The Feed the Future Programme d’Appui à la Rentabilisation de l’Elevage (PARE) is a five-year program aimed at increasing the resilience of households and communities in the Northern and Southern Resilience Focus Zones (RFZ) of Haiti through the improvement of livestock market systems. The program is a consortium made up of Heifer International, Papyrus, and Land O’Lakes Venture37, with the latter being the lead organization. PARE’s objectives are to build inclusive economic growth and economic opportunities for smallholder farmers and the private sector in Haiti through a resilient livestock market system that meets the growing demand for locally produced animal-sourced foods products.
PARE’s interventions are focused on three interrelated objectives. Objective 1 interventions aim to improve on-farm productivity through the adoption and implementation of sustainable agriculture practices by smallholder farmers. Objective 2 interventions focus on improving producers’ access to inputs, services, and technologies by supporting commercially oriented and resilient supply chains and market linkages. Objective 3 interventions aim to strengthen the ability of private sector actors across the full scope of the livestock market system to operate and scale their businesses and expand market linkages with producers.
During the first year of the program, covering the last three quarters of FY23 (January to September 2023), PARE focused on the kick-off phase and accomplishment of early deliverables. These included the legal registration of Venture37 with the Haitian authorities, signing of sub-contract agreements with PARE implementing sub-partners, establishment of PARE offices in Cap-Haïtien and Les Cayes, initiation of program procurement activities, completion of fundamental technical studies, and phased recruitment and training of the Program teams in the North and South Resilience Focus Zones.
PARE also submitted several contractual deliverables to USAID for approval, including the Year 1 Annual Work Plan, Quarterly report FY23 – Q2 and Q3, Year 1 Annual Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Plan (AMELP), Branding & Marking Plan, Environmental Mitigation & Monitoring Plan (EMMP), Fee Distribution Schedule, Project Fact sheet, Livestock Market system Resilience Assessment (LMSRA), FY24 Annual Workplan, Year 2 Annual AMELP, PARE Baseline survey, Gender and Youth Inclusion Analysis, and Grants Manual. The Grants Manual was developed by Venture37’s program management team and submitted to USAID within the first 60 days. A revised version of the manual was submitted to USAID for review on 24 July 2023.
The AMELP will guide the PARE team in the methodology for monitoring and evaluating the program’s interventions, aiming to measure change at both the agent and system levels. The AMELP provides specific definitions for each performance indicator, a methodology for quality data collection and analysis, and timelines for the completion of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) tasks throughout the program. The Branding and Marking Plan was revised to align with USAID’s Feed the Future branding manual and was subsequently approved.
PARE’s program startup activities are ongoing, with the team prioritizing responding to USAID’s comments and questions on the FY24 Work Plan. The program is well-placed to start implementing Market System Development activities outlined in the Year 2 workplan and engage with private sector stakeholders.