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Della McMillan

Dr. McMillan is a Courtesy Scientist in the Department of Anthropology

Food Security Programs

Food Security Programming using a Sustainable Livelihoods and “Resilience” Approach Highlights

Numbers after publications link to locations in the Publications and Reports page
For a definition of all acronyms used on this page, click here

  • Project Design: Team leader on the design of  seven United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Feed the Future (FtF) or Title II  projects (Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali. Nepal, Niger) and co-team leader on an Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) design team for seven countries in East Africa
  • Strategy Development: Team leader, co-team leader or consultant related to the design and implementation of: (1) two  USAID-funded NGO institutional capacity building grants for food security programming (for Africare and Catholic Relief Services [CRS],  (2) one technical intervention strategy for the Sahel (for Africare) (Publication: 3.2.2); and (3) a regional  strategy for strengthening semi-arid agricultural research in the Horn of Africa (for USAID) (Publication: 3.5.1)
  • M&E Systems Design and Review: Design and assessment of the M&E (monitoring and evaluation) systems for 18 USAID-funded food security projects (Feed the Future [FtF] , Food for Peace [FFP], United States Department of Agriculture/Foreign Agricultural Service [USDA/FAS]), two United Nations Development Program {UNDP) agricultural projects and one university-based food security program
  • M&E Training Workshops: Organization and facilitation/co-facilitation of  country specific, regional and all-Africa training workshops to strengthen staff capacity for M&E and reporting  on food security programs for different audiences
  • M&E Training Workshops: Design and facilitation of country specific and regional workshops on M&E
  • Evaluation: Team leader/member on the mid-term and final evaluation of 12 agricultural  development and/or food security projects and seven food security-related capacity building grants for USAID, USDA/FAS, UNDP and the World Bank
  • Publication Support: Experience with transforming research and evaluation findings into professional quality published and web-based publication and public information series for the World Bank and USAID, and the NGOs Africare and CRS
  • US and Non-University  Based Capacity-Building:  (1) Co-design and execution of three US university-based programs (University of Florida, University of Kentucky, Iowa State University) to build institutional capacity to support international food security policy research and programming (Publications: 1.1, 1.5, 1.7) as well as (2) training and research to encourage more effective linkage programs between US and African NGOs and universities
  • Indicator Development and Review: Applied research to assist two NGOs (Africare, CRS) and USDA/Ghana with the development of indicators to better track the impact of their programs on local partner and household capacity to support food security programming
Experience Agencies Countries Sample Assignments
1. Project Design Africare, International Business and Technical Consultants, Inc.
(IBTCI) and IGAD for USAID, the World Bank and UNDP		 Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Chad, Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Nepal		 Team leader or specialist on project needs assessments and design missions
2. Strategy Development Africare All Africa and the Sahel Team leader on the design of two institutional capacity building grants for USAID
IGAD 7 East African Countries) Co-team leader of the participatory process that developed regional and national technical and capacity building strategies
3. Monitoring and Evaluation Systems Design and Review Africare, CRS, International Relief and Development (IRD), USAID/Russia, Monitoring, Evaluation and Technical Support Services Project (METSS) II Project (Ghana), the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods, Iowa State University (CSRL/ISU) Burkina Faso, Chad, Ghana, Guinea, Iraq, Mali, Russia, Uganda Assist Projects and Country programs with the design and adjustment of their official M&E plans
4. Reporting Africare, CRS, the METSS II Project, CRS/ARC (for USAID) and the CSRL/ISU All FFP (for Africare, CRS, ARC) , Ghana (for METSS II) and Uganda (for CSRL/ISU) Participatory Development (with administrators) of training modules and guidance to help staff better understanding “writing for results” using M&E tracking data
5. M&E  (Monitoring and Evaluation) Training Workshops CSRL/ISU Uganda Workshops and training workshops on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and Reporting
Africare for USAID Title II Programs South Africa, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali Design of training modules and workshops on reporting, M&E and gender issues.
Technical Assistance to NGOs International (TANGO) for CRS Burkina Faso, Burundi, Madagascar, Malawi Collaborate with TANGO in the design and Co-execution (with Alice Willard) of Training programs on new M&E Guidance
6a.Evaluations focused on Capacity Building ACDI/VOCA, Africare, ARC, CRS, METSS II Project OICI, USAID-Mali, USAID-BF, USAID USAID Capacity Building Projects (ISA and ICB) and the METSS II Project in Ghana Team-Leader/Consultant on Mid-term or Final Evaluations and Assessments
6b. Project Evaluation Africare, ARC, CRS, Opportunities Industrialization Centers International (OICI), METSS II Project USAID-Mali, USAID Burkina Faso (USAID-BF), USAID, Country Projects: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, DRC, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Tanzania, Uganda Team-Leader/Consultant on Mid-term or Final Evaluations and Assessments
6c. Pre- Evaluation Planning (module development and Pre-planning missions  for USAID FFP funded project) ARC, CRS, Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), Africare ICB and ISA Capacity Building grants as well as Title II FFP projects in Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad On-site staff training to assist with pre-planning needed to facilitate more more effective and efficient external evaluations ICB and ISA Capacity Building grants as well as Title II FFP projects in Ethiopia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad
7. Technical and Briefing Papers Africare , MCC, USAID, World Bank 13 Africare countries Co-editor of Africare Food Security Paper Series with B. Traore and H. Tarver
ARC/CRS Title II NGOs CRS/ARC M&E Series contributor (in French and in English) training manuals on Indicator Performance Tracking Tables (IPTT) and Preparing for Evaluation
IGAD, International Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL) Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Uganda, Eritrea, Ethopia Co-editor with J. Sanders and E. Omolo of a series on Semi-Arid Agriculture for East Africa
8. University-Based Teaching Universities of Florida and Kentucky Gainesville, Florida and Lexington, Kentucky (1) Creation of a faculty student seminars that students could take for graduate or undergraduate credit as a strategy for building institutional understanding of and capacity for interdisciplinary food policy research and development partnerships in Africa (UF, UK) and Latin America (UK)
(2) Conversion of the papers presented in these seminars (in the second year) into text books with nationally recognized presses to increase institutional “branding” of students and faculty for food policy research and programming
Iowa State University (ISU) Ames, Iowa Collaboration with faculty, students and local partners associated with the development of the CSRL/ISU program
9. Indicator Development and Review: Applied Research to assist NGOs with the development of indicators to better track their impact Africare and CRS Baltimore, Maryland (1) Facilitation of the development of two standard institutional capacities for community-based institutional capacity index for their food security programs (CRS)
(2) Facilitating staff identifying the key monitoring and impact indicators for tracking their food security program (CSRL/ISU program)