waterq2: understanding water quality ... - duquesne university · the transboundary limpopo river...

DISCLAIMER: This work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Southern Africa Regional Mission, Fixed Amount Award 72067419FA00001. This work reflects the work of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

WATERQ2: UNDERSTANDING WATER QUALITY & QUANTITY IN THE LIMPOPO BASIN

Mobilization Plan

08 May 2019, version 4

WaterQ2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin

Suggested citation:

Kahler, D. M., Edokpayi, J. N., Rose, K. C., (2019). WaterQ2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin, Mobilization Plan. Thohoyandou, South Africa: Limpopo Resilience Lab.

Cover photo: Lake Fundudzi near Thohoyandou, credit: David M. Kahler.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 1

STARTUP ACTIVITIES TO DATE 3

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION 3 PERSONNEL 3 FINANCES 3 METEOROLOGICAL, RIVER, AND GROUNDWATER MONITORING (MODULE 1) 3 HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL STATIONS 3 SATELLITE ALGORITHMS 4 WATER POLICY 4 LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB (MODULE 4) 4

WORK PLAN 5

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION 5 PERSONNEL 5 FINANCES 5 METEOROLOGICAL, RIVER, AND GROUNDWATER MONITORING (MODULE 1) 6 HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL STATIONS 6 GROUNDWATER MONITORING 7 SATELLITE ALGORITHMS 7 STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP AND TRAINING (MODULE 2) 8 STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT 8 TECHNICAL TRAINING 9 CONFERENCES 9 LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB (MODULE 4) 9 TIMELINE 9 DATA, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, AND COMMUNICATIONS 10

MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING PLAN 11

THEORY OF CHANGE 12 MONITORING 13 MODULE 1 AND 3: RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGIES, AND INNOVATIONS 13 MODULE 2. IWRM TRAINING, WORKSHOPS, AND CONFERENCES 14 MODULE 4. LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB 15 EVALUATION 15 LEARNING 17 PROJECT DATA MANAGEMENT 18

BRANDING AND MARKING PLAN 22

LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB 22 WEBSITE 22 HOSTED CONFERENCES AND OTHER EVENTS 22 ACADEMIC PRODUCTS 22 OTHER MATERIALS 23 REPORTS 23 DATA 23

APPROVAL 24

APPENDIX A: PROJECT STAFF RESUMES 25

APPENDIX B: WEBSITE MOCKUP 28

APPENDIX C: STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP INVITATION LETTER 37

APPENDIX D: DATA SHARING INDICATOR 39

APPENDIX E: STANDARD INDICATORS 40

USAID.GOV WATER Q2 MOBILIZATION PLAN | 1

Project Information

Project Title Water Q2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin Geographic Locations Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe Award Number 72067419FA00001 Implementation Dates March 2019 to March 2022

Prepared for: Akinwale “Wale” Aboyade Agreement Officer’s Technical Representative USAID/Southern Africa

Graham Paul Alternate Agreement Officer’s Technical Representative USAID/Southern Africa

INTRODUCTION The transboundary Limpopo River Basin crosses Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. At over 400,000 km2, the Limpopo River Basin is home to 18 million people living in both rural and urban areas. Industries in the Basin include businesses in the urban areas and water-intensive uses such as agriculture and mining; industrial water use is growing rapidly. In addition to the human residents, the Basin contains some of the most biodiverse natural areas on the planet.

The rainfall in the Basin is heterogeneous with some sub-basins receiving less than 400 mm on average and other downstream sub-basins in Mozambique receiving over 750 mm annually. Even meteorological stations located in close proximity demonstrate substantial spatial variation within sub-basins. The Basin has experienced severe droughts in the last decade. In addition to the variation in the amount of rainfall, the timing, especially the start of the growing season, has varied significantly. However, there remain many questions about the reliability of rainfall data and other water measurements due in part to the infrequent calibration and validation of field site measurements. The limited confidence in these data, combined with the substantial variation through time and space necessitates an integrated approach to improve data collection, validation, and overall Basin water resource management in the Basin.

The goal of this project is to build resilience through the support of Basin stakeholders, including The Limpopo Watercourse Commission (LIMCOM), to improve governance around water resources management and water security in the Basin. A systems approach, such as integrated water resources management (IWRM) is needed to address such complex, large, and interrelated components of water resources. IRWM is recommended by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Water and Development Strategy Implementation Guide (2014). This context will be combined with data collection and validation, data sharing, and continuous evaluation of the interrelations that affect water resources.

This project will support water resources monitoring, and the development of methods for water quality and quantity measurement based on in situ sensors and satellite measurements. These measurements will enable characterization of water resource dynamics at the whole Basin scale and form the foundation for hydrologic modeling that can help estimate hard-to-measure parameters and also provide holistic assessments of Basin scale stocks and flows. To support data sharing, the project will use cloud-based, automated data collection and web-based data sharing.

2 | WATER Q2 MOBILIZATION PLAN USAID.GOV

The Development of local capacity to maintain water resources and make proactive, scientifically justified management decisions requires a substantial human capital resource that is currently lacking in the Basin. The project will provide training, workshops, and conferences will focus on integrated water resources management (IWRM) and environmental flow analysis.

The results of the water resources and biodiversity studies conducted will be compiled into a report for the Basin stakeholders. Continued high-quality data collection, training, and general logistics depends on dependable physical infrastructure. To support data collection efforts as well as training and collaboration the Limpopo Resilience Lab at the University of Venda will be established. The sustainability of lab activity will continue with the implementation of a small user fee beyond the duration of the project. Annual training workshops and conferences will be located at or nearby the Resilience Lab.

In this report, the collaborators, Duquesne University (Duquesne), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), and University of Venda (Univen), establish their plan for the start of the award, 29 March 2019, to 30 September 2019. Included in this plan is the preparatory work conducted at Univen 01 – 09 March 2019.


STARTUP ACTIVITIES TO DATE

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION

PERSONNEL

Duquesne University has selected recipients for the two graduate research assistant (GRA) positions; their resumes are included in Appendix A. The two candidates were selected because of previous experience with water resources management in the Limpopo River Basin, fundamental hydrological field methods, and in the case of Mr. Sharp, experience with electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), a key instrument in this project. Ms. Martin will earn her BS in biology in May 2019 and is enrolled in the MS program in Environmental Science at Duquesne for 2019-2021. Mr. Sharp earned his BS in geology in 2018 and has completed one year of graduate work in Environmental Science; his anticipated MS graduation is May 2020. The third GRA position at Duquesne will be selected for August 2020 admission. The current GRA students have selected their thesis topics and will produce, as a requirement for their degrees, the following proposals:

• Thesis proposal: “River Discharge Measurement by Remote Sensing with Applications to Water Resources Management,” by Mackenzie Martin

• Thesis proposal: “Water Resources Management in the Transboundary Limpopo River Basin: An Analysis of National Policies,” by Garrett Sharp

FINANCES

Duquesne’s Office of Research, Controller’s Office, and Office of the Provost met with Dr. Kahler on 10 April 2019 and established an account within the university that has sufficient funds to operate according to the approved budget for the first project year. This will include personnel (including fringe and tuition), equipment, supplies, travel, printing, satellite subscription, and subaward costs. The subawardees have submitted statements of work to Duquesne; the subaward agreements were issued to Univen and RPI on 29 April 2019.

METEOROLOGICAL, RIVER, AND GROUNDWATER MONITORING (MODULE 1)

HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL STATIONS

Staff visited the Limpopo River Basin from 01 to 09 March to establish the Mutale River hydrometeorological station (Figure 1). This station is located at the Mutale River Weir, inside the security fence (22° 46.343’ S, 30° 32.191’ E) and monitors river flow in the Mutale River, precipitation, and barometric pressure. Additionally, river discharge was directly measured by standard method (ISO 748-2007) and bathymetry observations were made in support of the planned satellite-based river discharge method.

Figure 1: Staff from Duquesne and Univen setting up the Mutale River gage.


Staff also visited the meteorological station at Mbahela Primary School for maintenance. Mbahela Primary School is the site of the station and also where staff participate in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach. Previously, outreach has been in the form of teacher training; although, planned activities include classroom visits and lessons delivered by the graduate research assistants (GRAs). The primary learning objective for the GRAs at all schools is to improve science communication skills. The learning objectives for the primary school learners are centered around the water cycle and exposure to careers in STEM fields.

SATELLITE ALGORITHMS

A primary research output of this project is a new technique for monitoring river flow remotely. The method is based on Manning’s equation for open channel flow coupled with width measurements from satellites. This technique allows for the creation of a remotely-sensed historical river flow record and uses ground-based measurements for the calibration of Manning’s equation that can be obtained in a single transect visit. Cross-river depth profile, discharge, and slope are necessary for initial calibration. This method used the normalized difference water index (NDWI) based on four-band satellite images with 3m-resolution to delineate the water’s edge. An estimation of flow in the Mutale River was obtained using available satellite images. Preliminary results indicated successful calibration of Manning’s equation for the individual river transects, and verification of this method yielded flow estimation with an average of 48% error at the Mutale River (n=16), when compared to historical data from gages present near the transects, which is an improvement of any current satellite-based method. The primary challenge of using this method on smaller rivers was the determination of the water’s edge from NDWI. These preliminary results were presented at the American Geophysical Union 2018 Fall Meeting in Washington, DC.

WATER POLICY

As a component of the water resources assessment in Module 1, the collaborators seek to examine how local, regional, national, and transboundary policy influence monitoring priorities and to what extent data are used to inform policies. Dr. Kahler and GRAs met with faculty from the Univen School of Law on national water laws and policy, and the human right to water that is the subject of international law and many Limpopo Basin countries’ constitutions. Duquesne and Univen staff will continue work on an academic journal manuscript or book chapter on realization of water rights.

LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB (MODULE 4)

The collaborators have identified space available at the University of Venda, School of Environmental Science for the Limpopo Resilience Lab.


WORK PLAN This work plan is for the period 29 March – 30 September 2019. This work plan introduces the first six-months of activities that follows the collaborators’ preparations.

PROJECT ADMINISTRATION

PERSONNEL

RPI has advertised for a postdoctoral research associate (postdoc) to be supervised by Dr. Rose. The principal investigators evaluated the applications beginning 15 April for a start date in June. There are currently three candidates under serious consideration from an applicant pool of 10 total applicants. Univen has begun selection of the first graduate research assistant (GRA) positions as part of their routine graduate admissions process.

FINANCES

Planned instrument purchases under this project that have been made or will be made in the first six-months of this project are:

• Duquesne: o Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) o Water level loggers (three river gages) * o Meter ATMOS weather station (two stations) o HOBO weather station (one station) * o Infiltration monitor rings

• Univen o OTT river current meter o YSI water quality meter

• RPI o PME/Turner Designs turbidity sensor (two sensors, two data loggers) o PME/Turner Designs chlorophyll sensor (two sensors, two data loggers) o Calibration standards

* Items are attributed to cost share.

Project management will include the verification of all finances incurred under the project and is the responsibility of Dr. Kahler. All invoices will be verified by Dr. Kahler and paid by Duquesne. Additionally, the three PIs will meet with project staff every month to verify invoices for the project (this may occur via teleconference). All project staff will meet at least monthly to review project progress. Dr. Kahler’s additional responsibilities for subawardee monitoring, as outlined by Duquesne’s Controller’s Office are:

• Confirmation of the following will be required for each invoice o Research is in line with spending o Expenses submitted are appropriate o Work was performed during an appropriate timeframe


o Work performed and expenses submitted are in compliance with special terms • Transaction detail for all invoices submitted • Supporting documentation for any transactions over 2500 USD • Supporting documentation for capital equipment • Confirmation that there has been consistent communication with the subawardee PI • Quarterly documentation or reports on project progress • Annual confirmation that Dr. Kahler is monitoring the financial and programmatic activities

Expenditures by Univen and RPI, according to the subaward agreements, will be reimbursed by Duquesne monthly on receipt of invoices. These will be accepted by Duquesne once Univen and RPI execute the Duquesne-issued subaward agreements. Duquesne will operate with the understanding that funds will be dispersed according to the Mobilization Plan in the award.

METEOROLOGICAL, RIVER, AND GROUNDWATER MONITORING (MODULE 1)

HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL STATIONS

The Mutale River hydrometeorological station at the Mutale River Weir (22° 46.343’ S, 30° 32.191’ E) currently monitors river flow in the Mutale River, precipitation, and barometric pressure. Temperature and humidity will be added in August. This addition will enhance the collaborators ability to monitor the water resources within this high-elevation basin in the Soutpansberg Mountains and calibrate models.

In preparation for the activities outlined in Module 1, meteorological, river, and groundwater sensors will be purchased immediately, calibrated, and installed during this phase. Data will be collected automatically by some sensors and others will be retrieved via routine field visits. Meteorological stations with dataloggers that automatically upload data to a cloud-based computer system have the clear advantage that data are available to users at every upload period (the Meter dataloggers will be set to upload every six-hours). Additionally, in the event of damage or vandalism, the data are secure to the last upload time. The limitation for these dataloggers is they must be installed where they have a strong, consistent cellular network signal. The advantages of dataloggers with local storage are that they are almost half the price and can be installed in a location regardless of cellular network signal strength. The collaborators’ strategy is to use both types of dataloggers will provide flexibility to place more sensors in key locations.

During mobilization and subsequent field visits, staff will collect data to parameterize the hydrologic models and the satellite algorithms currently under development.

Additional hydrometeorological stations have been planned and will be installed this year according to the Technical Application and work plan; specifically, stations will be ordered and installed:

• Soutpansberg o Mutale River near Tshilamba: river flow, turbidity, precipitation o Sand River near Medike Nature Reserve: river flow, turbidity, precipitation

• Kruger Area o Olifants River near Phalaborwa: quality control for river flow

• Upstream o Crocodile River near Buffelshoek: water quality survey


The South African Department of Water and Sanitation, Hydrological Services, appears to have shut down a large amount of river gage stations in May 2018. Dr. Edokpayi is attempting to uncover the cause of this change in data availability. As such, the monitoring on the Crocodile River will begin with water quality only. The collaborators will install instrumentation at the Tswapong Hills site in Botswana in January 2020.

GROUNDWATER MONITORING

Groundwater measurements have been previously conducted by researchers supported by the Southern Africa Development Community; these data are posted at https://www.un-igrac.org/. These data do not sufficient temporal information to judge trends in groundwater reserves. The collaborators will monitor the water table levels in key catchments over the duration of the project to determine the changes in groundwater storage. The key catchments monitored will be:

• Mutale River near Tshilamba and upstream through Dzimauli and Lake Fundudzi • Sand River near Medike Nature Reserve and along the river fetch • Tswapong Hills, with a focus on the high elevation areas • Olifants River upstream of Kruger National Park (within, if access is made available) • The proposed site at Matopos Hills, Zimbabwe has been removed from this list due to USAID

restrictions on working in Zimbabwe.

In addition to the temporal changes in the water table, data taken by electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) is made along a 300 m transect that will provide further information on the groundwater/surface water interactions. Especially in the high elevation catchments identified in RESILIM’s Risk, Vulnerability, and Resilience in the Limpopo Basin, the groundwater storage, and therefore the groundwater/surface water interactions are a critical component to the resolution of groundwater reserves as an element of climate resilience. These will populate the groundwater and surface water models, such as MODFLOW and HEC-HMS.

As part of the Stakeholder Workshop (see section below), the collaborators will seek other organizations that have conducted or will conduct groundwater monitoring in the Basin. In the post-award conference held on 23 April 2019, USAID offered to provide contact information to the collaborators for personnel who are working in similar or complementary projects. The collaborators look forward to enhancing this network.

SATELLITE ALGORITHMS

The next steps of the river discharge (flow) algorithm development will be to refine the cross-river width with sub-pixel river estimates and continue automation of the river measurement. This builds off of the work already conducted.

In addition to flow, this project will develop algorithms for water quality. Specifically, water clarity measurements, such as turbidity and chlorophyll, are derived from satellite images. So far, collaborators at RPI have used Landsat images to estimate water clarity measurements. Satellite products will be adjusted for the type of waterway under investigation. The collaborators expect to make extensive use of the 3 m resolution Planet Labs, Inc. satellites, as explained in the Technical Applications.

https://www.un-igrac.org/


To verify the river flow estimated by the satellite method, staff installed a river gage in the Mutale River in March (Figure 1) and will install river gages in the Sand River near Medike Nature Reserve in August, and in the Tswapong Hills in January 2020. To verify water quality estimates, sensors will be installed in the Mutale and Sand Rivers in August, and in the Tswapong Hills in January. These instruments can be moved around to other key areas of the Limpopo River Basin to expand the number of tributaries analyzed.

STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP AND TRAINING (MODULE 2)

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT

Stakeholder consultation will occur through the vast network of the University of Venda. For the first stakeholder workshop, the collaborators plan to focus on targeted group of national and regional resource-managers and decision-makers. The workshop will include stakeholders in Thohoyandou as well as site visits to Botswana. The collaborators will immediately begin an inventory of stakeholders in water resources management in the Limpopo River Basin, which may include:

• LIMCOM • South Africa Department of Water and Sanitation, Hydrologic Services Division • South Africa Department of Environmental Affairs • Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) • Water Research Commission (WRC) • SAEON • Kruger National Park • Endangered Wildlife Trust • Vhembe District Municipality • Botswana Department of Water Affairs • Zimbabwe National Water Authority • Zimbabwe Ministry of Environment, Water, and Climate • Mozambique Ministry of the Sea, Interior Water, and Fisheries • Other Limpopo-focused projects, such as Resilient Waters, USAID/WRC Big Data, etc.

Furthermore, engagement with the traditional Venda Tribal Authority leadership, who can connect us with smallholder farmers and community leaders throughout the South African section of the basin is coordinated by the Office of Community Engagement. Dr. Edokpayi and his colleagues at the School of Environmental Sciences have contacts with the relevant leaders in the local and district municipalities in the surrounding areas, and provincial offices. During the application preparation, the collaborators have already made contact with staff scientists from GIZ, who have conducted work for LIMCOM previously, who can assist with stakeholder engagement in the other member states.

The stakeholder engagement will build the invitation list for the first workshop (Module 2) to be held August 2019 (invitation letter, Appendix C). This event will occur shortly after the collaborators publicize the project website and begin posting data. The collaborators plan to publicize the project and announce the data collection network and website.


TECHNICAL TRAINING

As a component of the stakeholder workshop, the collaborators will hold technical training for the latter two-days. For the inaugural workshop, the collaborators will solicit input from potential attendees for training topics. The expectation is that the training will focus on an aspect of integrated water resources management (IWRM), data sharing, data quality control, and environmental flow analysis. The collaborators will track all participants of training activities in USAID’s Training Results and Information Network, TraiNet. The participants will be host-country (that is, a Limpopo Basin country) nationals.

For Dr. Edokpayi’s and Univen GRAs’ professional development, Univen’s budget includes travel to international professional conferences. These exchange visitors, as defined in RAA9 of the award agreement, will also be tracked in Trainet. Furthermore, the exchange visitors will comply with the terms of the J-1 exchange visitor.

CONFERENCES

The conferences will commence in the second project year. The conferences are an opportunity to bring scientists and practitioners from the Basin and around the world to partner on studies to improve the climate resilience and biodiversity in the Basin.

USAID made the suggestion on 23 April 2019 that the collaborators seek synergies with other water conferences in the area. The collaborators greatly appreciate this insight and will seek out conferences in the area, specifically within the basin countries. The role of the project would be to promote the attendance of project staff and key stakeholders as a contingent (e.g., LIMCOM). Additionally, the project budget would then be allocated to participation costs and to host a conference-recognized side-event.

LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB (MODULE 4)

The lab will be under the direction of Dr. Edokpayi. During the first six-months, the functions of the lab are entirely summarized within the other modules.

TIMELINE

TABLE 4: WORK PLAN

OBJECTIVES ACTIVITIES RESULTS TIMELINE

Staffing Select RPI postdoc (Dr. Rose) Hire postdoc Start date 01 June 2019

Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan

Complete EMMP Accepted EMMP Due 27 June 2019

Quarterly Report Complete report Accepted report Due 30 July 2019


DATA, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT, AND COMMUNICATIONS

The data collected by the project will be placed in public research repositories. Currently, the collaborators use Mendeley Data, which does assign a digital object identifier (DOI):

Kahler, D. M., Edokpayi, J. N., Martin, M. L., Glancey, K. M., and Sharp, G. D. (2019), “Mutale River Hydrometeological Data”, Mendeley Data, v1 http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/mvn2yv7mvj.1

At USAID’s preference, this project will either submit data to the USAID Development Data Library (DDL) or continue to use Mendeley Data with links reported to the USAID DDL. The project PI, Dr. Kahler, has applied for a Partner Account with the DDL under the e-mail address, [email protected]. After the performance period, if use of the DDL is no longer available, the Limpopo Resilience Lab will be place data in public research repositories such as Mendeley Data.

Some meteorological stations will automatically upload data to a cloud computing resource. This project plans to use Meter stations that use a proprietary service called Zentra Cloud (https://www.metergroup.com/environment/zentra-cloud/). These data will be downloaded by the collaborators and posted on public repositories. We are also planning to contribute the data to the Trans-African Hydro-meteorological Organization (TAHMO, https://tahmo.org/).

The data and reports generated by this project will be submitted to USAID and be made available on the project website. Duquesne is currently developing the website within Duquesne’s existing web-infrastructure according to the site mockup (Appendix B).

Water monitoring and algorithm development (Module 1)

Sensors placed in key catchments; specifically, river gage and weather station installed in Mutale River, Sand River (Medike Nature Reserve)

Map with locations of new gages, data, website

March 2019 with report and website delivered by 31 July 2019

Groundwater investigations

Sites selected; first measurements taken Site map, 2019 data started

March 2019 ongoing, with sites selected by 31 July 2019

Satellite algorithms developed

Preliminary work completed based on satellite data and ground-based validation measurements

Drafts of manuscripts Ongoing

Stakeholder workshop Stakeholder workshop planned and delivered

Stakeholders engaged 26-30 August 2019

Training for technical staff IWRM training and other requested topics offered in training.

Annual Work Plan Due 31 August 2019

Quarterly Report Due 30 October 2019

http://dx.doi.org/10.17632/mvn2yv7mvj.1

mailto:[email protected]

https://www.metergroup.com/environment/zentra-cloud/

https://tahmo.org/


MONITORING, EVALUATION, AND LEARNING PLAN The project goals are derived from the United States Agency for International Development, Southern Africa Regional Development Mission’s Regional Development Cooperation Strategy’s intermediate results (IR). Specifically, this project seeks to support USAID’s work through:

• IR 1.1: Improved agricultural productivity • IR 1.4: Improved management of transboundary natural resources • IR 4.2: Quality technical assistance of United States Government (USG) programs

The goals of this project are water security improvement and biodiversity protection. The monitoring, evaluation, and learning plan (MEL) establishes the metrics that the collaborators will use to ensure that the project advances towards its goals. The project goals are outlined in the project framework (Figure 2), which also highlights the synergies between the complementary goals of water security and biodiversity. Water security means that there is the appropriate quantity of water available for the necessary purpose at a sufficient quality for that purpose; furthermore, the water resource must be available at the time needed. Water security can encompass climate resilience, water resources management, critical infrastructure, and other components.

Figure 2: Project framework

The collaborators will conduct the following monitoring and evaluations, and learn from the generated information according to the following plan. The following indicators will be used to measure progress in the overall goal of improved water security and enhanced biodiversity through improved policies and active water resources management reflected in the project framework. These efforts map onto our proposed Activities and Results (Technical Application A.3).

MEL activities will be the responsibility of Mr. Sharp, GRA at Duquesne, under the direct supervision of Dr. Kahler. MEL responsibilities will complement Mr. Sharp’s coursework, specifically, ENVI 531: Environmental Management, Fall 2019.

DO 1: Increased sustainable

economic growth in targeted areas

IR 1.1: Improved agricultural productivity

IR 1.4 Improved management of transbounday

natural resources

Improved water security

Support active water resources

management and maintain

ecosystem services

4. Cultivate innovative basin water resouces management

partnerships and collaborations

1. Support water resources

monitoring and modeling

2. Support data sharing

3. Identify and train

environmental championsProtected and

enhanced biodiversity

Identify biodiversity hotspots and their water

resources needs

SpO 4: Effectively support USAID Missions and

programs

IR 4.2: Quality technical assistance of USG

programs ...


THEORY OF CHANGE

Economic development and the well-being of vulnerable populations depends on natural resources. Specific to water systems, ecosystem services such as soil and nutrient retention, pollution mitigation, and water provisioning. Water resources management is critical for economic development, human health, and the role of environmental flow and water quality for biodiversity conservation. USAID/Southern Africa’s Regional Development Cooperation Strategy (RDCS) highlights the need for transboundary cooperation on natural resources, effective monitoring of resources and climate change effects, and capacity building. This project addresses these items.

The theory of change was founded on a lack of management-level data for water resources management in the Basin. This lack of data makes evidence-based decisions difficult or impossible. Through innovative applications of technology, such as high-resolution satellite images that are now readily available, the collaborators plan to develop methods to monitor water resources. These methods and the data generated will be shared with stakeholders and made publicly available.

Training and coordination will be accomplished through training workshops, and stakeholder meetings and conference events. The collaborators will use the convening power of Univen to bring decision-makers from local, regional, national, and transboundary organizations together with technical staff. These meetings will guide the project and help prioritize the data needed for IWRM.

Figure 3: Theory of Change flowchart

The Limpopo Resilience Lab will continue past the performance period of this project to sustain the data sharing and coordination. Additionally, the Lab will provide technical services to the region. These pieces of the project do not flow linearly; instead, there is an iterative feedback between scientists and decision-makers, and within the larger stakeholder community (Figure 3). Ultimately, the project should empower technical staff and decision-makers to build towards the results in the project framework

Scientists develop innovative water

resources monitoring

methods, models, and training materials

Training workshops

respond to build institutional self-

reliance

Stakeholder meetings inform

scientists of priorities in data

Decision-makers have information, technologies, and trained staff needed to manage Basin water resources

Limpopo Resilience Lab will continue activities after the project.


(Figure 2). Furthermore, the Limpopo Resilience Lab will provide a long-standing technical resource and a convening technical body in the Basin.

MONITORING

Indicators used in monitoring will be reported in a data table in each quarterly report. Each indicator has the Performance Indicator Reference Sheets (PIRS) available in Appendix D (custom indicators) and Appendix E (standard indicators). Standard indicators were taken directly from the United States Department of State’s Standard Foreign Assistance Indicators (https://www.state.gov/f/indicators/).

MODULE 1 AND 3: RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGIES, AND INNOVATIONS Module 1 contains rigorous scientific research on the water resources of the Basin. The main focus of Module 1 will be the (1, project framework) water resources monitoring and modeling, and (2) data sharing of basin-relevant data. Satellite-based technologies will be developed and novel applications of geophysics (ERT) and hydrologic models will be examined. The results of this research will provide additional tools and references for water resources groups such as national or regional agencies and transboundary organizations (i.e., LIMCOM). To monitor these two goals, the collaborators will monitor indicators:

a. 4.5.2-2 (EG-3.2-7): Number of technologies, practices, and approaches under various phases of research, development, and uptake as a result of USG assistance.

b. STIR-12: Number of peer-reviewed scientific publications resulting from USG support to research and implementation programs.

c. 4.5.2-2 (EG.3.2-25) Number of hectares of land under improved technologies or management practices with USG assistance.

d. Custom: Number of datasets shared, which were generated as a result of USG assistance.

The collaborators plan to engage in several research activities that will result in innovations for water quality and quantity monitoring (captured under a. and b.). Research on these proposed innovations, as outlined in the technical application and the summary information in this report, will begin immediately; however, the research and development will last the duration of the project. These novel measurement techniques are outputs of the project. Once proven, these innovations will hopefully be adopted as a data source by public institutions, likely in the applicable agencies or departments of transboundary, national, and sub-national organizations (captured as a disaggregation of a.). As the research will continue throughout the project, the outcome-level monitoring will be possible through the progression to demonstrated uptake in the phases of research:

• Under research as a result of USG assistance • Under field testing as a result of USG assistance • Made available for uptake as a result of USG assistance • Demonstrated uptake by the public and/or private sector with USG assistance

Ultimately, as research organizations, the collaborators will seek to publish in quality, peer-reviewed journals (captured under c.) and present at internationally recognized professional venues (will be reported in quarterly reports). Since the collaborators work with students, these innovations will also

https://www.state.gov/f/indicators/


be the subject of theses and dissertations and result in degrees (submitted to USAID and reported in quarterly reports).

To monitor the data shared, the collaborators will monitor the downloads of basin datasets (captured under d.). These datasets represent data generated by the project (Table 5).

TABLE 5: MODULE 1 ANTICIPATED MONITORING VALUES

INDICATOR DISAGGREGATION REPORTING PERIOD TARGETS

Number of technologies, practices, and approaches under various phases of research, development, and uptake as a result of USG assistance

Category of research, Phase:

Under research

Annually Three, first year

Three, project lifetime

Under field testing Annually Two, first year


Made available Annually Two, second year


Demonstrated uptake Annually Two, project lifetime

Number of peer-reviewed scientific publications resulting from USG support to research and implementation programs

None

In reports: first author gender, basin country. Reports will also include conference presentations.

Annually Two submitted for publication (publication timelines vary)

Six, project lifetime

Number of hectares of land under improved technologies or management practices with USG assistance

Type of land

Sex

Age

Management or technology type

Annually Baseline required

Number of datasets shared, which were generated as a result of USG assistance

Basin country Annually after website launch

Increasing with participation from each basin country.

Module 3 represents the outreach of the research conducted under Module 1 to stakeholders (there is also crossover with Module 2 and 4, where the technology transfer will occur). This is a culmination of the investigations conducted while performing the research explained above and the data collected with the innovations developed from that research.

MODULE 2. IWRM TRAINING, WORKSHOPS, AND CONFERENCES

Module 2 contains two primary components: convene stakeholder workshops and trainings; and convene future collaborators at conferences. The project-level goals for these are to (3) identify environmental champions and (4) cultivate partnerships for future collaborations, especially with the Limpopo Resilience Lab. To identify and train local environmental champions in transboundary, national, and subnational public and private organizations, the collaborators will monitor:


a. EG-10.2-4: Number of people trained in sustainable natural resources management and/or biodiversity conservation as a result of USG assistance.

b. HL-8.3-3: Number of water and sanitation sector institutions strengthened to manage water resources or improve water supply and sanitation services as a result of USG assistance.

In additional to these indicators, evaluations from the workshops, conferences, and trainings will be used to improve advertising, content, and delivery of the subject material. This is the primary venue to engage with stakeholders during the performance period; structured meeting sessions with stakeholder groups will be conducted during these conferences and workshops to learn from area professionals and various water users. These results will be compiled in the conference or workshop proceedings by a rapporteur as well as reported with the indicators (Table 6).

TABLE 6: MODULE 2 ANTICIPATED MONITORING VALUES

INDICATOR DISAGGREGATION TIMELINE EXPECTED RESULT

Number of people trained in sustainable natural resources management and/or biodiversity conservation as a result of USG assistance

Sex Annual 20 persons

Number of water and sanitation sector institutions strengthened to manage water resources of improve water supply and sanitation services as a result of USG assistance

Institutional scale (this component/period will focus on local and district utilities)

Annual Baseline required. Project focus will be in the high-elevation, high-biodiversity regions identified in the technical application.

Through the stakeholder engagement, training, and collaboration-building, the collaborators intend to create sustainable professional networks to support the active water resources management and therefore improve water security for people and biodiversity in the Limpopo River Basin.

MODULE 4. LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB

The Limpopo Resilience Lab will be created as a unit of the University of Venda to respond to the need of a technical resource outlined in previous RESILIM reports. Monitoring of the Limpopo Resilience Lab will follow Module 2 but will largely be the long-serving component of this project. As such, the collaborators will develop monitoring to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Lab.

EVALUATION

This project will be continually evaluated based on the indicators in the monitoring section. The long-term goals of the project, as shown in Figure 2, are improved water security, and protect and enhance biodiversity. These goals directly support USAID/Southern Africa RCDS Intermediate Result 1.4: Improved management of transboundary natural resources. The project contains activities that align with the illustrative activities for IR 1.4:


• Technical support to river basin organizations, • Training in water resources management, biodiversity conservation, and improved

environmental governance, and • Effective monitoring of resources and climate change effects

The long-term goals also support IR 1.1: Improved agricultural productivity and align with illustrative activities under IR 1.1, which includes “Train agricultural scientists and technicians in South African public and private organizations in the areas of agricultural productivity and food security.” Furthermore, the goals also support IR 3.2: Increased promotion of the rule of law and human rights, and IR 4.2: Quality technical assistance. These goals are long-term in nature and must be evaluated in a shorter time frame.

Since long-term water security and biodiversity cannot be directly measured within a useful time, the following evaluations will be made during the project to demonstrate progress towards these goals.

Data sharing will be monitored through the project website, stakeholder workshops, and conferences. Project staff will examine the use of data through the website and evaluate the level at which data are used through the stakeholder workshops. The longevity of water resources and biodiversity data collection, sharing, and use in policy will be evaluated by the collaborations built through these activities.

Environmental champions will be trained in training workshops and should participate in stakeholder workshops and conferences. More importantly, these champions will relate to the project staff how to improve training workshops and data sharing. In time, these champions will also help project staff evaluate how the data shared and collaborations facilitated affect decisions made at the regional, national, and transboundary authority levels. LIMCOM and the member states will be the focus.

Active management of water resources and biodiversity will be assessed during stakeholder workshops. The key monitoring indicator will be adoption of new technologies for water resources monitoring; however, through continuous engagement in the stakeholder workshops, the collaborators will be able to assess how new technologies are used and how to make such technologies more available and meaningful to the users.

The long-term sustainable management of water resources and biodiversity conservation will occur long after this project has concluded. In order to evaluate the progress towards these goals, the collaborators will utilize standardized benchmarking systems, such as Conservation International’s Freshwater Health Index (www.freshwaterhealthindex.org/). This system is valuable because there are many other river basins throughout the world for which data are available and the indicators are evidence-based. While the collaborators do not expect to directly observe significant changes in the ecosystem across these four countries, the governance and stakeholders indicators provide insight into the types of engagement, and data sharing and utilization this project should facilitate. The governance and stakeholders indicators are:

• Enabling environment o Water Resource Management: Degree to which institutions are performing key

management functions such as coordination, planning and financing, and conflict resolution.

http://www.freshwaterhealthindex.org/


o Rights to Resource Use: The clarity of rights to water and water-related resources. o Incentives and Regulations: Availability of different management instruments, such as

impact assessments and economic incentives. o Financial Capacity: Investment gap between allocated and required finances for water

resource protection measures. o Technical Capacity: The number and skill level of professionals working in water

resource management. • Stakeholder engagement

o Information Access: Accessibility of data on water quantity, quality, resource management and development.

o Engagement in Decision-Making Processes: Scope of stakeholders involved and the degree to which they have a voice in the cycle of policy and planning.

• Vision and adaptive governance o Strategic Planning and Adaptive Governance: Degree to which comprehensive strategic

planning at the basin or sub-basin scale takes place and whether the capacity to adapt plans to new information or changing conditions exists.

o Monitoring and Learning Mechanisms: Adequacy and use of physical, chemical and biological monitoring of water resources, as well as socioeconomic data, to guide policy and planning.

• Effectiveness o Enforcement and Compliance: Degree to which laws are upheld and agreements are

enforced. o Distribution of Benefits: Impacts of decisions about water resource management, with

special attention to vulnerable populations. o Water-Related Conflict: Presence of conflicts over water services, including allocation,

access, pollution, diversion or infrastructure development.

More information is available via Conservation International’s website and the Freshwater Health Index user manual, publications, and other basin reports. The data for this type of evaluation will come in part from monitoring data and in part from focused evaluation during stakeholder workshops and other visits to decision-makers and organization technical staff.

The monitoring data will indicate progress towards the project’s goals. Specifically, demand and attendance at training workshops, stakeholder meetings, and conference events will indicate progress. Uptake: the use of data and methods generated by this project will also indicate progress towards goals.

LEARNING

The project staff will continually monitor the progress of the project. The questions listed here will guide the learning and adapting that will occur throughout the project (Table 7). The learning process, while constant, will be centered around the stakeholder meetings and other engagement opportunities with stakeholders. In these encounters, the collaborators will have the opportunity to ask these questions explicitly. Rapporteurs will capture the feedback gathered in these encounters (this will be reported in the workshop or conference reports). Adjustments to the project can be made to address the needs reveled in these workshops. Improvements to technical training and other events will be made following course evaluations.


TABLE 7: LEARNING AGENDA

QUESTION POTENTIAL DATA SOURCES RESPONSIBLE STAFF TIMELINE

During development (within the first year)

Who are the relevant stakeholders?

LIMCOM, Member state departments/ministries, universities, Univen Office of Community Engagement

PIs Mainly in the first year but continuously for stakeholder workshops

What data are needed? Stakeholders PIs, subject specialists Continuously, especially during workshops and conferences.

Short-term (during project)

Are data and methods shared with appropriate stakeholders?

LIMCOM, Member state departments/ministries, website analytics

PIs Following the first state of the basin report and at workshops and conferences

Do the methods developed in this project represent the state-of-the-art in science and management?

Professional associations, peer-review; judged by accepted presentations or manuscripts.

PIs, graduate students for the individual methods

Through publication and presentation at external professional conferences.

Long-term (at end of project, recommendations for post-award investigation)

Does the Limpopo Resilience Lab have a financial sustainability?

Conference and training attendance, attendee evaluations, technical services requests

PIs, Dr. Edokpayi Years two and three of the project, ongoing.

PROJECT DATA MANAGEMENT

Indicator data will be obtained from source documentation pertinent to the data type. Mr. Sharp will collect the final data in a master data table on a networked, routinely and automatically backed-up drive. The data sources and disaggregation will be recorded (Table 8).

Every indicator used (Table 1 and 2) has a performance indicator reference sheet with a robust definition to promote objective measurement of a valid quantity. The data sources will be made public and come from multiple verifiable sources to maintain data reliability. Data integrity will be maintained by routine verification of master data reporting with source documentation by other project staff to reduce transcription error. Precision of the data will come primarily from the disaggregation both required in standard indicators and provided at the project-level (Table 8). Data will be reported annually; however, staff will record data quarterly to maintain timeliness.


TABLE 8: DATA DISAGGREGATION AND SOURCES

INDICATOR REQUIRED DISAGGREGATION PROJECT DISAGGREGATION

PRIMARY DATA SOURCE

VERIFICATION DATA SOURCE(S)

Number of technologies, practices, and approaches under various phases of research, development, and uptake as a result of USG assistance

Category of Research:

• Plant and Animal Improvement Research

• Production Systems Research

• Social Science Research

Phase:

• Under research as a result of USG assistance

• Under field testing as a result of USG assistance

• Made available for uptake as a result of USG assistance

• Demonstrated uptake by the public and/or private sector with USG assistance

Type of research:

• Water

• Biodiversity

• Other

Laboratory notebooks

At latter phases, publications, uptake documents

Number of peer-reviewed scientific publications resulting from USG support to research and implementation programs

none First author:

• Sex

• Level of education

Author Submission confirmation, publication by a third-party publisher.

Number of hectares of land under improved technologies or management practices with USG assistance

Type of Hectare:

• Crop land

• Cultivated pasture

• Rangeland

• Conservation/protected area

• Freshwater or marine ecosystems

• Aquaculture

• Other

Sex:

• Male

• Female

• Association-applied

Age:

• 15-29

• 30+

• Association-applied

Farmer-reported

Satellite-based surveys


TABLE 8: DATA DISAGGREGATION AND SOURCES

INDICATOR REQUIRED DISAGGREGATION PROJECT DISAGGREGATION

PRIMARY DATA SOURCE

VERIFICATION DATA SOURCE(S)

Management practice or technology type:

• Crop genetics,

• Cultural practices

• Livestock management

• Wild-caught fisheries management

• Aquaculture management

• Natural resource or ecosystem management

• Pest and disease management

• Soil-related fertility and conservation

• Irrigation

• Agriculture water management-non-irrigation based

• Climate mitigation

• Climate adaptation/climate risk management

• Other

Number of datasets shared, which were generated as a result of USG assistance

Country of download Google analytics reports

Number of people trained in sustainable natural resources management and/or biodiversity conservation as a result of USG assistance

Sex Type of organization of employment:

Local

Regional

National

Transboundary

Level of education

Enrollment roster

Photographs, course evaluations,

Number of water and sanitation sector institutions strengthened to manage water resources of improve water supply and sanitation services as a result of USG assistance

Institutional scale:

Local

Regional

National

Institutional scale:

Transboundary

Reports from institutions in stakeholder workshops

Site visits for verification


Scientific data will be collected from a range of sources by project staff. Automatic dataloggers record data from environmental sensors and store them locally or upload them to a networked storage system. Staff will download data and store it in raw formats on university computers on industry-standard RAID arrays. Data will be analyzed according to the methods cited and discussed in the Technical Application and project description. Once analyzed, the data will be posted on the USAID DDL or other repository at USAID’s option. The results of the analysis will be the subject of scholarly manuscripts and presentations. Data will be freely accessible.

This MEL plan is subject to revision in consultation with USAID/Southern Africa


BRANDING AND MARKING PLAN

LIMPOPO RESILIENCE LAB

The Limpopo Resilience Lab will be the cornerstone of the lasting components of this project. Under the auspices of the Lab, the conferences, technical services, and collaborations will continue. As the enduring physical space, the Lab will have a plaque (similar to Figure 2) that acknowledges the support from USAID placed conspicuously at the Lab.

Figure 2: Proposed plaque for the Limpopo Resilience Lab, approximately 10×24 cm. Figure 3: Instrument label, 5×5 cm

Additionally, instruments purchased through this grant will be conspicuously labeled (similar to Figure 3). This will apply to laboratory instruments and field equipment including storage cases. This plan shall be extended to all supplies, equipment, and other commodities in this project.

WEBSITE

The collaborators will host web-based content on a dedicated website (herein, the “project website”), which will be cobranded (see Appendix C). The website will be made available to USAID and links will be available in reports once published.

HOSTED CONFERENCES AND OTHER EVENTS

The conferences and training workshops will be public events that are a key product of this project. The USAID identity will be prominently displayed on all conference materials either alone, as in sponsorship signage, or with the partner identities, as in programmatic information (similar to this report). Specifically, the USAID identity will be featured on the entrance sign, programs, and presentations made by project staff. For training, all materials provided will contain the USAID and collaborators’ identities and the disclaimer.

ACADEMIC PRODUCTS

The one requested exception to the branding guidelines is submission of scholarly works, such as academic journals, theses, and dissertations. This is not an exception to acknowledgement, but only to the use of logos or other graphic identities. Such scholarly products do not, by convention and publisher policy, contain any logos or graphic identities. Alternatively, any supported authors, that is, all principal investigators, postdoctoral research associates, graduate or undergraduate research assistants, will include in the acknowledgements the following statement:

Limpopo Resilience Lab

Made possible as a part of WaterQ2: Understanding Water Quality and Quantity in the Limpopo Basin through a generous grant from the US

Agency for International Development.

Purchased through a generous grant from:


“This work was made possible by a generous grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Southern Africa Regional Mission, Fixed Amount Award 72067419FA00001. This work reflects the work of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.”

Presentations (poster and oral) at scholarly meetings and conferences will be cobranded with the marking of USAID and the collaborators, as this report is marked on the cover. These markings will be on the heading of any poster presentation and prominently displayed on the cover slide or a dedicated acknowledgement slide.

OTHER MATERIALS

REPORTS

Furthermore, the primary outputs of these activities will be reports, documents, and training materials; these too will be cobranded. Reports generated by the project will be marked, as this report is, and submitted to the DEC.

DATA

All data generated will be made available to USAID and the public. Data will have the attribution and disclaimer that appears above (under “Academic Products”) contained in the metadata and wherever possible, the USAID identity. To facilitate the data sharing between stakeholders in the Limpopo River Basin, data will be organized on the project website and housed either on the project website or an approved data repository. All data references will be submitted to the DEC.

All such products will be submitted to USAID’s Development Experience Clearinghouse (DEC), which is available at dec.usaid.gov. For certain publications, the version submitted to the DEC may not contain the final publication markings; however, it will contain all of the produced content. For certain data products, it may be more practical to keep the original data hosted at an approved repository such as Mendeley Data, which holds a Data Seal of Approval, an industry standard for data repositories. The Assistance Officer’s Representative (AOR) will make the final determination for each dataset.

Following USAID’s request on 23 April 2019, data will be provided in a comma-separated values format, which is an open format easily and automatically converted in common spreadsheet programs (e.g., Microsoft Excel). At USAID’s request, if necessary to comply with the Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act, data will be provided in netCDF format, an industry-standard, machine-readable, open format (please note, this is a compressed data format and requires specialized open-source software to view).


APPROVAL This Mobilization Plan, including the MEL, B&M, and work plan, has been received and approved by USAID. This satisfies the requirements set forth in the Milestone Plan, item #1: Completion of Mobilization Plan.

Signature: ____________________________________________________________

Name: ____________________________________________________________ Agreement Officer’s Representative

Date: ____________________________________________________________


APPENDIX A: PROJECT STAFF RESUMES

Personally identifiable information (PII) removed per ADS Chapter 508


APPENDIX B: WEBSITE MOCKUP The project website will be hosted on the Duquesne University server. To establish the website as a longstanding resource, it will be marked as the Limpopo Resilience Lab and all activities will fall under this heading. The website will be given an easy-to-recall address with the duq.edu domain. The website will be cobranded with USAID and the collaborating universities; USAID will be at the top of the right sidebar (cobranded sidebar) with the required disclaimer. This cobranded sidebar will be present on all pages. The website will have the following pages:

• About • Data • Reports • Scientists • Technical Services • Limpopo Conference • Training Workshops • Stakeholder Engagement

Duquesne’s content management software (CMS) will collect analytics for all of the website traffic. The website will be launched by 31 July 2019.

The following pages contain a mockup for the website. The exact location of fields may change slightly.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

ABOUTThe Limpopo Resilience Lab is at the University of Venda with

collaborators at Duquesne University and Rensselaer Polytechnic

Institute. It was established to serve the water resources science and

management needs of the Limpopo River Basin with the generous

support of the United States Agency for International Development.

Duquesne University is the prime awardee of the grant,

This work was supported by

the United States Agency for

International Development,

Southern Africa Regional

Mission, Fixed Amount

Award 72067419FA00001.

This work reflects the work

of the authors and does not

necessarily reflect the views

of USAID or the United

States Government.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

DATAThe data collected by the Limpopo Resilience Lab are catalogued here and

available for download for any public purpose including research. These data

are also available for download and citation via Mendeley Data.

South AfricaThe data collected by the South Africa Department of Water and Sanitation are

available:

http://www.dwa.gov.za/Hydrology/






Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

REPORTSReports generated by the collaborators at the Limpopo Resilience Lab will be

available to the public. Many reports will also be available through the USAID

Development Experience Clearinghouse: dec.usaid.gov.

Presentations

Martin, M. L., Glancey, K. M., & Kahler, D. M. (2018). Method Development for

Remote Sensing of River Flow with Limited Ground-Based Measurements. In

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting (H43G–2504). Washington, DC.This work was supported by





Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

SCIENTISTSThe collaborators at the Limpopo Resilience Lab include:

Principle Investigators

Joshua N. Edokpayi, Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer

University of Venda

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joshua_Edokpayi3

David M. Kahler, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Duquesne University

https://www.duq.edu/academics/faculty/david-m-kahler

Kevin C. Rose, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

https://science.rpi.edu/biology/faculty/kevin-rose

Postdoctoral Research Associates

TBD

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Graduate Students

Mackenzie Martin

Duquesne University

Garrett Sharp






Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joshua_Edokpayi3

https://www.duq.edu/academics/faculty/david-m-kahler

https://science.rpi.edu/biology/faculty/kevin-rose

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

TECHNICAL SERVICESThe technical services offered by the Limpopo Resilience Lab include the

following tests. The Lab is looking into laboratory certifications.






Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

LIMPOPO CONFERENCEThe science and management conference is scheduled to be held in June 2020.

Check back here for more information.






Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

TRAINING WORKSHOPSTraining workshops are being planned. Please check back for more

information.






Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.

Limpopo

Resilience Lab

About

Data

Reports

Scientists

Technical Services

Limpopo Conference

Training Workshops

Stakeholder

Engagement

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENTStakeholder engagement meetings are being planned. Please check back here

for more information.






Award 72067419FA00001.





States Government.


APPENDIX C: STAKEHOLDER WORKSHOP INVITATION LETTER

26 April 2019 <address block> Dear Professional Colleague: We are an international group of scientists that work on natural resource management. We have recently been awarded a grant to investigate water resources and biodiversity in the Limpopo River Basin. Based on your position and background, we think that you have important insight into water quality and quantity, and biodiversity. We invite you to participate in a three-day meeting in which we will discuss water and biodiversity data needs, data availability and sharing, and best management practices in the Limpopo River Basin. The meeting will be held from 26-28 August 2019 in Thohoyandou. If you are able to join us for this meeting, please respond to the attached survey, which can also be found online: goog.le/PUTURLHERE. The tentative agenda is: 25 August Arrive in Thohoyandou 26 August morning Welcome, review of goals, science and management presentations 26 August afternoon Small groups to discuss data needs and sharing 27 August morning Plenary discussion on data needs, small groups to identify stakeholders 27 August afternoon Small groups to discuss data quality control, networking reception 28 August morning IWRM and environmental flow presentations 28 August afternoon Field trip Additional technical training is being planned for after the meeting. Sincerely, David M. Kahler, Ph.D. Duquesne University

Joshua N. Edokpayi, Ph.D. University of Venda

Kevin C. Rose Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute


APPENDIX D: DATA SHARING INDICATOR

TABLE D-1: PERFORMANCE INDICATOR REFERENCE SHEET (PIRS) FOR CUSTOM INDICATOR

INDICATOR Number of datasets shared, which were generated as a result of USG assistance

RESULT MEASURED The number of downloads is a precise, measurable indicator for the amount of data sharing that occurs.

PRECISE DEFINITION The number of downloads of a dataset generated by the project.

UNIT OF MEASURE Number (positive integer) of downloads

DATA TYPE Download count for dataset posted (reported with total data available)

DISAGGREGATION Country of download, specifically, of basin countries.

RATIONALE A primary goal of this project is to increase data sharing around water resources and biodiversity data. This indicator will be an indicator of how many users will use the data generated from this project. The collaborators anticipate that a consistently increasing data access rate will indicate positive data sharing.

DATA SOURCE Website analytics from the Duquesne University Content Management Software (CMS) and the download count from Mendeley Data.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

Access the website analytics from the Duquesne CMS and the analytics data from Mendeley Data.

REPORTING FREQUENCY

Quarterly


APPENDIX E: STANDARD INDICATORS The following standard indicators were taken directly from the United States Department of State’s Standard Foreign Assistance Indicators (available: https://www.state.gov/f/indicators/).

https://www.state.gov/f/indicators/

IndicatorEG.3.2-7 Number of technologies, practices, and approaches under various phases of research, development, and uptake as a result of USG assistance [IM-level]This indicator tracks the progression of new or significantly improved technologies, practices, and approaches through research and development (R&D) to the demonstrated uptake by public or private sector stakeholders. The R&D process should be hypothesis driven, testable, and independently replicable. The technologies, practices, and approaches under R&D should have the potential to achieve significant improvements in reducing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition versus existing alternatives. The technology, practice, or approach should be one that can clearly be articulated as having the potential to reach and benefit a smallholder farmer, other individual, or household at some point in the future. New or significant improvements to existing, food security-related technologies, practices, and approaches are to be counted. An improvement would be significant if, among other reasons, it served a new purpose or allowed a new class of users to employ it. Examples include a new blend of fertilizer for a particular soil type or proper sequencing of interventions to increase the adoption of a new technology. Diagnostic research or research focused on identifying the root cause of an issue should not be counted under this indicator. Support through USG assistance includes human, financial, institutional support, in full or in part, for the discovery, research, development, testing, or making available for uptake by the public and private sector.

The technology, practice, or approach is disaggregated first into R&D categories, then into the phase of research. Definitions and illustrative examples of technologies, practices, and approaches by R&D category are:

● Plant and Animal Improvement Research: Includes trait, marker, and gene discovery for agriculturally important characteristics, coupled with application of conventional breeding and/or advanced biotechnological approaches for the genetic improvement of plant and animal species. Products include improved germplasm (varieties, breeds, etc.) that is higher-yielding, more resilient to biotic and abiotic stresses, higher in nutritional content (e.g. biofortified crops such as vitamin A-rich sweet potatoes, high-protein maize, or improved livestock breeds), and/or possesses improved market or processing traits.

● Production Systems Research: Includes Integrated Pest Management (including grafting), Sustainable Intensification (e.g. mechanization, small-scale irrigation, planting schedules, soil management), livestock management, post harvest and food safety technologies; management practices for feed or food, Natural Resource Management,, and vaccines and animal health services. Products include new land preparation, harvesting, processing and product-handling and food safety technologies and practices including packaging and storage methods; sustainable water and land management practices; and sustainable aquaculture and fisheries practices.

● Social Science Research: Includes research concerning the effectiveness of agricultural policy options (policy research); research on the socio-behavioral, socioeconomic, or sociopolitical factors that influence decision-making; economic research on products or approaches that overcome barriers to farmer investment in or adoption of improved technology and management practice, etc. (economic research); research or creation of new/improved tools for market access, including financial and insurance products (market access research); and nutrition research. Products include new risk management approaches, such as the integration of partially-subsidized index insurance into social safety nets that cost-effectively increase the resilience of vulnerable households; and approaches to effectively and sustainably change nutrition behaviors or the adoption of improved seeds.

See Appendix 1 of the Feed the Future (FTF) Indicator Handbook on counting and reporting technologies, practices, and approaches by category. A description of the four phases of research and development is below. Technologies, practices and approaches should be reported under each phase reached during the reporting year. It is not required that all technologies, practices and approaches pass through all four phases to be reported under the indicator nor is it essential that all investments start at Phase I. For example, a seed variety that is only being field-tested for country-level adaptation and then submitted for country-level certification would only be tracked through Phases II and III. However, any technology, practice, or approach that is reported under Phase IV must have been previously reported under Phase I, II, or III during the life of the activity.

As the indicator is purposefully defined broadly to ensure that a full range of technologies, practices, approaches and uptake modalities can be captured, no assumptions should be made regarding comparability of the level or type of uptake across technologies, practices, or approaches, or the value or depth of support for and by the public and/or private sectors for any technology, practice, or approach. In some cases more than one Operating Unit (OU) may count the same technology or practice. This would occur if the technology or practice were developed, for instance, in collaboration with a U.S. university under a mechanism funded by one operating unit and then passed through a regional collaboration mechanism funded by a different operating unit to other countries. If multiple OUs are co-funding development of the same technology, practice or approach under the same R&D mechanism, they should coordinate with the COR/AOR to decide which OU should report on the indicator in FTFMS on behalf of all contributing OUs. We discourage individual OUs reporting prorated results based on funding proportions in these cases.

Four phases of research, development, and uptake:

Phase I - Under research as a result of USG assistance: Count new technologies, practices, or approaches under research in the current reporting year. Technologies and management practices are under research when the process to develop or support the development of the product is conducted under ideal or controlled conditions such as a laboratory or greenhouse. Note that for non-biotech crops, much or all of this phase might be conducted outdoors and in soil, and yet be considered to be in controlled conditions; these attributes do not make this work “field testing.” Additionally, livestock research conducted on-station and in confined settings would also be considered to be in controlled conditions. For social science research, only theoretical, efficacy, or secondary data research on a specific approach (e.g. the use of index insurance to increase on-farm investment) that could significantly improve development outcomes should be counted. Phase II - Under field testing as a result of USG assistance: “Under field testing” means that research has moved from focused development, where a promising technology or practice has been identified, to broader testing of effectiveness under conditions intended to resemble those that the potential users of the new technology will encounter. Testing might be done in the actual facilities or fields of potential users, or it might be in a facility set up to duplicate those conditions to prove expected performance or superiority to current technologies or practices. For biotechnology research, a change of location from a contained laboratory or greenhouse to a confined field with the receipt of a permit indicates that the research has completed the “under research” phase and moved into the “under field testing” phase. The goal of this phase is to achieve a documented ‘real world’ assessment of potential performance and feasibility, by accumulating technical information and test results that indicate that the expected performance is achievable. Some technologies may have legal requirements for the collection, submission, and approval of assessment data, which must be satisfied before completing this Phase. Social science research conducted through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) or quasi-experimental pilot for identification of effectiveness or causal impact should be counted under this phase. Phase III - Made available for uptake as a result of USG assistance: Count technologies, practices or approaches that are ready to be taken up or adopted by a public or private sector entity, which would then disseminate the technology, practice or approach to end users in a manner that promotes sustainable, widespread adoption at the population level (e.g. hundreds of thousands to millions, depending on the technology or practice and context). This phase does not count the number of technologies and practices actually transferred by public or private entities, including implementing partners. Completing a research activity or transferring a technology, practice, or approach to another researcher for continued R&D activities do not in themselves constitute having made something available for uptake. Conditions may need to be met before a technology, practice, or approach can move into the public domain such as licensure, certification, or policy guidelines and this Phase captures technologies, practices, and approaches that have met these conditions. It must have passed all required regulatory approvals such that intermediaries and end users (i.e. service input providers, farmers) are able to use and disseminate it legally. Any technology, practice, or approach made available for uptake in a previous year should not be included, unless the availability has increased in geographic scope (i.e. made available for uptake in another country) in this reporting period. Phase IV – Demonstrated uptake by the public and/or private sector: A technology, practice, or approach has “demonstrated uptake” if any public- and/or private-sector actor has institutionalized or provided support for dissemination, independent of USG assistance, at any point during the reporting period. This phase aligns with the Foreign Assistance indicator for Science, Technology, Innovation, and Research 11 (STIR-11). As a result, it does not include uptake by the end user (i.e. individual customers or farmers) or by bilateral or multilateral donor organizations (e.g. USAID Missions). End users applying new technologies are measured under EG.3.2-24. While technologies, practices, and approaches are often delivered successfully through donor pathways, the goal is to identify a sustainable pathway for delivery through the public or private sector. Examples of demonstrated uptake include a) non USAID financial support provided through public, private, or public-private agreements (i.e. non-revenue monies from non-donor sources) for dissemination including - but not limited to - private investments, grants, loans, funds, or government bonds; b) incorporation/institutionalization of an approach into a host country government’s national or sub-national guidelines, policies, or other legal frameworks; c) market introduction such as the technology or practice being offered for sale; and, d) distribution or delivery of a technology or practice to an end-user via

Definition

This indicator tracks the progression of new or significantly improved technologies, practices, and approaches through research and development (R&D) to the demonstrated uptake by public or private sector stakeholders. The R&D process should be hypothesis driven, testable, and independently replicable. The technologies, practices, and approaches under R&D should have the potential to achieve significant improvements in reducing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition versus existing alternatives. The technology, practice, or approach should be one that can clearly be articulated as having the potential to reach and benefit a smallholder farmer, other individual, or household at some point in the future. New or significant improvements to existing, food security-related technologies, practices, and approaches are to be counted. An improvement would be significant if, among other reasons, it served a new purpose or allowed a new class of users to employ it. Examples include a new blend of fertilizer for a particular soil type or proper sequencing of interventions to increase the adoption of a new technology. Diagnostic research or research focused on identifying the root cause of an issue should not be counted under this indicator. Support through USG assistance includes human, financial, institutional support, in full or in part, for the discovery, research, development, testing, or making available for uptake by the public and private sector.









Definition

Primary SPS Linkage EG.3.2 Agricultural Sector Capacity

Linkage to Long-Term Outcome or Impact

According to the USAID Scientific Research Policy (2014), research allows USAID to develop, test, refine and evaluate the acceptability and cost-effectiveness of new and improved products, tools, approaches and interventions that focus on the key concerns of developing countries. Research also helps inform policy, strategic direction of programs, and methods to overcome barriers to implementation in developing country settings by strengthening the evidence-base for development. The U.S. Government Global Food Security (GFS) Research Strategy frames research programming in terms of a R&D pipeline, in which new or significantly improved technologies advance through phases of research before being transferred to technology-scaling partners for dissemination and, ultimately, widespread adoption by developing-country beneficiaries. The R&D pipeline contains innovative, scalable products and practices to improve productivity, nutrition, and resilience in Feed the Future partner countries. This indicator tracks the four phases of research and

Indicator Type Output/OutcomeReporting Type NumberUse of Indicator This indicator is used to report progress in the FTF/Bureau for Food Security porfolio review and the FTF

Country Pages.Reporting Frequency Annual

Data Source Implementing partners will collect data from activity records, reports or surveys

This indicator tracks the progression of new or significantly improved technologies, practices, and approaches through research and development (R&D) to the demonstrated uptake by public or private sector stakeholders. The R&D process should be hypothesis driven, testable, and independently replicable. The technologies, practices, and approaches under R&D should have the potential to achieve significant improvements in reducing poverty, hunger, and malnutrition versus existing alternatives. The technology, practice, or approach should be one that can clearly be articulated as having the potential to reach and benefit a smallholder farmer, other individual, or household at some point in the future. New or significant improvements to existing, food security-related technologies, practices, and approaches are to be counted. An improvement would be significant if, among other reasons, it served a new purpose or allowed a new class of users to employ it. Examples include a new blend of fertilizer for a particular soil type or proper sequencing of interventions to increase the adoption of a new technology. Diagnostic research or research focused on identifying the root cause of an issue should not be counted under this indicator. Support through USG assistance includes human, financial, institutional support, in full or in part, for the discovery, research, development, testing, or making available for uptake by the public and private sector.









Definition

Disaggregate(s)

Category of Research:-Plant and Animal Improvement Research-Production Systems Research-Social Science Research Phase: -Under research as a result of USG assistance -Under field testing as a result of USG assistance -Made available for uptake as a result of USG assistance-Demonstrated uptake by the public and/or private sector with USG assistance

Indicator STIR-12 Number of peer-reviewed scientific publications resulting from USG support to research and implementation programs

Definition

This output indicator captures annually the number of scientific publications resulting from USAID support to research and implementation programs. This indicator is NOT cumulative and captures only new publications not reported previously. ‘Peer-reviewed publications’ are defined as and include: scientific studies published in technical journals which conduct technical peer review of the submissions as part of their decision process; technical reports that are subject to external peer-review and then disseminated; and peer-reviewed conference proceedings. This indicator does not include publications by USAID Staff. STIR stands for the cross-cutting issue area of Science, Technology, Innovation and Research

Primary SPS Linkage STIR cross-cutting


This indicator tracks the creation and dissemination of new knowledge and information to expand the evidence base on development, which can then be used to inform stakeholders and decision-makers. It is one way to capture the direct results of USAID investments in research and progress towards the objective of increasing the use of scientific information for enhancing the impact of development programs.

Indicator Type Output

Reporting Type Whole number (Incremental)

Use of Indicator USAID Global Development Lab’s Results Framework USAID and State STIP performance reporting

Reporting Frequency Annual

Data Source

Data source of this indicator will vary depending on the type of activity being reported (presentation or publication). All peer reviewed publications (journal articles) resulting from USAID support must be submitted to the Development Exchange Clearinghouse (DEC). The DEC can serve as a data source for tracking publications.

Disaggregate(s) None

Indicator EG.3.2-25 Number of hectares under improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance [IM-level]

Definition

This indicator measures the area in hectares where USG-promoted management practices or improved technologies were applied during the reporting year to areas managed or cultivated by producers participating in a USG-funded activity. Management practices counted are agriculture-related, land- or water-based management practices and technologies in sectors such as cultivation of food or fiber, aquaculture, fisheries, and livestock management, including those that address climate change adaptation and mitigation. Improved management practices or technologies are those promoted by the implementing partner as a way to increase producer’s productivity directly or to support stronger and better functioning systems. The application of both intensive and extensive agriculture-related management practices and technologies in different landscapes are captured under the Type of Hectare disaggregate. The Type of Hectare disaggregates are: crop land, cultivated pasture, rangeland, conservation/protected area, freshwater or marine ecosystems, aquaculture, and other [1]. Intensive interventions are those where higher levels of inputs, labor and capital are applied relative to the size of land. Extensive interventions are those where smaller amounts of inputs, labor and capital are applied relative to the size of land. For example, an intervention working to increase the production of fingerlings in aquaculture is considered intensive while using improved grazing practices for livestock in a rangeland landscape would be considered extensive. Those interventions carried out on crop land, cultivated pasture and aquaculture are considered “intensive”. Those carried on rangeland, conservation/protected area and freshwater or marine ecosystems are considered “extensive”. The same area cannot be counted under more than one Type of Hectare disaggregate category. This indicator captures results where they were achieved, regardless of whether interventions were carried out, and results achieved, in the Zone of Influence (ZOI). A management practice or technology can be applied under a number of different hectare types. For example, improved grazing practices could take place in cultivated pasture, rangeland, or conservation and mixed-used landscapes, and climate adaptation/climate risk management interventions can be applied in all hectare types. Management practice and technology type categories, with some illustrative (not exhaustive) examples, include:

• Crop genetics: e.g. improved/certified seed that could be higher-yielding or higher in nutritional content (e.g. through bio-fortification, such as vitamin A-rich sweet potatoes or rice, or high-protein maize), and/or more resilient to climate impacts (e.g. drought tolerant maize or stress tolerant rice); improved germplasm. • Cultural practices: context specific agronomic practices that do not fit in other categories, e.g. seedling production and transplantation; cultivation practices such as planting density, crop rotation, and mounding. • Livestock management: e.g. improved grazing practices, improved fodder crop, cultivation of dual purpose crops. • Wild-caught fisheries management: e.g. sustainable fishing practices. • Aquaculture management: e.g. pond culture; pond preparation; management of carrying capacity. • Natural resource or ecosystem management: e.g. biodiversity conservation; strengthening of ecosystem services, including stream bank management or restoration or re/afforestation; woodlot management. • Pest and disease management: e.g. Integrated Pest Management; improved fungicides; appropriate application of fungicides; improved and environmentally sustainable use of cultural, physical, biological and chemical insecticides and pesticides; crop rotation; aflatoxin prevention and control during production. • Soil-related fertility and conservation: e.g. Integrated Soil Fertility Management; soil management practices that increase biotic activity and soil organic matter levels, such as soil amendments that increase fertilizer-use efficiency (e.g. soil organic matter, mulching); improved fertilizer; improved fertilizer use practices; inoculant; erosion control. • Irrigation: e.g. drip, surface, and sprinkler irrigation; irrigation schemes. • Agriculture water management - non-irrigation-based: e.g. water harvesting; sustainable water use practices; practices that improve water quality. • Climate mitigation: technologies selected because they minimize emission intensities relative to other alternatives (while preventing leakage of emissions elsewhere). Examples include low- or no-till practices; restoration of organic soils and degraded lands; efficient nitrogen fertilizer use; practices that promote methane reduction; agroforestry; introduction/expansion of perennials; practices that promote greater resource use efficiency (e.g. drip irrigation).

• Climate adaptation/climate risk management: technologies promoted with the explicit objective of reducing risk and minimizing the severity of climate change. Examples include drought and flood resistant varieties; short-duration varieties; adjustment of sowing time; diversification, use of perennial varieties; agroforestry. • Other: e.g. improved mechanical and physical land preparation. Since it is very common for USG activities to promote more than one improved management practice or technology, this indicator allows the tracking of the number of hectares under the different management practices and technology types and the total unique number of hectares on which one or more practices or technologies has been applied at the activity level. • If a participant applied more than one improved technology during the reporting year, count that area on which the participant applied those technologies under each relevant Management Practice type applied under the relevant Hectare type. However, count the area only once in the applicable Sex, Age and Commodity disaggregate categories under the relevant Hectare type. This will not result in double-counting for the total. • If an activity is promoting a single technology for multiple benefits, the area under the technology may be reported under each relevant category under the Management Practice/Technology Type disaggregate. For example, drought tolerant seeds could be reported under Crop genetics and Climate adaptation/climate risk management depending for what purpose(s) or benefit(s) the activity was promoted. • If a participant cultivates a plot of land more than once in the reporting year, the area should be counted each time one or more improved management practice/technology is applied. For example, because of access to irrigation as a result of a USG activity, a farmer can now cultivate two cycles of crops instead of one. If the farmer applies USG-promoted technologies on her/his plot for the two cycles, the area of the plot would be counted twice under this indicator. Note that the farmer would only be counted once under indicator EG.3.2-24 Number of individuals in the agriculture system who have applied improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance [IM-level]. If a lead farmer cultivates a plot used for training, e.g. a demonstration plot used for Farmer Field Days or Farmer Field School, the area of the demonstration plot should be counted under this indicator. In addition, the lead farmer should be counted as one individual under indicator EG.3.2-24 Number of individuals in the agriculture system who have applied improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance [IM-level]. This is a snapshot indicator, which is designed to capture farmer application only for the reporting year. Individuals who applied a USG activity-promoted management practice before the intervention constitute the baseline. Individual that still continue to apply the USG activity-promoted during the project period get counted for applying the technology in any subsequent years they apply that technology. However, this also means that yearly totals can NOT be summed to count application by unique individuals over the life of the project. IPs may use sales data from assisted firms for some kinds of inputs to estimate the number of producers for indicator EG.3.2-24 Number of individuals in the agriculture system who have applied improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance [IM-level] and indicator EG.3.2-25 Number of hectares under improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance [IM-level] if they use clearly documented assumptions that are regularly validated through spot surveys or similar methods. For example, an IP working to strengthen the certified soy seed market within a defined market shed in the ZOI could use data on the number and volume of certified soy seed sales by assisted firms during the

reporting year to estimate the number of farmers applying certified soy seed (for example, by using a conservative assumption that one sales equals one farmer applying) and hectares under certified seed by assuming a periodically validated planting density. All assumptions underlying the indicator estimates should be documented annually in an Indicator Comment. However, if an agrodealer gives away seed packs with the purchase of other inputs as a promotion, more validation would be necessary for the IP to assume farmers purchasing the other input would also apply that seed. Demonstration plots cultivated by researchers (a demonstration plot in a research institute, for instance) should not be counted under this indicator nor should the researcher be counted under this indicator or indicator EG.3.2-24. The area of a demonstration or common plot cultivated under improved practices or technologies by participants who are part of a group or members of an organization should not be counted under this indicator, the participants should not be counted under indicator EG.3.2-24 Number of individuals in the agriculture system who have applied improved management practices or technologies with USG assistance [IM-level], and the yield should not be counted under indicator EG.3-10, -11, -12 Yield of targeted agricultural commodities among program participants with USG assistance [IM-level]. For cultivated cropland, these three indicators (EG.3.2-24, EG.3.2-25, and EG.3-10, -11, -12) only capture results for land that is individually managed. However, communally- or group-managed areas under extensive ”Type of Hectares” disaggregates, such as conservation landscapes or rangeland, can be reported under this indicator under the association-applied category under the Sex and Age disaggregate. Association-applied would be applicable for landscapes where communities or organizations develop and adhere to policies regarding management, harvest, protection, etc. [1] Type of hectare disaggregates defined as: • Crop land: areas used for the production of crops for harvest, including cultivated, harvested, fallow or crop failure. Include home gardens in this category. • Cultivated pasture: land where forage crops are primarily grown for grazing • Rangelands: land on which the native vegetation (climax or natural potential plant community) is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs, or shrubs suitable for grazing or browsing use. • Conservation/protected areas: terrestrial areas that are protected because of their recognized, natural, ecological or cultural values. The protected status may fall into different categories and include strictly protected to those that allow for some limited human occupation and/or sustainable use of natural resources, such as agroforestry, collection of NTFPs, etc. • Fresh-water and marine ecosystems: aquatic areas that include freshwater, such as lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, springs, and freshwater wetlands, and water with higher salt content, such as salt marshes, mangroves, estuaries and bays, oceans, and marine wetlands. • Aquaculture; areas dedicated to the breeding, rearing and harvesting of aquatic animals and plants for food. • Other: Areas that don’t fit into these categories. Please describe the Hectare type in the indicator comment.

Primary SPS Linkage EG.3.2: Agricultural Sector Capacity


Improved management practices on agriculture land, in aquaculture, and in freshwater and marine fisheries will be critical to increasing agricultural productivity. This indicator tracks successful application of technologies and management practices in an effort to improve agricultural productivity, agricultural water productivity, sustainability, and resilience to climate change. In the GFSS results framework, this indicator reports contributions to IR.4: Increased sustainable productivity, particularly through climate-smart approaches.

Indicator Type Outcome Reporting Type Number

Use of Indicator

This indicator is widely used to measure progress in the Feed the Future (FTF)/Bureau for Food Security Portfolio review, the FTF progress report, the International Food Assistance Report (IFAR), and the FTF country pages.


Data Source Sample survey of activity participants, activity or association records, reports from activity partners, farm records

Disaggregate(s)

Type of Hectare: • Crop land • Cultivated pasture • Rangeland • Conservation/protected area • Freshwater or marine ecosystems • Aquaculture • Other

Sex: • Male • Female • Association-applied Age: • 15-29 • 30+ • Association-applied Management practice or technology type (see description, above): • Crop genetics, • Cultural practices • Livestock management • Wild-caught fisheries management • Aquaculture management • Natural resource or ecosystem management • Pest and disease management • Soil-related fertility and conservation • Irrigation • Agriculture water management-non-irrigation based • Climate mitigation • Climate adaptation/climate risk management • Other FTFMS-only disaggregate: Commodity

IndicatorEG.10.2-4 Number of people trained in sustainable natural resources management and/or biodiversity conservation as a result of USG assistance

Primary SPS

Linkage

Category: Economic Growth (EG)

Program Area: Environment (EG.10)

Program Element: Biodiversity (EG.10.2)

Linkage to Long-

Term Outcome or

Impact

Tracking the number of people trained provides information about the reach and scale of

training and capacity building efforts. Training activities strengthen agency and in-country

capacity, as well as promote strategic partnerships.

Indicator Type Output

Reporting Type Number

Definition

Number of people who has successfully completed a training course. Successful completion

requires that trainees meet the completion requirements of the structured training program

as defined by the program offered.

Training courses are sessions in which participants are educated according to a defined

curriculum and set learning objectives. The transfer of this knowledge, skills or aptitudes may

occur through long-term academic programs, long-term or short-term technical courses,

non-academic seminars, workshops, verifiable online courses, or courses in the field.

Sessions that could be informative or educational, such as meetings, but do not have a

defined curriculum or learning objectives are not counted as training.

Sustainable natural resources management is defined as managing natural resources in ways

that maintain their long-term viability and preserve their potential to meet the needs of

present and future generations.

Biodiversity conservation refers to direct and indirect actions (including sustainable natural

resources management) with the goal of conserving biodiversity in ways that maintain their

long-term viability and preserve their potential to meet the needs of present and future

generations.

Support from the USG: This indicator counts training hours that were delivered in full or in

part as a result of USG assistance. This assistance could include provision of funds to pay

teachers, providing hosting facilities, transportation, specialized equipment/supplies, or

other key contributions necessary to ensure training was delivered. This indicator does not

automatically count any course for which the USG helped develop the curriculum, but

rather focuses on delivery of courses that was made possible through full or partial funding

from the USG.

Some known data limitations when using this standard Indicator: In the case of multiple

training events, there is a possibility of double counting people trained, and the time extent

per person may vary significantly. Attendance records may be incomplete or inaccurate,

especially in the case of determining whether a participant completed an entire course. The

universe of countries providing this type of training can vary from year to year; thus, trends

should not be interpreted from aggregate data. This indicator does not reflect the depth of

skills and knowledge conveyed, or whether persons have developed the capacity to act, or

taken direct action as a result of the training.

Use of IndicatorTraining indicators account for the expenditure of USG funds to build country capacity. The

aggregate may be used to report to Congress and other stakeholders.

Reporting

FrequencyAnnually

Data Source Attendance records of implementing partners that conduct training.

Disaggregate(s)

Sex (Male/Female)

Conservation law compliance category (wildlife trafficking/illegal logging and associated

trade/illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing)

Conservation Law Compliance Disaggregation Definitions:

• Wildlife Trafficking: Number of people trained to better address wildlife trafficking, which

is the illegal taking, possession, transport, sale or export of wild animals or animal parts. For

this indicator there may be overlap among the number of people trained to address illegal,

unreported and unregulated fishing.

• Illegal Logging and associated trade: Number of people trained to better address illegal

logging, which is the illegal taking, possession, transport, sale or export of trees or tree

products, including trade in products containing illegally obtained wood or paper, as well as

unlawful deforestation clear land for another use.

• Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing: Number of people trained to better

address illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which is the illegal taking, possession,

transport, sale or export of aquatic (marine or freshwater) wildlife or wildlife products, as

well as failure of fishers to declare fishing catch ("unreported") and failure of governments to

create and/or enforce fishing policies ("unregulated"). For this indicator there may be overlap

among the number of people trained to address wildlife trafficking.

Note: For all Conservation Compliance Law disaggregates, illegal taking is defined as the

harvest, collection or killing of an animal or plant in violation of national law or

international conservation and management agreements. Taking is always illegal when the

species has protected status in the country of origin. For species in which taking is regulated,

it is illegal if done in violation to the corresponding regulation.

Note: The sum of the totals of the two ecosystem disaggregate category options must be

equal to the overall total number of hectares reported. The sum of the totals of the four

conservation law compliance disaggregate category options does not have to be equal to the

overall total number of hectares reported.

Indicator HL.8.3-3 Number of water and sanitation sector institutions strengthened to manage water resources or improve water supply and sanitation services as a result of USG assistance

Definition

This indicator will measure the number of water sector institutions that demonstrate an improvement in governance based on an activity-specific institutional assessment index. The index can be activity-specific, but must follow guidelines below and must be able to set a baseline against which improvement is measured. Changes must result through USG assistance and meet targets set at the beginning of the activity. Institutions under this indicator may include: - Local, regional, or national government ministries; - Regulators; - Civil society organizations which conduct activities in support of government policy-making & implementation A single institution may only be counted once in a single reporting year, regardless of the amount of improvement achieved. An institution may be counted again in subsequent years if further improvements are made. Improvements will be measured using an activity-specific institutional assessment index. The index will measure outcome based changes, where the following categories must be considered: - Human resources; - Monitoring systems - Financial management (budget execution, ability to pass an annual audit); - Project planning and management of implementation - Enforcement of policies (watershed protection, allocation systems) - Equity (tariff setting, poor inclusive policy, gender mainstreaming policy) - Accountability to stakeholders Activity MEL plans must include information about the institutional assessment index being used, including the indicators and measurement methods. This should also be documented in the Indicator Analysis section of the PPR.

Primary SPS Linkage HL.8.3


Improved governance for the water and sanitation sector is critical to achieving USAID's goal of increasing availability and sustainable management of safe water and sanitation for the underserved and most vulnerable. Progress on this indicator will demonstrate progress towards USAID's development results and increased self-reliance in target countries.

Indicator Type Outcome

Reporting Type Number

Use of Indicator

This indicator is used for reporting performance of activities across multiple OUs that support the achievement of Development Result 1 (Strengthen Sector Governance and Financing) of the USAID Water and Development Plan. These data will be used to assess progress towards achieving this development result, and will be reported in USAID’s annual Water Sector Report to Congress and other key stakeholders.


Data Source

This indicator will be measured using an activity-specific institutional assessment index which is designed and validated at the outset of the activity. A baseline assessment must be done at each institution before the intervention and follow-on annual assessments must be done to measure the change in institutional strength. This index can be based on standard models such as USAID’s G2G index, the WASH Building Blocks or a national governance index.

Disaggregate(s) Institution Scale: national, regional, local (e.g. county, district)

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