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India[1999-Present] While September 2010 marks the end of Title II program development assistance support in India, USAID is committed to ensuring that the Title II program’s impact continues in India and that lessons learned there can benefit Title II programs in other countries. Working closely with USAID/India, FANTA helped develop the program exit strategy and supported replication and scale-up of effective approaches into the Government of India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) program. FANTA-2 continues to assist with these efforts. Exit Strategies in Title II Programs: FANTA conducted a desk review, Program Strategies and Exit Strategies: Title II Program Experiences and Related Research, which lays out a framework of approaches used in program exit and discusses key implementation steps, exit criteria, and monitoring and evaluation requirements. It also documents the approaches and progress of India’s Title II program, shares results and provides recommendations. FANTA also helped USAID/India identify options for exiting from the Title II program. In addition, FANTA-2 and Tufts University are studying the sustainability of the exit strategies in India, as well as those in Kenya, Guatemala and Honduras. Study of Food Aid Transition in CARE Title II Areas: FANTA and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) conducted a study of the progress and outcomes of the transition from Title II-donated food to state government-procured food. The study, Food Aid Transition in India's Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Program in CARE-Supported Areas, seeks to assess state-wide variations in the transition process, help CARE strengthen the transition and draw lessons for changes to enhance ICDS and other social safety nets. FANTA also worked with USAID/India, CARE and Catholic Relief Services to plan the program’s transition from Title II-donated corn-soy blend (CSB) to locally procured food. Assessments of Program Approaches: FANTA assessed a set of program tools and approaches developed by CARE and used in the ICDS program. In its report, Assessment of CARE India's Integrated Nutrition and Health Project Tools and Change Agents, FANTArecommended steps to improve the effectiveness of community volunteers called Change Agents and of tools such as a home visit diary, a supervisor's checklist and guidelines on facilitating sector-level meetings. FANTA also assessed local food models in which local women's groups procure and package food used in ICDS. Assessment of Decentralized Food Models in India's ICDS Program examined the financial and operational viability of such models and scope for scale-up. Replication and Scale-Up of Effective Programming Approaches: Continuing work begun under FANTA, FANTA-2 works with CARE and USAID/India to help the Government of India replicate and scale up effective approaches from CARE-supported program areas. The replication process aims to extend the successes of the Title II program to a larger group of beneficiaries in ICDS program areas that CARE has not been directly supporting. FANTA completed Replication of Integrated Nutrition and Health Project Approaches in Non-CARE Assisted ICDS Areas: Operational Guidelines, which provides a framework and guidance on replication for State Working Groups and other stakeholders. FANTA also worked with CARE and USAID to develop standard processes for the identified approaches, developed materials to support these approaches, printed and disseminated these materials, supported training of ICDS service providers in the practices for state-wide replication in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In addition, FANTA worked with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and CARE to form a National Advisory Panel (NAP) to guide and oversee the replication activity. Currently, FANTA-2 supports CARE, USAID and the NAP in the replication of practices, specifically by developing an internal audit system to support monitoring and quality assurance and by documenting the replication process, timeline and costs to help other states and stakeholders conduct the replication.
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