small, therefore random sampling was not necessary and all were 
interviewed. In order to collect data from community level staff and community 
beneficiaries/leaders, the review team took a stratified random sample as 
described below. 
Informants interviewed and post-post tests administered in the field
Total number of informants interviewed Ethiopia Mozambique
National level staff 6 6
Regional level staff 22 12
Community level staff 6 22
Community volunteers (Mozambique only) 19
Community beneficiaries (estimate) 80
Total informants interviewed 114 59
Total post-post tests completed 10 19
A total of 173 informants were interviewed and a total of 29 post-post tests were 
administered in the review. 
CHAPTER ONE: METHODOLOGY
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 9 9
FHI Ethiopia conducts community level programs in three regions (Lay Gayint, 
Tach Gayint, and Simada) that are all accessible from the town of Nefas 
Mawcha. The review team randomly selected the region of LayGayit for an in￾depth community level review. The number of community level staff in each 
region who have received training under the ISA and who are currently working 
on Title II programs is again fairly small (possibly 6 – 12 people per region). 
Therefore random sampling was not necessary and all were interviewed from the 
selected region. Of the 13 communities in the selected region that were eligible 
for review, the review team randomly selected two and then conduct an in-depth 
review interview with beneficiaries from those two communities. 
In Mozambique, FHI conducts community level programs in three regions 
(Marromeu, Nhamatanda, and Gorangosa) However, one region, Marromeu, is 
quite remote and was impractical as a review site because of travel expense and 
the time required for the review team to get there. Therefore, the review team 
randomly selected the region of Nhamatanda between the remaining two 
regions and followed the same selection process as described in the previous 
paragraph. In Mozambique, in addition to the activities described above, the 
review team was able to travel to the region of Gorangosa to interview region 
level staff and community level staff who had gathered for a workshop there. 
After completing the data collection in each field the review team held debriefing 
meetings with the national level leadership in Ethiopia on May 22 and in 
Mozambique on May 26 to share preliminary findings and to receive their input. 
Upon returning to the U.S., review team facilitator Phil Moses drafted a 
preliminary report with conclusions and recommendations. On June 27 the 
review team facilitator held a full-day meeting with review team members Dave 
Evans and Keith Wright, and with ISA team member Tom Davis to present 
findings and discuss lessons learned and recommendations. Ms. Kago provided 
input via email. Mssrs. Moses and Evans then incorporated written feedback into 
preparation of a final report. 
CHAPTER TWO: PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 10 10
CHAPTER TWO: 
PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES 
FOR FIRST-HALF OF THE ISA
REVIEW QUESTION ONE
Were the planned first-half objectives achieved for the program? 
Specifically, were the annual monitoring indicators (activities and 
outputs) and mid-term evaluation indicators (effects and impacts) 
successfully reached?
UPDATED INDICATOR PERFORMANCE TRACKING TABLE FOR THE 
FIRST HALF OF THE ISA 
(Period covering 01 September 1998 through 30 May 2001)
ACTIVITY/OUTPUT INDICATORS PLANNED MID-TERM TARGETS
Black Font = Goal was met
Blue Font = Goal was exceeded
Red Font = Goal was not met
TOTAL
Mid-term Achieved
Objective 1: Program Design and Implementation
Number of ISA team staff oriented to program
4
5
Number of surveys conducted to determine 
remaining M&E problems 1 1
Number of field practicums conducted on 3 most 
problematic M&E tools 4 4
Number of staff trained in remedial M&E 60 81
Number of reviews of tools for problem analysis 
and a review to identify the best practices in 
program design. 1 1
Number of training workshops conducted for Title II 
program managers from all fields in generic tools 
for problem identification, analysis and solving and 
review of best-practice program design.
1 1
Number of staff trained in problem analysis and 
program design. 12 17 
Average post-test scores for problem analysis and 
program design workshop 80% 85%
CHAPTER TWO: PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 11 11
ACTIVITY/OUTPUT INDICATORS PLANNED MID-TERM TARGETS
Black Font = Goal was met
Blue Font = Goal was exceeded
Red Font = Goal was not met
TOTAL
Mid-term Achieved
Number of field assessments conducted in 
educational methods and messages being used in 
Title II programs. 4 4
Number of Epi-Info workshops conducted 1 1
Number of staff trained in Epi-Info 12 14
Average post-test scores for Epi-workshop 80% 87%
Number of field training exercises conducted in 
educational methods and messages. 4 4
Number of staff trained in educational methods and 
messages. 60 73
Average Post-test score for educational methods 
and messages workshop participants
80%
70% (avg)
Kenya = 78%
Ethiopia = 74%
Bolivia = 73%
Mozam = 58%
Number of training workshops and field exercises 
on the Hearth method in nutrition and positive 
deviance models for agriculture 4 4
Number of Title II staff trained on the Hearth 
method in nutrition and positive deviance models 
for agriculture 60 100
Average Post-test score for Hearth workshop 
participants
(NB. Bolivia results unavailable at time of writing) 80%
Avg = 82%
Ethiopia = 80%
Mozambique = 
80%
Kenya = 87%
Objective 2: Disaster Relief
Number of visits to review of two 
emergency/transition programs in SSA that have 
successfully transitioned from an emergency to 
development program in the quickest possible time
1 1
Core sets of tools selected for design and M&E of 
emergency and transition programs 1 1
Number of workshops conducted for IRO/Title II 
staff in how to prepare for an emergency 1 1
CHAPTER TWO: PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 12 12
ACTIVITY/OUTPUT INDICATORS PLANNED MID-TERM TARGETS
Black Font = Goal was met
Blue Font = Goal was exceeded
Red Font = Goal was not met
TOTAL
Mid-term Achieved
Number of IRO/Title II staff trained in how to 
adequately prepare for an emergency.
10 9
Number of training workshops conducted for 
IRO/Title II staff in how to conduct rapid disaster 
assessments 1 1
Number of IRO/Title II staff trained in how to 
conduct rapid disaster assessments 10 17
Average Post-test score for rapid disaster 
assessment workshop participants 80% 93%
Number of training workshops conducted for 
IRO/Title II staff in designing and implementing an 
emergency program
1 1
Number of IRO/Title II staff trained in designing and 
implementing an emergency program 10 9
Objective 3: Food security needs assessments
Number of food security needs assessments 
conduced in the West African Sahel and in Haiti 2 2
Objective 4: Commodity Management
Number of assessments of current commodity 
management system and FHI capacity 1 1
Number of reviews of commodity management 
methodologies, procedures, and tools in current 
use by other CSs and FFP 1 1
Number of training workshops conducted on 
standardized commodity management procedures. 2 2
Number of Title II commodity staff trained in 
standardized commodity management procedures. 20 30
Average Post-test score for commodity 
management procedures workshop participants 80% 80%
Objective 5: Collaboration with Cooperating Sponsors
Number of FAM workshops conducted on statistical 
sampling 1
1
Collaborative efforts with other FAM members in 
M&E, monetization, and local capacity-building 
(ongoing, not quantified)
yes yes
CHAPTER TWO: PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 13 13
ACTIVITY/OUTPUT INDICATORS PLANNED MID-TERM TARGETS
Black Font = Goal was met
Blue Font = Goal was exceeded
Red Font = Goal was not met
TOTAL
Mid-term Achieved
Objective 6: FAM Mentorship
Number of FAM information system mentoring 
outputs achieved. 3 4
CHAPTER TWO: PROGRESS ON PLANNED OBJECTIVES
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 14 14
Based on this appraisal of indicators, the review team has every confidence that 
FHI should have no difficulty in completing the goals of the ISA in the out years. 
All of the planned mid-term outputs have already been achieved with the 
exception of a slight shortfall in attendance at disaster relief workshops (nine 
instead of ten), and a shortfall in the post test score average for participants in 
the workshop on Educational Messages and Methods. Possible reasons for the 
lower-than-planned post-test scores in the educational messages workshops are:
1) the workshops covered a lot of topics and many participants wrote in their 
workshop evaluations that they would have benefited from another day or 
two to fully absorb the material;
2) one of the test questions was answered incorrectly by almost all the 
participants, which is generally a sign that the question was poorly 
worded. If that question were thrown out, then test scores would have 
been close to or greater than 80% for three of the four fields in question;
3) in the case of Mozambique (58% actual vs. 80% planned), the low scores 
were probably a result of the fact that the workshop was conducted by 
second-generation trainers due to the postponement of the original 
workshop due to the flooding in the program area in February 2000.
There were no impact indicators scheduled for assessment in the mid-term 
review. However comments from field staff do point to progress in impact. This 
is treated later in the report under CHAPTER SIX: IMPACT ON FOOD 
SECURITY. 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 15 15
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN 
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
Review Question Four.
Given that a large part of FHI’s ISA focuses on capacity building of 
Title II staff, what has been the change in the related knowledge, 
skills and practices of those staff?
Introduction
This section looks at the changes in knowledge, skills, and practices among FHI 
staff resulting from workshops and other activities related to the following ISA 
program objectives: 
· Objective 1: Select, promote and train staff in the use of standard, 
high-quality tools for Title II program design and implementation as a 
follow up to the accomplishments achieved under the former ISG 
program in M&E system standardization.
· Objective 2: Improve FHI's capacity to respond to emergencies and 
facilitate a rapid transition to development activities in Sub-Saharan 
Africa. 
· Objective 4: Improve FHI's capacity to efficiently and effectively 
manage commodities. 
This is the central chapter of the report in that the main thrust of the ISA is to 
improve knowledge, skills and practices of field staff in the areas of the design 
and implementation of Title II development programs, disaster relief, and 
commodity management. The other objectives of the ISA (Objective 3: food 
security needs assessments, Objective 5: collaboration with other CSs, and 
Objective 6: mentoring in information technology) while important, do not focus 
on improving the capacity of field staff. It is important to note that all of the data 
from this chapter came out of the field data collection for the mid-term review 
and, therefore, only reflect the experiences in these two fields. The experiences 
of FHI in Kenya and Bolivia are not reflected here. 
Chapter Summary
Reviewers have seen ample evidence to conclude that ISA training efforts are 
having an observable effect in improving the institutional capacity of FHI in these 
two fields to conduct Title II food security programs. Indications that the tools 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 16 16
and practices presented in the ISA workshops have been implemented and are 
becoming institutionalized can be seen in Table 4 below which shows how -- as a 
result of the workshop on Educational Messages and Methods -- implementation 
of these methods has moved down in the organization through those originally 
trained. The Mozambique team has gone much farther in implementing the 
practices from workshops pertaining to Objective One (Program Design and 
Implementation) than has the Ethiopian team. In terms of Objective Two 
(Disaster Relief) The Ethiopian team has progressed much farther in planned 
effects of this objective than has Mozambique. The Ethiopian team has already 
begun to implement at both the regional and national levels many of the tools 
covered in the workshop on commodity management (Objective Four). Clearly, 
the most significant determinant of the level of program improvement resulting 
from the workshops was the amount of commitment on the part of the national 
leadership to implementing the practices covered. This was true across the two 
fields and across objectives. 
Objective One: Program Design and Implementation: The workshops and 
technical assistance provided to the fields under this objective have had a 
marked effect on the quality of program design and implementation of Title II 
programs in both fields. The Mozambique team has gone farther than the 
Ethiopia team in implementing the tools covered in the workshops. The most 
significant determinant of the level of program improvement resulting from the 
workshops was the amount of commitment on the part of the national leadership 
to implementing the practices covered. Mozambique reported that two changes 
resulting at least in part from the workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation are the 
use of Quality Improvement Checklists for education and the use of Factor 
Analysis (or “Barrier Analysis”). None of the current FHI / Ethiopia staff attended 
this workshop so it was difficult to find concrete examples of how the tools 
introduced in this workshop were implemented. The Mozambique team 
members reported having used the tools introduced in the workshop on Problem 
Analysis and Program Design much more than did the Ethiopian team. Both 
teams reported some use of tools. Since only expatriate members of the 
Mozambique team attended the workshop, staff suggested that, to institutionalize 
the use of these tools, they would like to see the training offered to more of the 
middle management staff. 
The workshop on Positive Deviance had only been completed in Mozambique at 
the time of the review. In that field the workshop resulted in concrete plans to 
implement a Hearth project in the health program (it is included in the DAP), and 
a strong interest on the part of agriculture staff to pioneer a positive deviance 
intervention in the future. The workshop on Educational Messages and Methods
(EMM) has helped staff improve the quality of programs in both fields. The 
Mozambique team has gone much farther in implementing the practices from the 
workshop than has the Ethiopian team. This is due mostly to the fact that the 
national leadership in Mozambique was strongly committed to implementation 
while the Ethiopian leadership was less so. As a result of this commitment the 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 17 17
Mozambique team they included the use of many of the tools presented at this 
workshop into their M&E system, thus institutionalizing their use. Individual staff 
members in both fields have done much to improve the educational activities 
conducted in their programs by applying what they have learned at the EMM 
workshop. However, they have been able to do more when backed by a strong 
organizational commitment. In both fields reviewers could see a positive effect 
on program design and implementation from the ISA activities.
Objective Two. Disaster Relief: The Ethiopian team has progressed much 
farther in planned effects of this objective than has Mozambique. This difference 
seems to be due mainly to a higher level of skill in disaster relief on the part of 
the Ethiopian staff, and a less than strong commitment to implementation on the 
part of national leadership in Mozambique. During the first half of the ISA team 
members conducted workshops on writing Disaster Preparedness and Response 
Plans (DPRP), on conducting Rapid Disaster Assessments, and on Emergency 
Program Design (NB this last workshop had not been conducted for Ethiopia at 
the time of the review so only comments pertaining to Mozambique are included 
here). Neither team completed their DPRP in a timely manner after the 
workshop (this was a required follow-up activity) thus neither team was able to 
use a DRPR when drought struck Ethiopia and flooding hit Mozambique. The 
Ethiopia team has since come along much farther in implementing the tools 
covered in the two workshops. The Mozambique team has had much difficulty 
implementing these tools since there seems to have been little organizational 
commitment in Mozambique to prioritize follow-up after the workshops. As a 
result, they were poorly prepared to respond to the flooding disasters in 2000 –
2001. 
Objective Four. Commodity Management: The development of a draft 
commodity management manual based on standardized procedures, the initial 
training of field staff on these procedures, and improved capacity of the IO to 
support the field in commodity management all have moved the organization very 
far along in improving FHI’s capacity to handle commodities. The manual and 
trainings have been very well received by field staff. The Ethiopian team has 
already begun to implement many of the tools covered in the workshop at both 
the regional and national levels. Field staff and the IO report improved technical 
support of commodity management from the IO. Anecdotal evidence suggests 
that these improvements have begun to have the anticipated impact of more 
resources getting to Title II beneficiaries at a lower cost.
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 18 18
Detailed Discussion of Objectives
Objective One (Program Design and Implementation): 
Introduction
The review focused on the extent to which the activities conducted under 
Objective 1 (see above) have resulted in the planned effects of this objective 
which are: “Improved Title II development program design and implementation 
which will yield better results”. The section mainly examines what changes in 
knowledge, skills, and practice have been implemented in the two fields selected 
for data collection (Ethiopia and Mozambique), as well as the commonalities and 
differences in implementation across fields.
The table below compares the average post-test scores taken upon completion 
of the workshop and post-post-test scores taken at the time of review to measure 
retention. (ISA trainers routinely use pre and post-tests to measure increases in 
knowledge resulting from a workshop. Each participant fills out an identical test 
before the workshop begins (pre-test) and at the close of the workshop (post￾test). The scores are compared to measure changes. As a review activity, 
participants of previous workshops were asked to take the identical post-test 
again (post-post-test) to measure retention of knowledge.) These results are
discussed in detail in the pertinent sections below. 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 19 19
Table 3 Summary of Post-test and Post-post-test Score Averages by Workshop 
and Field
Ethiopia Mozambique
Workshop dates May 1999 March 1999 Monitoring 
and 
Evaluation
Note there were no pre and
post tests from these 
workshops as per plan.
na na
Workshop dates Sept. 1999 Sept. 1999
Number of matched post and 
post-post-tests 2 2
Average post-test score 93% 91%
Average post-post test score 59% 77%
Problem 
Analysis 
and 
Program 
Design Change in percentage points -34 -14
Workshop dates Sept. 2000 June 2000
Number of matched post and 
post-post-tests 8 8
Average post-test score 72% 55%
Average post-post test score 54% 62%
Educational 
Messages 
and 
Methods
Change in percentage points -18 +7
Workshop dates May 2001 Nov. 2000
Number of matched post and 
post-post-tests
Initial 
workshop 
conducted at 
time of review
9
Average post-test score na 85%
Average post-post test score na 64%
Positive 
Deviance
Change in percentage points na -21
Workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation
There were no pre- and post-tests given at this workshop. None of the current 
FHI / Ethiopia staff attended this workshop so it was difficult to find concrete 
examples of how the tools introduced in this workshop were implemented. 
Mozambique reported that two changes resulting at least in part from the 
workshop are the use of Quality Improvement Checklists for education and the 
use of Factor Analysis (or “Barrier Analysis). The use of Quality Improvement 
Checklists (QICs) for education began intermittently after this workshop. After 
the workshop on Educational Messages and Methods the staff began to use the 
QICs much more systematically (see the section below on the Educational 
Messages and Methods workshop). Originally called ”Factor Analysis”, this 
technique was renamed “Barrier Analysis” to avoid confusing it with a type of 
statistical analysis of the same name used in the social sciences. Barrier 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 20 20
analysis has been done only twice by the health staff since the workshop. A 
short paper has been written about breast-feeding for FA and another one on 
another topic. Although national level staff in Mozambique see Barrier analysis 
as an excellent tool to guide how they create key educational messages, their 
workload prevents them from doing BA more. Since the tools covered in the ISA 
workshops are not mandated or written into the program plan they become a 
lower priority. Staff suggested that in the future the ISA should pay more 
attention to follow-up. They also said that field staff could do more to ensure that 
useful things like the Barrier Analysis tool get used more regularly. 
Workshop on Problem Analysis and Program Design
As Table 3 above shows, the average post-post-test score in Ethiopia at the time 
of the review was 34 percentage points lower than the average score for post￾tests given at the close of the workshop. For the Mozambique team the average 
post-post test score was 14 percentage points lower than the post-test average. 
This marked difference in retention is probably due to the fact that the 
Mozambique team members reported having used the tools introduced in the 
workshop much more than did the Ethiopian team. 
The Program Design Workshop covered a number of topics including:
Using the Multiple Criteria Utility Assessment (MCUA) to decide which 
interventions to do; SWOT, Problem analysis, Program Hypotheses; 
Benchmarking, looking at what other organizations have done well and trying to 
replicate it; Partnering with other organizations to do research or other special 
tasks and disseminating results; and writing Objectives and Indicators.
Two national level staff from Ethiopia and four national level staff members from 
Mozambique participated in this workshop. 
One member of the Ethiopia team reported that he used the assessment and 
planning tools from the workshop to develop a new project. He found especially 
helpful the section on writing a good problem statement and analyzing problems 
and turning them into programs. Another team member suggested that the ISA 
workshops in general be more holistic. Members of the Mozambique team found 
the materials covered very helpful. They used the tools covered at the workshop 
for writing the concept paper for their most recent Detailed Assistance Plan 
(DAP). Staff found the section on SWOT, Problem analysis, and program 
hypotheses helpful in analyzing information coming in from the field. The 
section on Benchmarking was very helpful, “The next best thing to visiting other 
projects”. They also report using the material on writing objectives and indicators 
in developing several relief proposals and for project proposals. Since only 
expatriate members of the Mozambique team attended the workshop staff 
suggested that to institutionalize the use of these tools they would like to see the 
training offered to more of the middle management staff. They pointed out that a 
barrier to offering the training to more staff is a skills gap between the senior 
managers in Mozambique and the junior managers.
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 21 21
Workshop on Educational Messages and Methods (EMM)
This section compares the extent to which each field implemented the practices 
introduced in this workshop as well as the quality of implementation in each field, 
and examines the differences between fields. 
Summary of discussion of EMM: The workshop on Educational Messages and 
Methods (EMM) has helped staff improve the quality of programs in both fields. 
The Mozambique team has gone much farther in implementing the practices 
from the workshop than has the Ethiopian team. This is due mostly to the fact 
that the national leadership in Mozambique was strongly committed to 
implementation while the Ethiopian leadership was not. The most significant 
determinant of the level of improvement was the amount of commitment on the 
part of the national leadership to implementing the practices covered. The most 
significant points from the review are as follows. Both fields are using quality 
improvement checklists (QICs), lesson plans, and pre- and post-tests to some 
degree. Mozambique has implemented them systematically down to the 
community level while the implementation in Ethiopia was less systematic and 
occurred more at the regional level. The workshop helped to reinforce already 
existing uses of stories, songs/poems, and cultural proverbs as educational 
methods and introduced more participatory ways to use them. The Mozambique 
team is using holistic messages and DRBS at the community level. The Ethiopia 
team has not been able to institute holistic messages at the community level, but 
the national leadership is committed to creating and using development-related 
Bible studies (DRBS) internally. Individual staff members have done much to 
improve the educational activities conducted in their programs by applying what 
they have learned at the EMM workshop. They have been able to do more when 
backed by a strong organizational commitment. 
Comparison of post-test and post-post-test results: As Table 3 above 
shows, average post-post-test scores in Ethiopia at the time of the review were 
18 percentage points lower than the average score for post-tests given at the 
close of the workshop. This drop in retention for a time after a workshop is not 
unusual. What is unusual is that the average post-post-test scores in 
Mozambique increased by seven percentage points over the previous post-test 
average score. This is probably due to the fact that the national level staff in 
Mozambique have been systematically implementing many of the practices 
covered in the workshop and conducting regular follow-up sessions with the staff. 
The Mozambique team made an organizational commitment to implement 
specific methods from the workshop and to institutionalize them all the way down 
to the community level. However, in Ethiopia, adoption was more a function of 
the initiative of a few individual staff members rather than an organization-wide 
effort. Consequently, the Mozambique team went much farther in implementing 
and institutionalizing the methods covered in the EMM training than did the 
Ethiopian team. The Mozambican team sent a few key staff members to the 
EMM Workshop in Kenya (the workshop scheduled to be held in Mozambique 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
FHI ISA Mid-Term Page 22 22
was cancelled due to the flooding there). These staff members then went back 
to Mozambique and repeated the training for their national and regional level 
staff. Specific follow-up activities were put into work plans and subject to 
internal monitoring. In Ethiopia, the national level staff did not make 
implementing these methods a priority. They did not put it into their work plan 
and it was not subject to monitoring. After the EMM workshop ISA team 
members drafted a list of recommended follow-up activities and recommended a 
specific staff member to head up these activities. These recommendations were 
overruled by the national level staff due to time constraints. Thus, adoption of 
the techniques covered in the workshop has varied within the organization. 
The organization wide commitment to implement educational methods in 
Mozambique has had the result that eleven of the twelve methods covered in the 
EMM workshop are being used to some degree at the community level. Staff 
seem to be fairly systematic in their use of these methods, and descriptions and 
observations of how staff use these methods seem to coincide fairly well with 
how workshop participants were trained in their use. However, some significant 
gaps still exist in the quality of how these methods are used. In spite of the fact 
that the national level staff in Ethiopia did not prioritize implementation of the 
methods taught in the EMM workshop, reviewers did find that two of the twelve 
methods from the workshop did filter down to the community level. (facilitation 
techniques and the use of pre- and post-tests) This diffusion of methodology from 
the regional level staff to the community level staff depended mainly on the 
initiatives of a few regional level staff who received the training and then took it 
upon themselves to orient the people they supervised (a few community level 
staff also attended the EMM workshop). 
The table and narrative below examine some of the more important methods 
adopted and contrast how they are being implemented in the two fields visited by 
the review team. 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 23
Table 4
Training on and implementation of Educational Messages and Methods by 
organizational level and field. Organizational Level QIC Lesson Plans
Key 
Educational 
messages
Facilitation 
techniques
Pre/post 
test
Stories
Songs & 
Poems
Cultural 
Proverbs
Guided 
testimonies
DRBS
Holistic 
Message
s
Puppet Shows
Ethiopia
National T T T T T T T T T T T T
Regional T T T T T T T T T T T T
Community 
Staff
Community 
beneficiaries
Mozambique
National T T T T T T T T T T T T
Regional T T T T T T T T T T T T
Community 
Staff
Community 
Volunteers
Key: ‘T’= staff level trained. Shaded cell=level of staff implementing 
method. (see next page for details) 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 24
Table 4: Training on and adoption of Educational Messages and Methods 
by organizational level and field: Table 4 summarizes the extent to which ISA 
staff conducted formal training on the topic and the level to which the field staff 
have implemented specific methods. At the head of each column is a specific 
educational method that was covered at the Educational Messages and Methods 
workshop (EMM). At the beginning of each row is the organizational level 
examined in each field. 
In Ethiopia:
· “National” refers to program managers and others who supervise 
activities across the three Title II regions; 
· “Regional” refers to component heads and supervisors who work in the 
three regions; 
· “Community” refers to Development Agents (DAs) and Community 
Health Workers (CHWs) who conduct training and promotion activities in 
the beneficiary communities. These report directly to a regional level 
supervisor. 
In Mozambique: 
· “National” refers to managers who oversee programs in the three 
Title II program regions; 
· “Regional” refers to program coordinator and supervisors who work in 
one of the three regions; 
· “Community Staff” refers to health promoters and agricultural 
extensionists who conduct training and promotion activities in the 
beneficiary communities; 
· “Community Volunteers” refers to volunteer mothers and lead 
farmers who live in the beneficiary communities and, regularly are 
trained by community level staff to conduct specific educational 
activities with other community members. 
Shading in a cell indicates implementation. A cell is shaded if reviewers 
found evidence that the method described at the head of the column was being 
implemented to some degree by individuals at the organizational level 
mentioned at the far left of the row (National level staff, regional or region level 
staff, community level staff, community volunteers or community beneficiaries).
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 25
The letter “T” in a cell indicates training, and appears in a cell when ISA 
training on Educational Messages and Methods (EMM) primarily targeted staff at 
the national and regional or region levels as the table shows. 
The use of quality improvement checklists (QICs) in each field: The 
Mozambique team had already been using Quality Improvement Checklists 
(QICs) fairly widely as a result of the Management and Evaluation remedial 
workshop. The treatment of QICs in the Educational Messages and Methods 
workshop helped to enhance their use. The QICs are seen by the leadership as 
an important tool in getting region level supervisors to monitor the educational 
work of the extensionists and health promoters (community level staff) and to 
help them improve. Regional supervisors use QICs to monitor community level 
staff at least once a month. A supervisor evaluates each extensionist or 
promoter at least once a month using the QIC. Some regions and some 
supervisors do this more frequently and are better at it than others. The use of 
QICs has helped staff to improve their monitoring and supervision in general. 
One of their biggest challenges is raising the standards of staff in terms of 
monitoring. QICs have helped with this. In Ethiopia the Director of Monitoring 
and Evaluation asked for QIC scores from regional staff in preparation for our 
visit. While some supervisors seemed to be familiar with the QIC, supervisors 
are not systematically using QICs as a monitoring tool. It was clear to reviewers 
that supervisors were not conducting observations of trainings on a regular basis. 
There is evidence that supervisors have used the QICs as a teaching tool to 
orient DAs and CHWs to the “basic elements” of a good presentation. Many of 
the facilitation points specified on the QIC were being practiced by DA’s whom 
the team interviewed and observed.
The use and development of Lesson Plans: The Mozambique team has 
institutionalized the regular development and use of lesson plans down to the 
level of community staff, and this has improved the quality of training across the 
organization. Every two weeks supervisors train the extensionists and health 
promoters using a specific lesson plan. The supervisors then help the 
community level staff adapt the lesson plan for the lead farmers and volunteer 
mothers they will train. The national level staff have the supervisors develop 
lesson plans for these fortnightly trainings and work on them in the time between 
training. At the bi-weekly trainings the national level staff work with the 
supervisors to help them develop good lesson plans. The workshop materials 
on how to write lesson plans has been used by the team to improve the quality of 
the training that staff give internally and in the communities. They have been 
especially useful in helping community level staff adopt participatory methods in 
their educational sessions. The Ethiopian team has institutionalized the regular 
use of lesson plans at the level of regional supervisors. Before conducting 
workshops in the community supervisors prepare a lesson plan and propose it to 
the regional component head for approval. Regional level staff report that they 
make more detailed and intentional use of lesson plans as a result of the 
workshop. Some supervisors have adapted the lesson plan into an outline 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 26
format for community level staff to use in preparing their regular training sessions 
(these are different from the workshops described above), but it is not clear how 
standard this practice is across regions. Several regional level staff members 
reported developing new lesson plans since the EMM workshop. Developing 
new lesson plans seems to be at the initiative of individual staff members and not 
an organizational policy. 
Both fields are implementing pre and post-tests all the way down to the 
community level to evaluate how participants have learned in a workshop or 
training session. Regional level / region level staff in both countries regularly 
use written pre and post-tests when they train community level staff. Supervisors 
in both fields have oriented community level staff in the use of pre and post-tests. 
Community level staff in both fields regularly give oral pre and post-tests to the 
groups that they teach (since many in the communities are illiterate). 
Quality improvement checklists, lesson plans, and the use of pre and post-tests 
are being used in both fields to some degree. In Mozambique the 
implementation is more systematic and goes all the way down to the community 
level. In Ethiopia the implementation is less systematic and does not go as far 
down in the organizational structure. However, in spite of the absence of a an 
organizational mandate, many regional staff (and some community level staff) in 
Ethiopia who attended the EMM workshop have made an observable impact on 
the quality of training at the regional and community levels. The topics in which 
reviewers observed the most progress in Ethiopia (lesson plan use, use of pre 
and post-tests, some facilitation techniques – based on the QIC) are closely 
related to the use of the QIC and the lesson plan form covered at the workshop. 
It may have been easier for personnel to make progress on the use of these 
specific tools because the tools themselves are concrete, simple, and their use is 
easy to monitor. 
The use of stories, songs/poems, and cultural proverbs: The workshop 
helped to reinforce already existing uses of these methods, and introduced new 
ways to use them in the communities. In both fields reviewers say that these 
methods were being used in some manner all the way down to the level of 
community staff prior to the workshop. However, the workshop taught a process 
for using these methods in a participatory way. For example, if a trainer is going 
to use a story to help participants understand when a mother should seek 
medical help for a sick child. The more common practice is to tell a closed ended 
story as an illustration of the point the facilitator is trying to make with little or no 
discussion afterward. The EMM workshop taught staff how to use a close-ended 
or open-ended story and to facilitate a process in which participants discuss and 
analyze what they heard in the story and critically apply it to their own situation. 
In both fields staff report that they are using these methods more and more 
intentionally since the workshop. The Ethiopia team does not seem to be using 
methods with the participatory process taught in the workshop. In Mozambique 
reviewers saw more movement in this direction. There staff conducted studies to 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 27
find out what cultural proverbs were being used in the community. Some staff 
seem to using a more participatory process as a result of the workshop. 
It is not surprising to the reviewers that the fields have not gone farther than they 
have at this point in implementing participatory processes for using these 
teaching methods. To implement such a methodology on an organizational scale 
is challenging. This may require changing established attitudes and increasing 
the skill levels of both community level staff and their supervisors. (Facilitating a 
process in which participants discuss and critically analyze a story requires a 
much higher level of skill than simply telling a story to illustrate a point.) The 
methodology is also harder to monitor than more concrete practices, such as 
having participants sit in a circle (although the workshop did introduce some 
good specialized QICs for this purpose). The fact that the Mozambique regional 
and community level staff have been able to make as much progress as they 
have in this area in this short time speaks well for their skill and dedication.
Development related bible studies (DRBSs) and holistic messages: The 
Mozambique team is beginning to use holistic messages and DRBSs 
systematically at the community level. The Ethiopia team has not been able to 
institute holistic messages and DRBSs at the community level, but the national 
leadership is committed to creating and using DRBSs internally. The national 
leadership is interested in creating a series of development related bible studies 
for use internally by staff, but has not done so yet. National and regional level 
staff members show a strong commitment to using DRBSs internally. The 
community level staff do not use DRBSs in the communities due to perceived 
opposition on the part of community members. Regional level staff are beginning 
in a small way to use holistic messages internally when training their staff. In 
Mozambique supervisors report using DRBSs routinely during their bi-monthly 
training of health promoters and agricultural extensionists. They have tried to 
include bible studies in their normal lesson plans. Community level staff work 
from these lesson plans. Each one has his or her own bible and are encouraged 
to share the biblical message from the lesson plan when they teach in the 
communities. Supervisors point out that some community level staff know the
bible better than others, so some may not be as good at using DRBSs. 
Key educational messages: Mozambique has made a lot of progress in the 
use of key educational messages. At the national level a consultant was hired to 
develop a series of key educational messages for the health program. Staff at all 
levels report using key educational messages as a basis for their lesson plans. 
The health program is more advanced in this area than the agriculture. It was 
not clear if individual staff members in Ethiopia were using a standard set of key 
educational messages in their work. 
Use of small group discussion and flipcharts: These are things that the 
Mozambique team have implemented and institutionalized independent of the 
workshop. This shows lots of initiative and dedication. The team has used QICs 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 28
and lesson plans covered in the EMM workshop to improve their supervision of 
these activities. They have also introduced into these activities some of the 
participatory methods and facilitation techniques from the workshop. 
Conclusion: EMM
The workshop on Educational Messages and Methods has had a positive effect 
on the quality of programs in both fields. The biggest determinant of the 
workshop’s effect was the level of commitment on the part of the national 
leadership to implementing the practices covered. In Mozambique there is a 
very strong institutional commitment to implement these practices all the way 
down to the community level. They have implemented the participatory methods 
and supervision tools systematically and with high quality, and they have made 
progress in adopting some of the more challenging methods (participatory 
facilitation). Mozambique has also institutionalized other methods not covered in 
the workshop. In Ethiopia implementation “trickled down” to the community level 
unevenly. However, easy to use tools like QICs, lesson plans, and pre post￾tests have had a very positive effect on the program in Ethiopia even in the 
absence of an organizational commitment to their use. The Mozambique team 
has made lots of progress in using development related Bible studies and holistic 
messages at the community level. Ethiopia showed more progress with the use 
of these methods among the staff. There is, however much resistance in the 
communities against the use of DRBSs. 
After ISA workshops the field leadership often has not conducted the 
agreed-upon follow-up activities. This was seen in Ethiopia when the field did 
not conduct specific activities recommended after the Educational Methods 
workshop which were intended to improve the level of education conducted in the 
communities. In Mozambique the Relief Program Point person was not given the 
time and support needed to complete the Disaster Preparedness and Response 
Plan as requested at the close of the workshop on this topic. A possible factor in 
the is the fact that national level staff have expressed that it was often unclear to 
national level leadership how specific ISA workshops were intended by the IO to 
fit into their programs, and that topics covered in the workshops sometimes did 
not respond to the felt needs of the field staff. 
 By and large, individual participants of the EMM workshop have used that 
training to improve their program. Improvements have gone much farther 
however, when backed by a strong organizational commitment by the national 
leadership. 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 29
Workshop on Positive Deviance and Hearth Methodology for Health
This review only looked at this workshop in Mozambique since the workshop in 
Ethiopia was conducted at the same time that the review team was collecting 
data there. 
As Table 3 above shows, the average post-post-test score at the time of the 
review was 21 percentage points lower than the average score for post-tests 
given at the close of the workshop six months previously. This drop in retention 
is not surprising since the staff have not yet had the opportunity to implement the 
tools covered in the workshop. 
This workshop has resulted in concrete plans to implement a Hearth project in 
the health program and a strong interest on the part of agriculture staff to pioneer 
a positive deviance intervention in the future. Many staff members talked about 
how the workshop helped to change their attitude from one of looking at 
communities from a “deficit model” to more of a “benefit” model. The team has 
put the Hearth intervention into their DAP for health and are planning to visit 
another PVO project in Mozambique to see how they conduct Hearth 
interventions. Staff members report that as a result of the workshop they are 
looking for ways to apply a positive deviance philosophy in their program. In one 
region staff say that the health and agriculture programs are working more 
closely together since the workshop. The methodology for applying a positive 
deviance model was very developed for health but is still in an experimental 
stage for agriculture. While very interested in pioneering this approach, the 
agriculture staff are waiting to hear from the experiences of agriculture staff at the 
Positive Deviance workshops in the other Title II fields to see how they can apply 
positive deviance methodology to agricultural programs. 
Conclusion: Objective One: Program Design and Implementation
The workshops and technical assistance provided to the fields under this 
objective have had a marked effect on the quality of program design and 
implementation of Title II programs. The most significant determinant of the level 
of program improvement resulting from the workshops was the amount of 
commitment on the part of the national leadership to implementing the practices 
covered. The Mozambique team has gone farther than the Ethiopia team in 
implementing the tools covered in the workshops. Mozambique reported that two 
changes resulting at least in part from the workshop on Monitoring and 
Evaluation are the use of Quality Improvement Checklists for education and the 
use of Factor Analysis (or “Barrier Analysis”). None of the current FHI / Ethiopia 
staff attended this workshop so it was difficult to find concrete examples of how 
the tools introduced in this workshop were implemented. The Mozambique team 
members reported having used the tools introduced in the workshop on Problem 
Analysis and Program Design much more than did the Ethiopian team. Both 
teams reported some use of tools. Since only expatriate members of the 
Mozambique team attended the workshop, staff suggested that, to institutionalize 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 30
the use of these tools, they would like to see the training offered to more of the 
middle management staff. The workshop on Positive Deviance had only been 
completed in Mozambique at the time of the review. In that field, the workshop 
resulted in concrete plans to implement a Hearth project in the health program (it 
is included in the DAP), and a strong interest on the part of agriculture staff to 
pioneer a positive deviance intervention in the future. The workshop on 
Educational Messages and Methods (EMM) has helped staff improve the quality 
of programs in both fields. The Mozambique team has gone much farther in 
implementing the practices from the workshop than has the Ethiopian team. This 
is due mostly to the fact that the national leadership in Mozambique was strongly 
committed to implementation while the Ethiopian leadership was not. Individual 
staff members in both fields have done much to improve the educational 
activities conducted in their programs by applying what they have learned at the 
EMM workshop. However, they have been able to do more when backed by a 
strong organizational commitment. In both fields reviewers could see a positive 
effect on program design and implementation from the ISA activities. 
Objective 2. Disaster Relief
The review focused on the extent to which the activities conducted under 
Objective 2 (“Improve FHI's capacity to respond to emergencies and facilitate a 
rapid transition to development activities in Sub-Saharan Africa”) have resulted in 
the planned effects of this objective which are: “Increased capacity to respond 
efficiently and effectively to emergencies and transitional situations and to 
successfully monitor and evaluate the results of our assistance which will lead to 
more lives saved and an increase in the number of regions that are equipped to 
transition to development activities” The section examines the differences in how 
each field has implemented the tools covered in these workshops. 
The Ethiopia team wrote their DPRP too late to use it to respond to the drought. 
They have since used the DPRP for funding proposals for disaster relief 
programs. The Relief Project Manager used the skills and tools covered in the 
RDA workshop to conduct three RDAs in South Gonder and other areas. 
Mozambique’s DPRP was designed for slow onset disasters (such as droughts). 
The team did not use the DPRP when responding to the flooding in 2000-2001 
the plan was not appropriate for a rapid onset disaster. The RDA tool that 
Mozambique personnel developed from the workshop was superceded by the 
government’s requirement that FHI use the government’s and United Nations 
assessment tools. The Emergency Program Design workshop took place 
when the Mozambique team was in the midst of responding to the flooding 
disaster. Due to that, no progress has been made in designing emergency 
programs because of the demands on staff to respond to the flooding. At the 
time of this writing ISA team member Merry Fitzpatrick has returned from 
Mozambique where she helped the staff develop a good DPRP. 
The main reasons why Ethiopia had gone farther in this area than has 
Mozambique seems to be a higher level of skill in disaster relief on the part of the 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 31
Ethiopian staff, and a less than strong commitment to implementation on the part 
of national leadership in Mozambique. FHI Ethiopia is very experienced in 
responding to disasters. Disaster relief activities are fairly institutionalized within 
the team, and the government of Ethiopia (GOE) has established fairly 
standardized procedures for disaster response that NGO’s and PVO’s are 
required to use. In fact, some team members felt that the ISA Disaster Relief 
workshops were too basic for their situation and would like for the ISA team to 
consult with them more closely to find ways to make future Disaster Relief 
workshops more appropriate for their reality. The Mozambique team expressed 
frustration that they have not been able to implement the tools covered in the 
workshops. The logistics director was sent to the workshops but he was not 
given the time and supervision that he needed in order to implement what he 
learned. The current national level staff are not clear on why these things were 
not implemented. They mention as a possible factor that it was often unclear to 
national level leadership how specific ISA workshops were intended by the IO to 
fit into their programs. They suggested that in the future ISA staff should task 
the country director with specific follow-up activities after the workshops in order 
to make sure that things get implemented. 
ISA activities have contributed to “Increased capacity to respond efficiently and 
effectively to emergencies and transitional situations” in Ethiopia. More work 
needs to be done before such a contribution can be measured in Mozambique. 
Objective 4. Commodity Management
The review focused on the extent to which the activities conducted under 
Objective 4 (“Improve FHI's capacity to efficiently and effectively manage 
commodities”) have resulted in the planned effects of this objective which are: 
“Improved commodity management resulting in more resources getting to the 
beneficiaries at a lower cost”. The ISA proposal mentions four sub-objectives: 
· a) improve and standardize FHI’s Title II commodity management system 
based on best-practice models; 
· b) train and provide technical assistance to FHI Title II staff in all aspects of 
the standardized procedures; and 
· c) improve the capacity of FHI headquarters commodity management staff to 
successfully move toward best-practice commodity management. This 
section will focus on improvements at the IO and in Ethiopia; and
· d) improve and standardize FHI’s Title II commodity management system 
based on best-practice models, and train and provide technical assistance to 
FHI Title II staff in all aspects of the standardized procedures.
Since the draft manual that was developed under sub-objective is the basis of the
training given in the fields, this section will look at the effects of the manual and 
the training together. 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 32
The Ethiopia team has progressed very rapidly in implementing the practices 
covered in the workshop. The major changes that staff attribute to the first 
commodity management workshop are: 
· knowledge of the entire commodity chain, 
· use of the commodity management manual, 
· improved collaboration among staff, 
· improved use of commodity survey reports, 
· new auditing guidelines for commodity management activities, 
· better use of commodity management documents, and improved 
warehouse maintenance. 
The workshop was based on a needs assessment done in country by FHI’s Title 
II Officer, Maria McCulley and was extremely well-received by the staff. Since 
the workshop, staff have done a number of follow-up activities using what they 
learned to improve commodity management. All commodity management staff 
access to the draft manual in the workshop. Staff are preparing FHI/Ethiopia’s 
own version of the manual for use country-wide. The manual has served to clarify 
procedures to staff who are now better able to track shipments thanks to the 
procedures laid out in the manual. Staff report that the workshop promoted 
better collaboration between finance and program design staff in preparing 
AERs. Staff are now requesting commodity survey reports from the surveyor 
who works for USAID. Based on what he learned at the workshop, the internal 
auditor drafted auditing guidelines and implemented an audit system for 
commodity activities. Staff are now doing a better job of filling out commodity 
management documents (such as Call Forwards). Warehouse staff have 
improved how they are handling commodities and managing the warehouses. 
Both national level staff and warehouse staff themselves report a huge 
improvement in the management of warehouses due to the training given at the 
workshop and to the use of the Storage Inspection Checklist from the manual. A 
visit to a regional level warehouse by the review team verified that the checklist is 
being used and followed to a large degree. The Relief Program Manager is 
planning conducting inspections of all the warehouses using the Storage 
Inspection Checklist and reporting results and recommendations to the national 
office twice yearly. Ms. McCulley also commented that the Bolivia team reports 
similar improvements in their management of commodities since the workshop. 
The manual and the training given in the fields has done much to improve 
commodity management. 
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 33
Improve the capacity of FHI headquarters commodity management staff to 
successfully move toward best-practice commodity management: 
The capacity of FHI headquarters staff has increased greatly in the first half of 
the ISA. Project documents show an increase in the Title II officer’s knowledge 
through the review of best practices, development of the commodity manual 
which includes the entire food aid cycle, and developing and implementing 
workshops based on those first two steps. Ms. McCulley, the Title II officer, 
commented that as a result of her research and some training, her own capacity 
to support the fields in commodity management has greatly increased. This is 
corroborated by feedback from the Ethiopia staff to the reviewers. All staff 
members interviewed in Ethiopia who participated in the commodities workshop 
unanimously said that it was the best of the ISA workshops. Staff members 
noted that, because Maria came and did a specific training needs assessment
before designing the workshop, the workshop responded very closely to their 
needs. The workshop was very participatory, very well organized, and 
participants valued the practical exercises. Staff were very satisfied with her 
technical support and follow up. All staff reported that Ms. McCulley is a very 
gifted trainer.
“She is incredible. Every participant could tell you. It [the workshop] was 3 days 
long but it only seemed like half a day.”
Other improvements cited by Ms. McCulley are improved communications 
between FHI’s International Office and donors, and improved technical support of 
the fields. Due to these improvements the IO has seen fewer delays in 
shipments and in reimbursements from USAID. The IO is better able to provide 
better support of the field commodity management process. Thus the fields are 
more able to meet USAID requirements (record keeping, process) and have 
improved their efficiency. As a result, the fields seem to be experiencing fewer 
delays in commodity shipments and reimbursements (it is too early to state this 
conclusively). In some cases these improvements have made commodities and 
funding available to programs in a more timely manner. 
Conclusion: Commodity Management
Reviewers have seen ample evidence to conclude that the development of the 
commodity management manual, subsequent training of field staff on 
standardized procedures, and improved technical support from the IO have 
improved the capacity of the fields and of the organization as a whole to manage 
commodities. Anecdotal evidence in the field and at the IO gives a strong 
impression that these improvements have already resulted in more resources 
getting to Title II beneficiaries at a lower cost.
CHAPTER THREE: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND PRACTICES OF 
STAFF
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 34
Chapter Conclusion
Data from the review indicates that the ISA has had a strong effect on improving 
the capacity of FHI’s fields to conduct Title II food security programs. The 
workshops and technical assistance provided to the fields under Objective One 
(Program Design and Implementation) have had a marked effect on the quality of 
program design and implementation of Title II programs. The most significant 
determinant of the level of program improvement resulting from the workshops 
was the amount of commitment on the part of the national leadership to 
implementing the practices covered. The Mozambique team has gone farther 
than the Ethiopia team in implementing the tools covered in these workshops. 
ISA activities under Objective Two (Disaster Relief) have contributed to 
“Increased capacity to respond efficiently and effectively to emergencies and 
transitional situations” in Ethiopia. More work needs to be done before such a 
contribution can be measured in Mozambique. Under Objective Four 
(Commodity Management) the development of the commodity management 
manual, subsequent training of field staff on standardized procedures, and 
improved technical support from the IO have improved the capacity of the fields 
and of the organization as a whole to manage commodities. 
CHAPTER FOUR: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS, COLLABORATION, AND 
FAM MENTORSHIP
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 35
CHAPTER FOUR: FOOD SECURITY 
ASSESSMENTS, COLLABORATION, AND 
FAM MENTORSHIP
ISA OBJECTIVE 3: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS
Conduct needs assessments in the West African Sahel and Haiti 
to determine rationale for and feasibility of initiating activities in 
those countries
ISA OBJECTIVE 5: COLLABORATION WITH COOPERATING 
SPONSORS
Collectively improve a) program monitoring and evaluation, b) 
monetization activities and Bellmon analyses, and c) local capacity 
building via substantive collaborative efforts with other Title II 
cooperating sponsors
Review Question Eight
How did the best practices identified in the CS collaborative efforts in 
M&E, monetization and local capacity building effect FHI’s ISA 
program?
ISA OBJECTIVE 6: FAM MENTORSHIP
Via a mentoring agreement, contribute toward the improvement of 
FAM knowledge of and proficiency in using information technology to 
enhance communication and information flow between the PVO 
members of FAM.
Anticipated effect: Improved and increased communication and 
information flow among the FAM consortium members.
This report examines the above objectives in one chapter since the activities 
pertaining to them are less directly related to the work currently underway in 
FHI’s fields. The data for reviewing these objectives came primarily from 
document review and interviews with FAM and FHI staff members in the US. 
CHAPTER FOUR: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS, COLLABORATION, AND 
FAM MENTORSHIP
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 36
Food Security Assessments
Two assessments were conducted in FY 99, on in West Africa and one in Haiti 
(see Mali Food Security Needs Assessment, Burkina Faso Food Security Needs 
Assessment, and Haiti Food Security Needs Assessment -- copies available on 
FHI’s Food Security Extranet www.fhi.net/gme/fse ) The reports concluded that it 
would not be opportune for FHI to initiate Title II programs in these countries in 
the near future. To the extent that these assessments provided 
recommendations and data to support clear and informed decision-making, they 
had the anticipate effect of improving FHI’s capacity to effectively initiate Title II 
programs. 
Collaboration with Cooperating Sponsors
Document review, interviews with ISA staff members and with the FAM 
Coordinator and FAM Deputy Coordinator indicate that FHI staff had more 
effect on CS collaborative efforts in M&E, monetization and local capacity 
building than did these efforts effect FHI’s ISA program. One exception was 
in the area of commodity management. FHI staff developed FHI’s commodity 
management draft manual using the CARE’s manual as a main source (this was 
downloaded off of FAM’s website) and using part of the monetization manual 
developed by the monetization working group. The material taken from these 
sources have had a strong impact on improving the quality of the commodity 
management program in Ethiopia (see “ISA Objective 4: Commodity 
Management “ in CHAPTER FOUR: CHANGES IN KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, 
AND PRACTICES OF STAFF)
FHI’s collaboration primarily has been through Dave Evans and Keith Wright. 
FAM staff report that both Dave and Keith have contributed substantially to the 
Cooperating Sponsors’ collaboration efforts. They especially pointed out Dave’s 
leading the Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group during FY 99 and part of 
FY00, chairing the FAM Steering Committee, and his two presentations at 
quarterly ISA manager meetings. FAM staff indicated that Keith’s main 
contribution was his assistance in Information Technology (See below under 
CHAPTER SEVEN: ISA OBJECTIVE 6: FAM MENTORSHIP for a detailed 
treatment of Keith’s contributions in Information Technology). 
The FAM staff stressed that both Dave and Keith are good “team players”. They 
are both very active, make good comments, present excellent ideas, and tend to 
act as catalysts during meetings to help move things along in the right direction. 
Their strong commitment to FAM’s work, their very strong leadership, and 
facilitating skills contribute to the whole spirit of collaboration within FAM. FAM 
staff felt that these less tangible contributions run through all areas of Dave’s and 
Keith’s involvement in FAM, and are as significant a contribution to FAM’s work 
as are their more specific areas of collaboration mentioned above. 
CHAPTER FOUR: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS, COLLABORATION, AND 
FAM MENTORSHIP
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 37
FAM Mentorship
Under the ISA, FAM and FHI agreed to pursue a mentoring partnership to 
improve the information technology capabilities of FAM. FHI serves in the role of 
mentor and FAM in the role of mentored. For all components of the mentorship 
the objectives have been achieved in that FHI and FAM are moving past the 
original activities to include new ones. Comments from FAM staff and members 
as well as data on user ship of FAM’s website and on the membership of FAM’s 
listservs demonstrate that FHI’s mentorship with FAM has helped to bring about 
the anticipated effects of the mentorship (i.e. improved and increased 
communication and information flow among the FAM consortium members). 
The mentorship has resulted in improved knowledge, skills and practices on the 
part of FAM staff. FHI staffers trained the Technical Information Specialist on 
how to manage FAM’s website. A major effect of their mentorship has been the 
institutionalization of knowledge and skills with FAM. When this TIS left FAM 
she was able to pass on much of the skills and knowledge she had learned from 
FHI staff to her successor. FHI's input was very sustainable in that it was easily 
transferred from one person to the other. In addition to providing FAM with 
technical assistance in website design and maintenance, FHI also hosts the FAM 
website and listservs on its server free of charge. FAM’s website and listservs 
have seen a dramatic increase in user ship since the beginning of the mentorship 
with FHI. This is due to a number of factors, many of which are independent of 
FHI’s help. However, it is clear that the help FHI staff members Dave Evans, 
Keith Wright, and Ted Okada have offered has played a pivotal role in the 
expansive use of these services by FAM members and others. See the graph 
below for a monthly breakdown of visitors to the website.1
 
1
 Emerging Trends in Usage of the FAM Web Site: Addendum to the 2000 Web 
Site Report April 2001. 
CHAPTER FOUR: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS, COLLABORATION, AND 
FAM MENTORSHIP
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 38
In February 1999 the site had 254 visitors. In February 2001 the site had about 
1,713 visits representing an increase of over 500% in two years. This past 
March 2001 saw almost 2000 visitors to the website. This represents a very 
large increase in the raw number of visits as well as the number of different 
users. Of the recognizable organizations who are FAM members or affiliates 
(such as USAID or AED), the ones who visited the site most often in 20002
 (in no 
particular order) are: CARE, Catholic Relief Services, USAID, CARE Kenya, 
USDA, Counterpart International, FAO, American Red Cross, American Red 
Cross Macedonia, ADRA, World Vision, World Vision Canada, and AED. 
Since FAM’s site is much smaller than USAID’s site, and FAM offers a number of 
links to pages on the USAID site, FAM staff think USAID staff are using FAM’s 
website to find things on their own website more quickly. There has been an 
increase in the number of visits from field staff over the last few months. 
Staff reports a large increase in listserv membership. FAM working group 
members are the primary users of list serves. A number of users are people who 
aren't on the list serves but want to stay in touch. People have used it for 
technical assistance.
 
2 FAM Web Site Yearly Report 2000
CHAPTER FOUR: FOOD SECURITY ASSESSMENTS, COLLABORATION, AND 
FAM MENTORSHIP
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 39
FAM Listserv membership breakdown as of April 2001
Working 
Group
Total 
subscribers
Total FAM 
members
Total Non￾FAM 
members
Total FAM 
member field 
staff 
(estimated)
Commodity 
Management 
 18 15 3 3
Environmental 43 33 10 5
Local 
Capacity 
Building 
44 34 10 8
Monitoring 
and 
Evaluation
67 49 18 15
Monetization 50 42 8 16
Grand Total 222 173 49 47
Listserv members are asking for and receiving technical assistance over the 
listserv. 
After FHI staff helped to review Chat room technology, FAM staff have decided 
that the Chat technology currently available does not lend itself to the needs of 
the membership. (Originally it was hoped to conduct working group meetings via 
internet chat, but this is not feasible at the moment).
Some of the areas in which FAM would like to get more help from FHI in the out 
years and possibly beyond are: continuing to host the website and to help make 
innovations, help in making the library available online, help in extending 
interactive web-based learning, and help with any sort of new technology for 
voice chat.
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPACT ON FOOD SECURITY
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 40
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPACT ON FOOD 
SECURITY
Review Question Five:
In what ways has the ISA program made a positive impact on FHI’s 
ability to increase food security at the field level?
It is too early in the life of the ISA to be able to document specific improvements 
in food security in the fields where the ISA is being conducted. Food security is a 
multi-faceted concept and is difficult to link staff-level training activities directly to 
household level food security impact. Nevertheless, the review team asked field 
staff for their perspectives on the impact of the ISA on food security to get a 
qualitative and anecdotal sense of the extent to which field staff perceive 
that the ISA is having a positive impact on food security. If field staff were to 
give strong opinions that the ISA is not having a positive impact, then a serious 
re-examination of the program would be in order. However, that is not the case. 
Staff at all levels said that ISA activities had a very positive impact on their 
work. National level and regional level staff point out more efficient use of 
resources and improvements in the quality of their programs that they attribute to 
ISA training. Community level staff and beneficiaries shared anecdotal evidence 
of improved food production, fewer cases of specific diseases and better 
management of diseases at the community level. They tended to attribute these 
improvements either to improved quality of their program in general, or to specific 
improvements that resulted from ISA training (such as use of an especially 
effective educational technique). This gave an indication to the review team that 
ISA activities were moving in the direction of making a positive impact on food 
security, although it is too early to document such impact. 
An example of positive impact from the ISA is the improvements in Commodity 
Management in Ethiopia resulting from the Commodity Management training 
needs assessment and workshop. The field staff took the tools that this 
workshop provided and have skillfully applied them at the national, regional, and 
local levels of the commodity management program. While it will take one or two 
more years to document the extent of the impact, staff were of the opinion that 
the use of these tools and standard procedures have begun to result in fewer 
losses of commodities during shipment from the port in Djibouti to the local 
warehouses, and fewer losses due to spoilage in the warehouses. This 
translates into more food available for distribution at the community level. 
An example of positive impact in Mozambique is the implementation of QICs, 
lesson plans, and participatory educational methods as a result of the workshop 
on Educational Methods and Messages. The field staff has institutionalized 
CHAPTER FIVE: IMPACT ON FOOD SECURITY
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 41
these at the regional and community levels. Staff reported several anecdotes of 
farmers adopting better production or marketing practices and mothers improving 
the way they manage illnesses with their children in response to the use of 
specific educational methods that came out of the workshop.
It is clear that the ISA activities are helping to improve the quality of food security 
programs carried out under Title II in FHI’s. An evaluation of the efficacy of the 
programs themselves, however, is far beyond the scope of this review. 
CHAPTER SIX: ISA CONTRIBUTION TO FHI'S VISION OF COMMUNITY
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 42
CHAPTER SIX: ISA CONTRIBUTION TO FHI'S 
VISION OF COMMUNITY
Review Question Two
To what degree did the program activities and outputs contribute to 
FHI’s mission, which is to achieve Vision of Community? 
“The community and its peoples are advancing towards their God￾given potential via the equipping of churches to reach out to meet 
needs, leaders to solve problems, and families to meet each others' 
needs.
Introduction
FHI has learned that sustained transformational development requires active 
participation of community members and a positive change in the worldview of 
beneficiaries. The Vision of Community is FHI’s strategy of achieving this. 
Churches, leaders, and families are the pivotal catalysts for this change and 
therefore the focus of the VOC.
To get at this in the evaluation the review team asked the following question: “To 
what degree did the training you or your staff received in any of the ISA 
workshops help you or your staff to assist and empower: churches to reach out to 
meet the food security needs of their community?; community and/or 
governmental leaders to solve food security problems; or families to meet each 
other’s food security needs?” This chapter attempts to answer this question by 
categorizing information gathered during the evaluation according to the three 
VOC objectives
Summary
Indications that the ISA has contributed to accomplishment of the VOC are 
evident. However, this evidence points to the fact that this contribution has been 
haphazard in most cases rather than deliberate. To some degree this is due to a 
lack of clarity from some staff members as to what the VOC is and how it is to be 
achieved in the field. A systematic addressing of workshop implications for the 
VOC has been begun to better inform staff members how the technical 
information they are given through the ISA can contribute to achievement of the 
VOC.
CHAPTER SIX: ISA CONTRIBUTION TO FHI'S VISION OF COMMUNITY
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 43
A constraint to the ISA’s contribution to the VOC being readily evident is a 
misunderstanding as to what the VOC is and, more specifically, how the VOC is 
accomplished. This misunderstanding is more prevalent among regional and 
community level staff. An important point of misunderstanding (especially among 
community level staff) is that some staff members do not fully realize that the 
VOC is a facilitative model: empowering churches, leaders, and families to 
assume active and appropriate roles in the development of their communities, 
rather than simply working with these three target groups. Staff and volunteers 
had a hard time distinguishing between serving the needs of the three target 
groups or involving them in program activities on the one hand, and helping 
churches to reach out, leaders to solve problems and families to meet each 
others needs.
VOC Objective 1: Churches are reaching out to meet food security needs: 
For this VOC objective to be achieved churches would need to be engaged in a 
manner that would increase their awareness of the role they have to play in the 
development of food security within the community. The VOC intends for 
churches to be catalysts for positive change in the community rather than 
primarily recipients of assistance themselves.
To date the ISA has not had much impact on enabling staff to achieve this 
objective. However, some positive steps have resulted from the ISA. Church 
leaders have been invited and have participated in regular trainings in both 
Mozambique and Ethiopia. Examples of this include Disaster Response 
Workshops and Educational Messages and Methods. By participating in these 
workshops churches are better equipped to reach out to their communities to 
help meet food security needs. Specifically, churches can give health and 
agricultural messages and achieve conflict resolution within their congregations. 
Mozambique staff members said that people will often take health advice from 
church leaders. Local churches in Mozambique have also reached out to 
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the camps served by FHI’s flood relief 
program. 
VOC Objective 2: Leaders are solving food security problems: The ISA has 
made some contribution to empowering leaders to solve food security problems 
in their communities. Community leaders have been Included in some regular 
trainings. Specifically, involvement with Educational Messages and Methods has 
enabled leaders to give health and agricultural messages at meetings using 
participatory methodology. Staff’s modeling of biblical principles have helped 
teach leaders to resolve conflicts in the community. Community leaders have 
also been engaged by having them organize and register beneficiaries of relief 
programs. Staff shared examples of community leaders intervening to convince 
parents to seek medical help for a sick child. With the lead farmer model in 
Mozambique lead farmers sacrificially help other community members to improve 
their agricultural production. Other farmers are able to solve their problems by 
emulating the practices and following the advice of these leaders. 
CHAPTER SIX: ISA CONTRIBUTION TO FHI'S VISION OF COMMUNITY
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 44
VOC Objective 3: Families are meeting each other’s food security needs: 
District level staff in Mozambique report that they are seeing families help each 
other more than before. For example, by fetching water and doing chores for a 
family when someone is sick, or by trying to convince parents to seek medical 
help for a sick child. One staff member reported giving a biblically based training 
on why you should be honest when you use scales to weigh the products you are 
selling. This helped farmers to relate better to each other and to be more 
accurate when they weigh their grain for sale. Volunteer mothers and Lead 
farmers in Mozambique observed that the nature of their intervention was to help 
families to help each other. They gave examples of how families are helping 
each other to resolve health problems and to improve agricultural production. 
They point to improved health and increased food production as an indicator that 
families are increasingly meeting each others’ needs. 
Conclusion
The ISA has made contributions to achievement of the VOC in the communities 
where FHI is working. However, this contribution has been limited by a lack of 
comprehensive understanding of application of the VOC and uncertainty as to 
how to link the knowledge gained through the ISA and its achievement. 
Accomplishment has been most apparent through the development of holistic 
messages, participatory methodology, Development Related Bible Studies and 
involving churches and leaders in regular ISA trainings.
CHAPTER SEVEN: PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES 
REGARDING ISA SERVICES
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 45
CHAPTER SEVEN: PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD 
STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES REGARDING 
ISA SERVICES
Review Question Five
What is the perspective of FHI Title II field staff with regards to the 
services provided under the ISA?
Field staff in general reported very positive perceptions of ISA activities. Many 
field staff shared similar perspectives across organizational levels within the 
same field, and across fields on specific aspects of the services provided under 
the ISA. They find the tools and practices taught in the workshops very useful, 
the workshops are conducted well, and workshop materials are seen as very 
practical. Staff also viewed the practical exercises in the workshops as very 
helpful to them. The negative perceptions reported by staff revolved around 
problems with follow-up after the workshops, the lack of clear monitoring 
mechanisms for ISA activities to be carried out by field staff, and insufficient 
consultation with field staff in the selection of workshop topics. The most widely 
made recommendations included more consultation with field staff in planning 
and designing workshops, and refresher and follow-on trainings at the field level. 
The table below summarizes the main perspectives expressed through the 
process of the review and lays them out by field and by organizational levels 
including National level staff, regional or regional level staff, community level 
staff, and beneficiaries. Comments in the left column are from the Ethiopia 
team, those in the right column are from the Mozambique team. Underlined 
comments are mentioned by staff in two or more organizational levels within the 
same field. Comments in italics are mentioned by staff in both fields. Italicized
and underlined comments are from two or more levels and both fields. 
CHAPTER SEVEN: PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES 
REGARDING ISA SERVICES
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 46
Table X Perspectives on ISA Services
Ethiopia Mozambique
National Level Staff
Most useful activities / aspects
- Workshops on Commodity Management 
and Educational Messages
- The pre-workshop assessment for 
commodity management.
- Practical exercises used in workshops
.
-Technical assistance from ISA staff. 
Less useful activities / aspects
- Disaster Response Workshops
- Workshop topics selected without 
adequate consultation with field staff. 
Consequently there is little buy-in from the 
field staff. 
- Topics not always relevant to felt needs of 
staff
- Workshops taught at too high an academic 
level for some staff
-Sometimes it is unclear which staff should 
participate in the workshops 
- No clear follow-up and monitoring 
mechanisms make it hard to implement 
what is taught in the workshops. 
- No clear mandate from the IO to adopt the 
practices covered in the workshops, thus 
they are not included in work plans or 
monitoring. 
- Workshops are too short to cover the 
material presented.
Most useful activities / aspects
- Workshops on Monitoring & Evaluation, 
Educational Messages, & Program Design
-Quality improvement checklists (QICs)
- Materials on how to write lesson plans
- Practical exercises used in workshops.
Less useful activities / aspects
- Workshops taught at too high an academic 
level for some staff.
- No clear follow-up and monitoring 
mechanisms makes it hard to implement 
what is taught in the workshops.
CHAPTER SEVEN: PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES 
REGARDING ISA SERVICES
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 47
Table X Perspectives on ISA Services (Continued)
Ethiopia Mozambique
Regional Level Staff
Most useful activities / aspects
- Workshops on Educational Messages,
Disaster Response, and Positive Deviance. 
Commodity Management
-Workshops update staff on current 
concepts.
- Practical exercises used in workshops.
-Facilitators encourage participation
- Materials are easy to understand
- Use of Pre / Post tests helps them to learn.
Less useful activities / aspects
- Workshop topics selected without 
adequate consultation with field staff. 
- Sometimes it is unclear which staff should 
participate in the workshops.
- No clear follow-up and monitoring 
mechanisms makes it hard to implement 
what is taught in the workshops.
- No clear mandate from the national level 
staff to adopt the practices covered in the 
workshops, thus they are not included in 
work plans or monitoring. 
- Workshops are too short to cover the 
material presented.
- Staff turnover without retraining is a 
problem. Many people trained under ISA 
have left the organization.
Most useful activities / aspects
- Workshop on Educational Messages and 
Positive Deviance
- From Educational Messages: lesson 
plans, adult education theory, participatory 
educational methods, and the materials
given out. 
- The positive deviance philosophy
Less useful activities / aspects
-Workshops are too short to cover the 
material presented.
- Second generation Educational Messages 
workshop was shorter than the one in 
Kenya. 
- Follow-up planned for Agriculture program 
was not carried out.
- Positive Deviance methodology presented 
for agriculture was not as developed as that 
for health. 
Community
Staff turnover at supervisory level is a 
problem.
Most useful activities / aspects
- Getting feedback from supervisors using 
Quality improvement checklists.
-Participatory educational methods are very 
effective.
Beneficiarie
s
NB. In Ethiopia, since practices from the 
Educational Messages and Methods 
workshop were not adopted at the 
community level, the team did not ask the 
perspectives of the beneficiaries on this 
topic.
- Use of participatory educational methods 
by staff who train them. 
CHAPTER SEVEN: PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES 
REGARDING ISA SERVICES
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 48
Positive Perceptions on ISA Services
· The workshop on Educational Messages and Methods the broadest 
positive rating across organizational levels and across fields. In 
Mozambique where practices from this workshop have been fairly 
institutionalized down to the community level, staff at all levels and 
community beneficiaries all report a favorable view of these practices. 
· Quality improvement checklists were seen as useful by National and 
community level staff in Mozambique. 
· The Commodities Management Workshop was widely praised in 
Ethiopia by national and regional level staff members. 
· Across workshops, practical exercises in workshops were seen as 
helpful by National and regional staff in Ethiopia and national level staff in 
Mozambique. 
· Workshop materials were mentioned as most useful by regional staff in 
Ethiopia and by National-level and region level staff in Mozambique. 
Negative Perceptions
· Problems with follow up after workshops were mentioned by national 
and regional staff in both Ethiopia and Mozambique. 
· The lack of clear monitoring mechanisms for ISA activities to be 
carried out by field staff was mentioned as a problem by national and 
regional level staff in Ethiopia and by national staff in Mozambique. 
· Workshops too short for the material covered was cited by national 
and regional staff in Ethiopia and in Mozambique. 
· Workshops taught at too high an academic level for some staff was 
mentioned by national level staff in both fields. 
· Staff turnover without retraining (many people that have been trained 
under the ISA have left) was mentioned by regional and community level 
staff in Ethiopia. 
· Both national and regional staff in Ethiopia mentioned that ISA workshop 
topics were selected without consulting them. 
· These two groups also found it confusing that there was no clear 
mandate on the part of the IO to adopt the practices covered in the 
CHAPTER SEVEN: PERSPECTIVES OF FIELD STAFF AND BENEFICIAIRES 
REGARDING ISA SERVICES
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 49
ISA workshops, thus they are not included in work plans or monitoring 
plans.
Summary of Recommendations from the Field
· National and regional level staff in both fields suggest that ISA staff 
consult with them more closely and in a more timely manner on the 
details of future workshops. 
· National and regional level staff in Ethiopia and national staff in 
Mozambique asked for help from ISA staff in determining what staff 
members should attend what workshops. 
· National and regional staff in both fields as well as community level staff in 
Mozambique recommend that workshops be longer to allow time for 
them to more thoroughly learn the material. 
· Regional staff in Ethiopia and national and community level staff in 
Mozambique suggest that the ISA help make possible refresher courses 
and follow-on training to staff on a regular basis. 
· Regional level staff in Ethiopia and national and community level staff in 
Mozambique suggest arranging opportunities to exchange ideas and 
experiences among the different fields. 
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 50
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND 
RECOMMENDATIONS
The data collected previous to and during the visits to the two fields have 
demonstrated to the review team that FHI’s ISA program is very strong. The 
training offered under the ISA to the field staff is of high quality and is much 
appreciated by the field staff. When ISA workshops have responded to felt 
needs of the field staff leadership, the fields have shown an exceptional level of 
competence and dedication in implementing the tools and practices introduced in 
the workshops. In spite of much progress in implementing many of the tools and 
practices presented by the ISA workshops under Objective One: Program Design 
and Implementation, and Objective Two: Disaster Relief, the reviewers found 
many cases in which implementation is still lacking in the fields visited. These 
instances of poor implementation are the consequence of three main 
weaknesses: 1) lack of buy-in from the national level leadership; 2) many ISA 
activities are not included in the fields’ M&E plans and are thus not prioritized; 
and 3) in spite of the very high quality of training offered under the ISA, field staff 
sometimes lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence needed to implement 
properly the tools and practices covered. This chapter examines these lessons 
and the recommendations from the review team.
Lesson one: Current training is of very high quality.
It is apparent to the reviewers that the training offered under the ISA to the field 
staff is of high quality. This is reflected in comments from staff at all levels in 
both fields visited. The ISA team has done a good job of introducing new 
concepts to the field. When the workshops include training in tools that are 
concrete and easy to use, workshop participants have been able to make quick 
progress in disseminating improved practices through the organization. A good 
example of this is how participants in the EMM workshop in Ethiopia were able to 
improve facilitation methods of community level staff by use of the QICs even in 
the absence of an organizational commitment on the part of the leadership. The 
ISA team has done an excellent job of reviewing and selecting appropriate tools, 
instruments, and training materials used by other organizations and adapting 
them for use by FHI. A good example of this is the materials for the workshop on 
Problem Analysis and Program Design that were adapted from a manual 
produced by another PVO. 
Recommendations:
1. The ISA team should continue to provide quality training as they have 
done so far. 
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 51
2. The ISA team should continue the practice of developing and using 
concrete and simple tools as part of their workshops to the extent 
possible. 
3. The ISA team should continue to review and select appropriate tools, 
instruments, and training materials used by other organizations and adapt 
them for use by FHI as it has in the past. The ISA team should review the 
written, video, and computer-based learning materials that other PVO’s 
have put out and see what FHI can borrow or adapt for distribution to the 
fields. Ideally, these kinds of materials should support follow-up by 
making what was taught in the workshops available from day to day to 
field staff. They could also be useful to train other staff and to 
institutionalize ISA practices. 
Lesson two: A strong link exists between felt needs and 
field staff’s implementation of ISA activities:
When ISA workshops have responded to felt needs of the field staff 
leadership, the fields have shown an exceptional level of competence and 
dedication in implementing the tools and practices introduced in the workshops. 
Two very good examples of this are the Commodity Management Workshop in 
Ethiopia and the Educational Messages and Methods workshop with the 
Mozambique team. When ISA workshops have not responded to felt needs of 
the field staff leadership, implementation has been weak and has often been the 
result of the initiatives of a few individuals here and there. (pertinent 
recommendations appear in the section below).
Lesson three: Implementation is incomplete in both 
fields visited.
While the reviewers have seen much progress in implementing many of the tools 
and practices presented by the ISA workshops under Objective One: Program 
Design and Implementation, and Objective Two: Disaster Relief, in many cases 
implementation is still lacking in the fields visited. The data collected from the 
field during the review indicate that this poor implementation is a consequence of 
three main weaknesses: 1) lack of buy-in from the national level leadership; 2) 
many ISA activities are not included in the fields’ M&E plans and are thus not 
prioritized; and 3) In spite of the very high quality of training offered under the 
ISA, field staff sometimes lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence needed to 
implement properly the tools and practices covered. These are listed again 
below along with an outline of their underlying causes as seen by the review 
team.
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 52
1. Lack of buy-in from national level leadership. 
a. Underlying Causes
i. The topics covered in the workshops sometimes do not 
respond to the felt needs of the national level leadership. 
ii. National level leadership staff sometimes do not feel that 
they are consulted enough in the choice of workshop topics 
and in the specific content of the workshops. 
 
2. Many ISA activities are not included in the fields' M&E plans and are thus 
not prioritized. 
a. Underlying Causes
i. Lack of buy-in from national level leadership (see above)
ii. Weak monitoring of ISA activities conducted by the field 
staff.
3. In spite of the very high quality of training offered under the ISA, field staff 
sometimes lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence needed to implement 
properly the tools and practices covered.
a. Underlying causes
i. Staff members trained at ISA workshops do not always pass 
this training on to other staff members nor do they always 
orient new staff members on the appropriate ISA tools and 
practices. (This is sometimes related to “1” above)
ii. At times workshops have covered too much material for staff 
to be able to adequately implement the tools and practices 
given the short length of the workshops and the academic 
level of some staff members. 
Discussion of weaknesses and underlying causes
1. Lack of buy-in from national level leadership. The purpose of the ISA is 
one of building capacity among the field staff. The ISA team feels that this 
capacity building is best accomplished when the leadership of each field is free to 
decide which specific tools and practices they will implement. This buy-in from 
the national level leadership is central to implementation. 
Underlying causes
The topics covered in the workshops often did not respond to the felt needs of 
the national level leadership. Although the training topics do reflect the results of 
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 53
a training needs assessment conducted with the country directors of the four 
fields several years ago, no one currently working in the two fields visited 
participated in that assessment. Consequently, the national leadership 
sometimes is not invested in the topics selected. 
National level leadership staff sometimes do not feel that they are consulted 
enough in the choice of workshop topics and in the specific content of the 
workshops. National and regional level staff from both fields suggest that ISA 
staff consult with them more closely and in a more timely manner on the details 
of future workshops. 
2. Many ISA activities are not included in the fields' M&E plans and are thus 
not prioritized by field staff. Monitoring and indicators tend to drive the work 
done in any organization. When activities are not included in the field’s 
monitoring system, then staff members tend to give them a lower priority than 
those activities upon which they will be monitored and evaluated. When 
implementation of ISA tools and practices are not included in the M&E plan, their 
use if often spotty or non-existent. 
Underlying Causes
Lack of buy-in from national level leadership (see above)
Weak monitoring of ISA activities conducted by the field staff. It is not clear even 
to many in field staff leadership how the ISA activities are intended to fit into their 
programs. As a consequence, after each workshop the field leadership team 
chooses what, if anything, from the workshop they will implement on a national 
level. This seems to be the same for regional and community level staff 
members who participate in ISA trainings. There is no system of monitoring 
field implementation of ISA activities. Even when the workshop topic 
corresponds to the felt needs of the staff, in the absence of a monitoring 
system or of clear expectations, staff end up prioritizing the activities that 
are already in their work plans and subject to monitoring rather than 
implement things from the workshop. The follow-up that the ISA staff has 
been able to give has tended to be fairly bounded and demand-driven from the 
field. 
3. In spite of the very high quality of training offered under the ISA, field 
staff sometimes lack the knowledge, skills, or confidence needed to 
implement properly implement the tools and practices. The review team 
sees this as both a managerial and a training issue. 
Underlying causes
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 54
Staff members trained at ISA workshops do not always pass this training on to 
other staff members nor do they always orient new staff members on the 
appropriate ISA tools and practices. This is related to problems 1 and 2 above.
At times workshops have covered too much material for staff to be able to 
adequately implement the tools and practices given the short length of the 
workshops and the academic level of some staff members. 
In order to build capacity across the fields, reviewers see that the ISA needs to 
have three basic components: 1) strong preparation for each training event 
marked by clear and ongoing dialogue between ISA staff and field staff , 2)high 
quality training, and 3) good follow-up, monitoring and evaluation after each 
training. These three components can be seen as the three stones that hold the 
cooking pot over the fire. It is clear from comments in the field that the training 
events offered by the ISA are very high quality and appropriate. However, the 
review team sees that the ISA is weak in the areas of preparation before training, 
and follow-up after the training event. 
The primary recommendation of the review team is that the ISA team 
conduct discussions with the leadership of each field over the next six 
months to determine:
1. how they will strengthen preparation and dialogue before each future 
ISA workshop is held, and 
2. how they will strengthen the follow-up, monitoring and evaluation of 
the implementation of ISA activities by field staff after each 
workshop.
The review team presents the following recommendations as options for 
consideration by the ISA team and the field leadership. (These recommendations 
are offered as a first step and are neither considered in any way mandatory nor 
exhaustive. Over the course of the recommended discussion other options will 
certainly come up.)
To strengthening the dialogue and preparation before each ISA workshop, 
consider the following options.
1. Conduct a training needs assessment to determine what topics are most 
appropriate for ISA training in FY2003. The training activities and topics 
for FY01 and FY02 are set contractually and cannot be changed. 
However, those for FY03 are still flexible under the contract. Therefore, in 
lieu of conducting workshops on Census-based, Impact Oriented 
methodology (CBIO) as was originally set forth in the proposal, the ISA 
team should select a topic or topics that best address the results of the 
above mentioned needs assessment. The review team in no way 
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 55
suggests that training topics should be based solely on the requests from 
the field. People rarely request training on a topic that they are not familiar 
with, and one of the roles that the ISA team has played very well is to 
introduce innovations to the field. Topics should, however respond to 
changing needs discovered in the fields as was the case with the initial 
training needs assessment conducted in preparation for the ISA. 
2. While ISA training topics for FY01 and FY02 cannot be changed, the 
details of the training are flexible. Therefore, ISA staff should consult with 
the fields well in advance of each scheduled training to assess the 
priorities of the fields and to get input from field staff. Suggested 
mechanisms for this include: 
· IO staff could email the training objectives, schedule, and even the 
training notes and solicit input from field. This would help to ensure 
that the content is relevant to the felt needs of the field staff and would 
also contribute to the motivation of the field staff. While it is clear that 
each workshop given needs to be standard across the fields, input 
from the fields would help ISA trainers to better address those issues 
that are common in all the fields. 
· Effective training needs assessments need to go beyond the top level 
management in the field. They should include the people for whom the 
training is being designed. One way to ensure such inclusion would be 
that one or two months prior to a training, ISA staff email to the CD a 
survey instrument with at minimum the 10 main objectives of the 
training. Task the CD to distribute the instrument to all potential 
participants (translated if necessary) and have them prioritize the 
objectives. The CD should then summarize the results and send them 
to the ISA staff to use for adapting the training as needed. 
· At each workshop dedicate time at the end to discuss the coming 
workshop topics, solicit input on priority areas for that field. 
To strengthen follow-up, monitoring and evaluation after each training, 
consider the following options.
1. ISA trainers could conduct a short training of trainers in each field 
connected with each ISA workshop. This would ensure that the fields 
have the capacity to pass on the ISA trainings to other staff both “laterally” 
(e.g. a regional level staff member teaching other regional level staff 
members) and “vertically” (e.g. regional level staff members teaching 
community level staff members). This could be done by reducing the 
amount of material on the topic to be covered in the workshop. Trainers 
could focus on one or two specific tools or practices which are to be 
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 56
disseminated throughout the field. Trainers could then dedicate a 
significant portion of workshop time preparing selected staff members to 
repeat the training (or a portion of it) with other staff members in the 
weeks or months after the workshop. For example, instead of conducting 
a five-day workshop on a variety of educational methods, trainers could 
focus on a narrower topic such as “how to develop a lesson plan”. 
Trainers could spend three days training the participants in the topic and 
spend two days conducting a training of trainers who will conduct a 
second generation training with the field staff who did not participate in the 
initial workshop. 
2. Trainers could design the training so that follow-up activities on the part of 
the participants are specific and concrete. For example, trainers could 
task participants with developing certain products from the training (such 
as creating a lesson plan) and then sending the product to the person in 
charge of ISA activities. Follow-up is more likely to be done when 
participants are expected to hand in a product by a certain date. 
3. Each field should designate a member of the national leadership as the 
ISA support person for the field. These responsibilities should be made 
part of the designated person's job description and made subject to 
monitoring by the country director or someone else with authority. 
4. Before finalizing the design of a workshop, the ISA staff should plan ahead 
of time with the CD of each field what field level organizational objectives 
the training will address, specific expected outcomes of the training, and a 
framework for an action plan which will be developed by the training 
participants upon completing the training. To make this process more 
efficient, the ISA staff should develop a standardized procedure for this 
planning with instruments and standard timelines. 
5. Dedicate some time at the end of each workshop during in which 
participants will develop a clear action plan for implementing the skills 
taught at the workshop. Share this plan with the country director and 
include it in the M&E system. 
6. Task one of the ISA team members to monitor the fields’ progress toward 
completion of the action plans and other relevant ISA objectives. (As a 
suggestion, a simple instrument could be used such as a one-page 
checklist for things that the CD should review with the field staff on a 
regular basis.)
7. The ISA team should conduct a monitoring exercise six months after each 
workshop by way of sending a simple form to each participant asking 
questions such as "What did you learn at the workshop? What have you 
implemented up to now? What do you plan to implement over the next six 
CHAPTER EIGHT: LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS
ISA Mid-term 7/5/01 Page 57
months? What constraints have you encountered?" Task the CD with 
ensuring that all workshop participants complete the form and with 
summarizing the results and sending them back to the IO. 
8. Use the last year of this ISA to come up with a handbook outlining the 
technical and worldview topics covered in the ISA workshops. This 
handbook would be intended as a reference for current staff and as an 
orientation tool for new staff. This should include a plan for continuous 
updating of the document. 
Other recommendations 
1. Enter training and follow-up activities into the M&E system and get them into 
funded programs. 
2. Task the designated ISA point person to have regional level supervisors go 
and observe each community level staff member giving a training in the 
community and give feedback using the QICs where this is not being done 
already.
3. As soon as possible, translate the training notes from past ISA workshops 
into all appropriate local languages and distribute copies to all appropriate 
regional level staff and to all community level staff. 
4. The staff who attend any ISA workshop should be required to conduct a 
second generation training for other staff in the field. 
5. The CD should identify co-trainers on the national level to conduct some of 
the future ISA training in-country. These co-trainers could also provide on￾going technical support. 
7. FSE (Food security extranet) has materials for delivering holistic messages in 
agriculture and health. Field staff should consult these materials on the FSE 
for help in developing their own holistic messages. The national staff should 
explore the possibility of using holistic messages with field staff on a regular 
basis. (Another suggested resource is the series of Development Related 
Bible Studies FHI/Ethiopia is in the process of developing for use in their staff 
devotions.)
8. Each field should develop an orientation checklist for new hires that covers 
topics addressed in previous ISA workshops.