Draft
Minutes of the Food Security Stakeholders Coordination Meeting #1
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
(26 January 2016)
Agenda:
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6.
7.
Welcome remarks from Deputy Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Livestocks (DAL)
Welcome remarks from Deputy Director, National Disaster Center (NDC)
Food Security Cluster mechanism and its architecture
Presentation on Church Partnerhsip Programme (CPP)
Existing and planned Assessments
Updates from partners and discussion
AOB
Chairman: Stephen Mombi, Deputy Secretary of the DAL
Facilitator: Suvash Acharya, Food Security Cluster Coordinator
1. Welcome remarks from Deputy Secretary, DAL (Stephen Mombi)
Welcomed the meeting participants and announced that the Food Security Cluster has been formally
launched. He explained that DAL being a lead Government Agency in the Agricultue Sector, a
National Agriculture Sector’s Disaster Response Team (NASDRT) is formed within the department to
address this disaster triggered by EL-Nino Climate. He further highlighted that the agriculture is key
to achieve for food security, that is, a situation in which "all people at all times have access to
sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life". PNG faces the double challenge
of population growth (+3% per year) and climate change, to which DAL responds with an holistic
approach.
2. Welcome remarks from Deputy Director, NDC (Kaigabu Kamnanaya)
An updated Food Security Policy will be approved in 2016, which should aim at bringing food
security to the PNG population and to achieving self-sufficiency in terms of food stocks.
3. Food Security Cluster mechanism and its architecture (Suvash Acharya)
The main purpose of setting up a Food Security Cluster (FSC) in PNG is to work jointly with the
Government and non-government actors to establish a common platform for coordination of Relief
Food and Agriculture Recovery Interventions.
In terms of strategic approach, the FSC will:
 Provide sector-specific technical expertise and support to the Government-led national
drought response;
Draft
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Provide capacity support at national and provincial levels in coordination and information
management;
Ensure coherence and collaboration in relief response to improve its efficacy;
Serve as an advocacy mechanism to boost resources by creating linkages between donors,
government and non-government actors;
Provide information management services to ensure regular and comprehensive reporting &
mapping.
The structure of the FSC cluster in PNG will be articulated in three layers:
 The leadership will be maintained by the government, represented by DAL and NDC.
 FAO, WFP and CPP will be responsible for ensuring Cluster Coordination Support, Facilitation
& Technical Expertise.
 Cluster partners (contributing members) will be NGOs, Donors, Private Sector, Red Cross
Movement (ICRC, IFRC, Red-cross PNG ), Churches. They will contribute with field information,
distribution networks, and technical capacity.
Key deliverables of the FSC will be:
 Technical support ensured by FAO and WFP through dedicated staff in the areas of national
coordination, provincial coordination, and information management.
 GIS mapping expertise, to produce several types of maps (presence, coverage of relief
distributions, gaps in assistance or information, etc.)
 Reports to inform decision-making of the government and of other actors involved..
 Assessments, and particularly the identification and training of Cluster partners and the
coordination of field assessments and the consolidation of reports.
 Guidance, in the form of written guidelines and/or training on design and delivery of food
assistance modalities; directions on operational planning, etc.
Reports and other documents produced by the FSC will be normally written in English. Depending on
the available resources, they may be translated into other national languages of PNG as suggested
by some partners.
The FSC will be a flexible structure: it can (and should) be adapted to local needs and government's
requests, and it can continue as long as partners want to keep it in place, even after the end of the
current drought.
4. Presentation on Church Partnerhsip Programme (Matt Kanua)
CPP is a partnership between 7 churches in PNG and churches in Australia. Churches have an
extensive network on the ground, covering almost the entire territory of PNG, and have
considerable experience in service provision. Since the churches are present in the areas affected by
the drought, in December 2015 CPP launched a Disaster Preparedness and Response initiative.
However, they do not have adequate much experience in disaster management. The obejctives of
the Disaster Preparedness and Response programme are to strengthen capacities of the seven
member churches to provide disaster response, and to facilitate coordination.
Draft
FSC partners can tap on the geographical spread of the churches, which are present in all of the
areas that have been classified as category 4 and 5. Churches have strong community relationships
across the country. CPP can count on 7 disaster response coordinators (one per church), 3 of whom
are based outside of PoM. Churches have own land, warehouses and training facilities, and they
also possess local knowledge.
CPP sees the FSC as a platform to carry out the following activities:
 Assessments of the situation on the ground;
 Validation of existing information (particularly as far as logistics is concerned);
 Dissemination of information and reports;
 Planning post-drought rehabilitation programmes.
While rains have arrived in most of the country, drought still lingers on Western Province
(particularly Nomad and Morehead) and there are information gaps. Pro-action, sensitivity, coalition
of actors, and leadership will be extremely important.
5. Existing and planned Assessments (Sandra Hart, Siemon Hollema)
The presence matrix produced by the FSC will be a first attempt at systematically collect information,
and will be used to create presence maps. The presence map is intended as a tool to inform
programming: Partners who need to plan operations in a certain district should contact the
organisation(s) that are already present there. Donors can also use the map to see where their
resources could be channeled. A first map has been produced, and it will be updated on a weekly
basis, as long as partners provide information on where they work (the next step will be to list what
they are doing in each area). Even if it is still incomplete, the map, which will be circulated by email
to the FSC members and uploaded on the website – already shows that the affected areas are
almost entirely covered by churches and NGOs.
Action point:
->
FSC to follow up on the request to have an additional layer with hydrological information in the
map
In addition, WFP will be conducting a mobile survey starting on 27 January. In total, 2800 mobile
phone users based in areas classified as category 3, 4, and 5 will be called by Digicel call centre
operators trained by WFP. The survey includes two sections: one on food security in the village (with
questions such as availability and prices of food items in the local markets) and the other on the
specific situation of the informant's household (how many meals have they eaten, what types of
food, etc.). It will take at least 3 weeks to complete the survey, plus 2-3 weeks for the analysis before
draft results can be shared with FSC partners.
Action Point:
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WFP to follow up on the possibility of sharing interview recordings (but there are potential
confidentiality issues). After completion of the survey, WFP will share with FSC partners the
questionnaire, as well as the results of the assessment.
Draft
6 - Updates from partners and discussion
NDC explained that the government is moving 17 containers of rice to the most affected areas (of
which 6 containers reached Kyonga). The next phase will be along the coast, but in that area NDC
doesn’t have capacities. WFP asked for a report on this to be circulated.
World Vision: they are targeting 10,000 households in Hela and Southern Hilands provinces,
providing planting materials and training on good agricultural practices. Their main issue is the
availability of planting materials, and they hope the FSC will help identifying where stocks are
located.
NARI is bulking up planting materials (sweet potato, cassava, corn) in 4 centres. They will start with
short-term crops for the time being, so that people can easily have access to food and money within
no more than 3 months, and they are still holding on on sweet potato and cassava. NARI denied
reports that it is selling, rather than donating, supplies funded by DFAT. They explained that besides
the DFAT-funded activities, they also have other programmes where planting tools are sold, which
may have caused the confusion.
IOM is operating in Jiwaka, Chimbu and Enga provinces, where they have identified areas to be used
for distribution. They completed documentation on food security in PNG, which will be shared on
Friday. They are planning a crop assessment in the areas they are targeting. In coastal areas, they
are working on agricultural recovery.
FAO: Ken Shimizu (FAO Representative) shared that FAO offered to invite technical experts from
INIA research institute in Peru to support DAL in investigating and controlling the insect infestation
that was damaging the growth of food crops after the drought. The mission dates are not finalized
yet.
WFP: Francesca Ciardi (Logistics Information Management) explained her role in facilitating
exchange of information on logistics, both for food and non-food relief items. PNG has adequate
infrastructure, but the main problem for humanitarian actors is obtaining sufficient funding for
transportation.
Jean-Luc Siblot (WFP Emergency Coordinator) suggested that the FSC should probably narrow down
its objectives and adapt them to the PNG context. A critical issue is not having information on what
has been delivered. Now it's time to launch agricultural recovery, and concrete information is
needed.
CPP: Restated the need to fill in information gaps, with actual distribution figures.
7 - AOB
The meeting agreed to conduct national FSC meeting in Port Moresby fortnightly basis on every
alternate Tuesday. The next FSC meeting will take place on Tuesday, 9 February 2016 at 10:00
am at DAL, Konedobu.