Measuring the Impact of Targeted Food Assistance on HIV/AIDS-Related Beneficiary Groups: Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators

Background, Objectives, and Methodology In October 2005, the Consortium for the Southern Africa Food Security Emergency (C-SAFE) transitioned to its final year of a regional " developmental relief " program. Yet, members continued to collaborate on this specific learning activity given their common objectives of improving monitoring and evaluation (M&E) for HIV/AIDS-related beneficiary groups. C-SAFE's strategic objectives included (1) improving and maintaining nutritional status, (2) protecting productive assets, and (3) improving community resilience to food security shocks. As part of its targeted food aid (TFA) 1 program, C-SAFE provides food assistance to four HIV/AIDS-related beneficiary groups. The chronically ill (CI) is used by all three members as a proxy for HIV/AIDS, 2 and several of C-SAFE's members link TFA to medically oriented interventions such as Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), Tuberculosis-Directly Observed Therapy, and Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART). 3 Throughout implementation, the issue of how to measure impact of food aid on individuals receiving ART or tuberculosis (TB) drugs, mothers and infants enrolled in PMTCT programs, and the chronically ill has been discussed and debated. Although C-SAFE regularly monitors household food security using various tools, and in some programs measures nutritional status of children under 5; measuring the impact of food on these four HIV/AIDS-related groups remains a challenge.