Africa-Press – Liberia. Action Against Hunger in Partnership with the Government of Liberia through the Ministry of Agriculture has officially launched the House-hold Economic Analysis (HEA) Approach in Liberia.
Action Against Hunger is working with the regional and national institutions to strengthen the regional mechanism for the prevention and management of food and nutrition crises in West Africa and the Sahel (PREGEC) through support to federal and national information systems.
According to the Program Coordinator of Action Against Hunger, Jacob F. Tengbeh, the HEA is part of a ProAct project titled: “Support for the Strengthening of Food and Nutrition Crisis Prevention and Management Systems in West Africa and the Sahel” and is concomitantly being implemented in West Africa and the Sahel, which covers Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mauritania, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.
Speaking on behalf of Action Against Hunger Country Representative, Matej SKENDEROVICat the launch of the HEA in Monrovia on Tueaday, Mr. Tengbeh said the project focuses on building and strengthening the capacities of national institutions and civil society through the transfer of expertise, technical support, and support for the sustainable appropriation of methodologies and processes to guarantee the quality and reliability of analyses and participation within the framework of the regional PREGEC system.
It also aims to reinforce technical collaboration between NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, early warning systems, and the CILSS (Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel) around the tools and methodologies used in the operation system.
He said the multi-country and multi-level approach was proposed to support the efficient and sustainable implementation of data collection and analysis, disseminating information, and putting in place the necessary conditions for sustainable and durable national information systems.
More specifically, he noted that the HEA approach has brought about technical technical improvements to the Cadre Harmonisé (CH) process. The CH is a unifying tool that helps to produce relevant, consensual, rigorous, and transparent analyses of current and projected food and nutrition situation.
It classifies the severity of food and nutrition insecurity based on the international classification scale through an approach that refers to well-defined functions and protocols. CH results are communicated in a clear, coherent, and effective manner, so as to support decision-making by linking information to action
Speaking further, Mr. Tengbeh said the institutionalization of the HEA approach within the CH has always led to outcome analyses and the regular production of analyses providing evidence on household food consumption. The results of the HEA analyses contribute to providing stable information on the food consumption result indicators for the CH,” he said; while adding that it leads to a better understanding of populations’ vulnerabilities to food and nutritional insecurity.
According to him, the HEA results are essential for fueling ongoing discussions on improving response mechanisms and building resilience, particularly for the component targeting vulnerable households to implement responses to food and nutrition crises; and constituting a pool of HEA experts at the national (Sahel countries in particular) and regional levels, who work in close collaboration with Save the Children Regional Office for the continuous training of Food and Nutritional Security Analysts at country level.
Meanwhile, as part of the launch, an intensive training for enumerators to conduct the HEA baseline in Liberia was held. Mr. Tengbeh welcome and lauded and three HEA expert trainers only identified Afi, Demba and Kedaf from the sub-region Save the Children based in Senegal.
He added: “To our trainees, the Government of Liberia, through the Food Security and Nutrition Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, has provided your names as enumerators to conduct the HEA baseline in Liberia. We hope you will fully participate in all of the training aspects of the six days training. The Liberia Government will depend on you to perform subsequent HEA in Liberia.”
About the Organization
Action Against Hunger is a global humanitarian organization which originated in France and is committed to ending world hunger. The organization helps malnourished children and provides communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. It has been working in Liberia as a development partner since 1990; specializing in Water and Sanitation, Health and Nutrition, Gender and Advocacy, and Food Security and livelihoods.
As part of its support to the food security and livelihoods sector, the organization has, over the past three years, and with the backing of its donors, implemented the French Development Agency (AFD) project that supported the COVID-19 emergency response. The project which ended in December 2021, was jointly implemented by the organization and the Ministries of Agriculture and Health in Montserrado, Margibi, and Nimba Counties.
For More News And Analysis About Liberia Follow Africa-Press
