Improving Program Outcomes: Workshop on Uses of Title II Reporting Requirements

Presenter:  Beatrice Rogers, Professor of Economics and Food Policy; Director, Food Policy and Applied Nutrition Program, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University

Programs using Title II food aid are required to provide multiple reports on program operations and outcomes, including annual and other reports and periodic program evaluations. One of the key recommendations of the Tufts University Food Aid Quality Review, completed last year for USAID, was to review the uses of the information collected in these reports, in order to assess how they are used, by whom, whether the reporting requirements could be streamlined, and whether the information could be made more directly applicable to informing and improving effective program design.

This session sought input from field staff and other stakeholders on improving Title II reporting. Small group discussions examined factors that can lead to inefficiencies in reporting as well as how reporting can work to help build an evidence base for programming. Importantly, much of the discussion centered on whether there is sufficient and efficient feedback on reports and use of reporting information to improve programming.

 

The Way Forward: Participants made recommendations in the following areas:

Capacity Strengthening and Tools

As data collection becomes more detailed, more needs to be done to assist implementing agencies with standardized tools, more training, etc.

Donor Policy and Practice

Web-based reporting: This new system may be good for the future, however, currently, internet connectivity is slow and the window given within which the report is to be completed is not long enough, especially if one has to report from remote locations.

The electronic reporting system is interesting, but in terms of data collection and reporting at the field level, much is still "primitive." Too much data, too many forms!