PHIA is working in Bihar and Jharkhand owing to a high concentration of poor, marginalized as well as source for migrant population who have been severely affected by the pandemic and the resultant crisis. The blocks identified for intervention witness high migration in absence of local livelihood opportunities. The project covers 583 villages in 92 Gram Panchayats across eight districts, three in Bihar and five in Jharkhand.  

About the Project

Change Alliance is providing programme coordination and capacity building services in the implementation of the project “Addressing Present Vulnerabilities and Planning Future Resilience for Vulnerable Communities across Bihar and Jharkhand”. Change Alliance is providing programme support through strategic inputs, Participate and provide support during design, planning and review meetings, capacity building, timelines and progress and reporting. It had also provided M&E support in the initial phase for 6 months to develop the reporting framework, data collection and management systems and data tracking mechanisms

The purpose of this programme is to improve the resilience of the vulnerable communities safeguarding from Climate change impact through building climate resilient infrastructure and promoting livelihood opportunities and linkages. The Initiative is linked to the government’s planning process under MGNREGA and Gram Panchayat Development Plans, empowering communities’ participation in GPDP and facilitating linkages of vulnerable communities with rights and entitlements.

PHIA has partnered with Change Alliance and has started this programme with awareness on preventive measure on COVID 19, vaccination drive and linkages of communities with social protection schemes. The project is currently facilitating the on-ground process with the support of MGNREGA, climate resilient structures, spatial mapping exercise with community and enhancing livelihood of these vulnerable communities.  The ongoing programme endeavours to provide technical support in making the structures at village/GP level climate resilient and helping the associated vulnerable population around these structures in gaining access to livelihood schemes and social protection schemes thereby building resilience in the process.

Processes undertaken

Scope of services/work for Change Alliance will include the technical assistance in capacity building and programme delivery of activities for the project, covered in the following broad areas

A. Programme Support 

Provide strategic inputs to the project

This would include coordination with the state teams and Phia Senior Leadership Team in Bihar & Jharkhand to finalize implementation strategies and prepare implementation plans in consonance with the project proposal, map. Participate in key procurements of services for the project. 

Participate and provide support during design, planning and review meetings

The designated representative for the project will participate in design of the project interventions, innovative approach of climate resilience and planning meetings of the activities along with representing the project in various meetings and reviews with the donor FCDO. 

Facilitate the development of capacity building and awareness material

Capacity building modules and awareness raising material for states considering context of the areas/location and communities. The trainings will be designed for Block Coordinators and Gram Panchayat teams to create awareness and linkage to social protection schemes at the community level. 

Coordination of trainings and orientations at state, block and gram panchayat level – design and plan

Capacity building and trainings of the block and gram panchayat level project teams is the core part of the programme wherein team will not only create awareness and models on ground but also create community based organisations and community cadres for the sustainability and larger reach of the project for building resilience and sustainability in long term.  The designated representative from Change Alliance will identify the gaps and also strategize the solutions and approaches to build the capacity of the team and planning of the interventions

Participate in team meetings and in meetings with other stakeholders

Meetings with team will be organised for project update and to discuss the issues from the field to address and support the team to review progress on project activities and related targets. Engaging with key stakeholders and various experts on regular basis for project updates, forge collaboration and participate in meetings, conferences and workshops related to project.

Track the timeline and project progress

The project has a set timeline thus it becomes important to track the activities and sub activities and have regular meeting with teams and support them for timely delivery. The tool for online tracking of beneficiaries will be developed by Phia and CAPL team will monitor the data on a regular basis. The data analysis and progress of the project will be shared with Senior Leadership Team of Phia through PowerPoint presentations and other reports.

Support in finalisation of reports

CAPL will provide inputs to Phia’s team in preparation of periodic reports to be submitted to FCDO. The reports will capture the progress on activities and outputs and outcomes. Change Alliance will develop the reporting templates by providing tracking sheets of project and other required reporting templates (which will be contextualised and customised by both Bihar and Jharkhand state). CAPL will also do a monthly review of the reports of both the states. This will enable the timely and quality submission of the reports to FCDO. Period reports will capture the progress on activities and outputs and justify how these are leading to outcomes.

B. Monitoring & Evaluation Support

The key activities in the M&E support will be as follows: 

M&E need assessment

Through a consultative process, an M&E need assessment will be conducted. The M&E Need Assessment process will help the team to develop a strong understanding of the context of M&E development as well as it will help draw boundaries for M&E development process. 

M&E Framework and strategy document

As a starting point, an M&E strategy note with M&E framework will be developed. The note will have broad outline of the proposed M&E system. The note will include an M&E matrix. The M&E Matrix will be an extension of log-frame providing clarity on indicators, source, tools and periodicity. A draft M&E framework will be shared with the PHIA and finalized with their feedback.

Developing M&E tools 

Change Alliance will facilitate in developing M&E tools for data capturing. The tools will be operationalized through an online application (say Kobo). Change Alliance will provide inputs for developing the tools. Change Alliance will provide training and handholding support to block and gram panchayat level teams for using online application and proper filling of data periodically.

Regular M&E Support 

For smooth managing of M&E functions at all level, a detailed M&E calendar will be prepared. The calendar will depict the timelines of all reporting and M&E events along with the responsibilities. The calendar can be periodically reviewed and modified. Providing right information at right time will be the main consideration of reporting and dissemination. Based on the M&E activities mentioned, Change Alliance will provide technical support in delivery of all the activities and deliverables.

Major Findings/Impact

• Capacity building of project team
• Timely delivery of project deliverables with disaggregated data and quality reports
• Robust M&E framework, reporting templates and formats developed
• Support in change in activities based on context and client’s need to respond to larger logframe of FCDO-ICRG programme.
• Project is A+ certified for first year of intervention (2020-2021) as team and partner’s effort.