The Land O'Lakes Dairy Income Generating activity is an amendment to its Ethiopia Dairy Development Program and has the goals of creating and strengthening livelihoods for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAA), OVC, and caregivers through income generating activities (IGA) in the dairy sector. It will strengthen the organizational capacity of PLWHAA associations to provide care and support services to members while also promoting HIV awareness and prevention along the dairy value chain and in the agricultural sector more broadly.

The project operates geographically in urban and peri-urban areas of Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples region, and Addis Ababa. It will reach 7,000 direct beneficiaries and benefit more than 35,000 household members and 50,000 HIV care and support association members.

While this program does not strictly aim to strengthen the health system, it does so indirectly. Strengthening the capacity of CBOs to provide care and support services to members reduces the care burden on health facilities and health workers. Additionally, engaging community volunteers - on whom the health system greatly depends - in IGAs is strongly motivating and encourages sustained work.

This cross-cutting, economic strengthening program promotes income generation through microenterprises in the dairy sector. Value chain analyses conducted in COP 2009 identified dairy available and profitable IGAs, determined the number of IGAs supported by the local market, and computed capital, input, training, and labor requirements. Value chain and profitability analyses will continue to be conducted and updated in COP 2010. Moreover, an IGA toolkit will be completed, with market assessment, value chain analysis, and capital, labor, and training needs calculator components. Land O'Lakes will expand program coverage, engaging more beneficiaries and associations of PLWHAA, while supporting existing beneficiaries to continue their IGAs as well as to support other members of their CBO to become engaged in IGAs. Land O'Lakes links groups of PLWHAA to microfinance institutions and supports CBOs through sub-grants to access funds to purchase input supplies for the IGAs. The training package developed in COP 2009 will continue to be utilized, with components in financial and cooperative management, business development skills, group savings, and specialized technical skills. This prepares beneficiaries to undertake the IGAs they have selected. Group and individual dairy IGAs will be supported, including microenterprises in dairy processing, retail sales, and dairy cattle rearing, as well as transportation, feed production, composting, and calf-fattening.

The key issue of gender is addressed through the strong emphasis and involvement of women in income generation. Land O'Lakes reached an agreement in COP 2009 that a minimum of 60 percent of beneficiaries be women. A variety of IGAs are identified in order to empower the women to select the IGA that best accommodates their abilities, interests, access to land, and childcare and household responsibilities.

Land O'Lakes will apply a number of strategies to enhance program cost efficiency and sustainability. Training sessions and input supply purchases are aggregated to achieve efficiencies of scale. Microenterprises are registered as cooperatives, facilitating access to credit from microfinance institutions, thus reducing the need for future grants. A training of trainers approach ensures that CBO leaders can support additional PLWHAA to engage in IGAs, promoting sustainability and cost-savings. Additional savings are incurred by linking this program to other PEPFAR implementing partners (e.g., Management Sciences for Health, Save the Children US, International Orthodox Christian Charities, World Food Programme, Tesfago, Mekdim) and the Ethiopian government (e.g., HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Cooperative Agency), as other care and support needs are already met, beneficiaries are already organized, and community resources (e.g., agriculture extension and animal health) already developed. These networks and partnerships will continue to help facilitate donations or reduced cost of rental of land or working space for IGA implementation. A dairy market promotion campaign underway by the Land O'Lakes Ethiopia Dairy Development Program will increase market demand for dairy supplies and services, thus supporting future dairy IGAs. Finally, HIV awareness and prevention education will also be integrated along the dairy value chain through CBO partners, expanding their coverage through efficient, existing agricultural networks, for farmers, input supplies, cooperatives, milk collection centers, processors, markets, and consumers.

Land O'Lakes will continue monitoring and evaluation efforts by collecting and analyzing performance data for PEPFAR and non-PEPFAR indicators, tracking outputs of program activities, and developing recommendations for improved implementation. In addition to the PEPFAR Reporting System, a poverty assessment and final program evaluation will be conducted. Surveys will validate program indicators, targets, and strategy; measure impact; and identify lessons learned.

Land O'Lakes program creates and strengthens livelihoods for PLWHAPLWHAA, OVC, and caregivers through IGAs in the dairy sector, such as dairy processing, retail sales, rearing, and feed production. The community-based project operates in urban and peri-urban areas of Amhara, Oromia, Tigray, the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples region; and Addis Ababa. It will contribute to the Multisectoral Plan of Action for Universal Access to provide IGA support to OVC and to the Strategic Plan for Intensifying Multisectoral HIV/AIDS Response to reduce the socioeconomic impact of HIV by reaching 7,000 direct beneficiaries and benefiting more than 35,000 household members and 50,000 HIV CBO members.

Beneficiaries select from a variety of IGAs that best accommodate their abilities and interests, thus promoting retention and ownership. A value chain approach guarantees no single IGA is promoted beyond market demand, ensuring profitability and sustainability. Integration of beneficiaries into the dairy sector is facilitated by the ongoing Dairy Development Program. For sustainability, NGO, CBO, and government partners are being trained to engage PLWHAPLWHAA in IGAs. These partners also identify and refer beneficiaries.

Besides PEPFAR reporting requirements, the project assesses on entry and supports beneficiaries continuously to overcome challenges. Capacity building of CBO focal points enables them to support members over time. Field staff regularly meets to discuss program challenges and solutions. The IGA toolkit and training package have quality assurance tools. Land O'Lakes takes part in WFP coordination committees. A stigma assessment is planned to gauge community stigma related to HIV and the dairy sector. Indicators are tracked monthly and reviewed to identify and address problems. A poverty assessment is planned.

This activity has engaged more than 3,000 beneficiaries and 15,000 household members in 2009, with enthusiastic reception from all partners. Individual IGAs are more popular than groups. Some IGAs have higher than expected start-up costs, leading to value chain reanalysis for additional opportunities. Integration with PEPFAR partners has greatly facilitated program initiation.