OPERATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR DESIGNING AND MOBILIZING COMMUNITY-BASED GROUPS FOR IMPROVING FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION Chhitij Bashyal, Manav Bhattarai and Abeyah A. Al-Omair The World Bank Group – Policy Brief Abstract The role of community in local development has been a cornerstone of Community Driven Development in developing countries. In Nepal, community-based groups are an integral part of many large-scale programs, which use a range of social mobilization strategies to achieve their objectives. A recently conducted operations research of major food security and nutrition (FSN) projects in Nepal (Study of Operational Strategies to Reduce Malnutrition in Nepal) points to the importance of such strategies and offers practical lessons on operational considerations for project planners and implementers. This research brief highlights some of the major classifications of community-based groups and emphasizes the importance of considering the influence of inclusion and incentives (free grants, loan grants, “software” and “hardware” provisions) on group performance. Groups, once having built credibility in the community, can become a multi-purpose platform for implementing development activities, addressing socio-cultural constraints, and collective bargaining. Given the range of development projects and activities at the local level, the study finds the benefits of joint-programming to harmonize interventions being implemented to benefit common beneficiaries. The mobilization of community-based groups in local-level component of the mobilization strategy was to provide development has been an important strategy in developing conditional cash grants to cover the costs of the project, with countries. In Nepal, a range of social mobilization approaches the assumption that financial constraints often prevent people have been implemented to achieve project objectives, from from adopting new health and nutrition practices. Key improving nutrition and livelihoods to increasing agricultural operational learnings from the implementation of SHD production and food security. While quantitative evidence for experience include the following: their effectiveness is being generated through ongoing quantitative evaluation efforts, it is useful to explore the ♦ Balancing team inclusion and team performance. RRNI operational challenges and opportunities associated with team members are selected for the duration of a specific common modalities, particularly in relation to improving the sub-project. While forming a RRNI team for a new sub- food security and nutrition (FSN) landscape. With this project, facilitators encourage communities to change the rationale, this policy brief summarizes key findings from leadership and membership to grant opportunity for other operations research, which identifies three common social members with the goal of inclusion and building capacity mobilization modalities applied in large scale projects in Nepal. of more community members. While the intention is commendable, some projects seemed to perform better under the same membership and leadership due to A. Project implementation groups carrying over of learnings and skills to the next projects. The first modality consists of projects shifting the responsibility Hence, it is important to ensure that inclusivity provisions for implementing community projects to a “team” of do not hamper performance, and thus the achievement of community members. The Sunaula Hazar Din (SHD)- results. Community Action for Nutrition Project mobilized Rapid ♦ Influence of conditional grants in team decision making Results for Nutrition Initiative (RRNI) teams to design and and performance incentives: Conditional grants are implement 100-day projects (ranging from activities related to crucial for communities who may not have pre-requisite creating Open Defecation Free environments, kitchen resources to adopt a new practice (for example, resources gardening, chicken rearing, to awareness raising for adequate to build latrines to stop open defecation). However, grants nutrition of adolescents, pregnant and lactating mothers and seem to compel teams to choose more high-cost children especially below two years) geared towards “hardware” projects, such as latrine construction, over increasing demand for nutrition services. One critical “software” projects, such as breastfeeding awareness. 1-2 ♦ Because there is minimum financial risk for teams, the community, women often face the challenge of “free” grants may provide limited incentives for convincing more senior members of their household, such performance, especially when team members are working as their mothers-in-law, to adopt new practices like for external beneficiaries. exclusive breastfeeding or washing hands. In such scenarios, members can build their legitimacy and B. Profession-specific groups technical authority by association with the group and resource persons, such as social mobilizers or female The second modality is to organize people by a common community health volunteers. profession, such as farming. Farmer groups are a preferred modality for national agriculture programs, which form groups Conclusion of farmers to provide technical capability building programs, This brief discusses useful operational considerations for develop agri-infrastructure projects, and build producer identifying possible social mobilization strategies in FSN associations for market-linkages. Implementation experience project programming. It is important to consider the influence from the Agriculture and Food Security Program (AFSP) and of inclusion and incentives (free grants, loan grants, “software” USAID’s Knowledge-based Integrated Sustainable Agriculture and “hardware” provisions) on group performance. Once a and Nutrition (KISAN) Project provides the following key group is operational and has established its functional learnings: credibility, it can become a multi-purpose platform for ♦ Unity for collective bargaining: One of the advantages of implementing development activities, addressing socio- joining profession-based groups, such as a farmers group, cultural constraints, and collective bargaining. Given the range is the unity of members to address shared challenges, of development projects and activities at the local level, joint- often by collectively raising voice and seeking support programming at the village level through relevant groups can from public agencies, NGOs or community members. For help complement different interventions being implemented sustainability of the group, members highlight the to benefit a common group of beneficiaries. importance of being individually active and united as a Full report: “Study of Operational Strategies to Reduce group. Malnutrition in Nepal”. Website: ♦ Joint-programming in provision of services and goods http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/474451508933 and commodities: Some projects provide subsidies and in- 829359/Study-of-operational-strategies-to-reduce- kind support for farmers while others are limited to malnutrition-in-Nepal services. Although services, such as technical training, are valued by the groups, people prefer hardware items. In The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this such cases, joint-programming by multiple projects paper are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be through the same group can help manage expectations attributed in any manner to the World Bank. The World Bank while harmonizing and complementing activities at the does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this group level. work. C. Women-focused groups Financial support for this work was provided by the Government of Japan through the Japan Trust Fund for Scaling The third modality for social mobilization is through gender- Up Nutrition. specific groups, such as mothers’ groups. The mothers’ groups have been formed, mostly with purposes of improving health outcomes through: ♦ Capability expansion beyond health and nutrition: Although mothers’ groups have been historically engaged in promoting health and nutrition, experience has shown that their capability can be expanded to include livelihood development, demonstration of model farms, increasing adoption of good agricultural practices, and savings and credit services. ♦ Maneuvering socio-cultural context to bring change: While operating within the socio-cultural context of a 2-2