OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT AND MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS. OPERATIONAL MANUAL Version 2.0

Transcription

1 OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT AND MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS OPERATIONAL MANUAL Version 2.0 Cash Transfer Programme for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT - OVC) OCTOBER, 2007 Nairobi, Kenya PREPARED BY: AYALA CONSULTING CO PO BOX , Unit C4, Kilimani Nairobi- Kenya Telephone: (254) ayalaconsul@ayalaconsulting.com.ec

2 GLOSSARY AAC Baraza Beneficiary households Caregiver CBO Children Chronically ill CPU CT CT-OVC DCOf DCO DCS DEOf DEO DFID DMOf DMO DOSC Double orphan Eligible households Enrolment GOK Households Area Children Advisory Council Community discussion in an open space Selected households who completed the enrolment process and signed the programme agreement. Member of household responsible for the well being of children Community Based Organisation Children from 0 and below 18 years old, A person who has at least been chronically ill for six months and is both physically ill and socially incapable of working Central Programme Unit Cash Transfer Cash Transfer Programme for Orphans and Vulnerable Children District Children Office District Children Officer(s) of OVP & MOHA Department of Children Services District Education Office District Education Officer(s) Department for International Development District Medical Office District Medical Officer(s) District OVC Sub-committee A child whose both parents are deceased Identified households verified in the field by enumerators and by the MIS. Access of families into the OVC CT Programme Government of Kenya Household defined as a group of persons living under the same roof where they cook and eat together Household representative This person can be the caregiver or another member of the household, preferably the mother, delegated to collect the benefits from the payment agency. Identified households Ksh. LOC MIS MOH MOHA NACC NGO OVC OVP & MOHA Households meeting the program eligibility criteria and identified by LOCs Kenyan Shillings - Local Currency Location OVC Committees Management Information System of the project Ministry of Health Ministry of Home Affairs National AIDS Control Council Non-government Organisation Orphans and Vulnerable Children Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs 1

3 Payment agency PCU Registration Selected households Single orphan Vulnerable child UNICEF Place where benefits are given to the household representatives, Post offices. Programme Central Unit Enrolment of children at school Eligible households ranked by the CPU using vulnerability as criteria and validated by the community in a baraza. A child whose father or mother is deceased For this pilot programme is a child whose well-being, including access to basic services, adequate care or a secure home environment, is threatened as a result of being affected by HIV/AIDS United Nations Children s Fund 2

4 INDEX OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION... 6 II. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE OPERATIONAL MANUAL... 6 A. USERS OF THE MANUAL... 7 B. KEY COMPONENTS OF THE MANUAL... 7 C. EXPANSION PHASES OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME... 8 III. STAKEHOLDERS OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME... 9 IV. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME 12 A. CENTRAL PROGRAMME UNIT B. DISTRICT CHILDREN OFFICE C. ADVISORY AREA COUNCIL (AAC) D. DISTRICT OVC SUB COMMITTEE (DOSC) E. LOCATION OVC COMMITTEE (LOC) V. DESIGN VARIABLES A. OBJECTIVES B. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR HOUSEHOLDS C. RANKING D. CONDITIONALITIES First Group: Conditionalities Non-compliance and fines or penalties Second Group: No suspensions of payments E. TYPE OF BENEFIT, DELIVERY MECHANISM, PAYMENT AMOUNT AND FINANCING Payment Amount to Households F. EXIT POLICY VI. SUPPLY ASSESSMENT A. EDUCATION SERVICES B. HEALTH SERVICES VII. PROJECT CYCLE A. TARGETING Identification of households with OVC Verifying eligibility criteria from identified households Selection of elegible households B. ENROLMENT Planning Implementation of the enrolment process Closure stage Information systematisation C. PAYMENTS Payment Cycle Calendar of Payment Periods and Compliance of Conditions D. COMPLIANCE AND MONITORING OF CONDITIONS Monitoring of education conditions Monitoring of health conditions

5 3. Arbitration for non-compliance E. AWARENESS SESSIONS AND HOME VISITS F. INFORMATION UPDATES G. COMPLAINTS H. APPEALS VIII. FINANCIAL CYCLE A. CASH FLOW REQUIREMENTS Flow of Resources through the GOK Flow of Resources through UNICEF Direct Payment B. PROCESS AND CONTROLS FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE PROGRAMME Annual Operation Plan Operational Schedule IX. MONITORING AND EVALUATION A. MONITORING B. OPERATIONAL EVALUATION C. COSTING STUDY D. IMPACT EVALUATION Overview Quantitative survey Qualitative data collection E. INDICATORS Impact assessment Operational evaluation Conditions Cost INDEX OF TABLES TABLE 1: NUMBER OF OVC BENEFICIARIES... 8 TABLE 2: SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF CT-OVC TABLE 3: CONDITIONALITIES FOR THE FIRST GROUP OF BENEFICIARIES 20 TABLE 4: CRITERIA FOR BENEFICIARIES TO CONTINUE IN THE PROGRAMME TABLE 5: PAYMENT PERIODS CORRESPONDING TO COMPLIANCE OF CONDITIONS TABLE 6: COMPLIANCE MONITORING HEALTH TABLE 7: COMPLIANCE MONITORING EDUCATION

6 INDEX OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: SELECTION OF ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS FIGURE 2: PAYMENT CYCLE FIGURE 3: PAYMENT PERIODS AND COMPLIANCE OF CONDITIONS FIGURE 4: CASH FLOW DIAGRAM ANNEXES ANNEX A: ANNEX B: ANNEX C: ANNEX D: ANNEX E: ANNEX F: ANNEX G: ANNEX H: ANNEX I: ANNEX J: ANNEX K: ANNEX L: ANNEX M: ANNEX N: ANNEX O: ANNEX P: TARGETING MANUAL SUPPLY CAPACITY GUIDELINES ENROLMENT GUIDELINES GUIDELINES FOR POST OFFICES PAYMENT GUDELINES DCO GUIDELINES FOR PAYMENTS AND UPDATED INFORMATION ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM (MIS) USER GUIDELINES CASE MANAGEMENT GUIDELINES GUIDELINES FOR HEALTH COMPLIANCE GUIDELINES FOR EDUCATION COMPLIANCE AWARENESS SESSIONS AND HOME VISITS GUIDELINES CIVIL REGISTRATION GUIDELINES MONITORING GUIDELINES FINANCIAL GUIDELINES BUDGET GUIDELINES EVALUATION FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT 5

7 I. INTRODUCTION Based on the importance to provide social protection to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Kenya, the Government of Kenya (GOK) decided to conduct a cash transfer pilot project that could become a valid model to be scaled-up nationwide. The initiative began with the first cash disbursements taking place in December 2004 in nine communities, within 3 districts, supporting a total of 500 OVC. Specifically the main objective of the pilot evaluation is to assess and evaluate different operational mechanisms and conditionalities in order to select those which prove to be the more effective and optimal for keeping children in their households within their communities. It is important to highlight that the pilot is an innovative experience for Kenya and worldwide, with respect to evaluating the impact of conditionalities and to learn lessons before scaling up. The CT-OVC programme will take place in 7 districts, namely Nairobi, Kwale, Garissa, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Suba District and Migori. This operational manual describes the operational characteristics of the CT-OVC programme based upon the design aspects indicated in the design document, which was approved by the National OVC Steering Committee on April, This document was prepared by Ayala Consulting Co and reviewed by MOHA, UNICEF and DFID. II. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE OPERATIONAL MANUAL This Manual describes the operations of the Cash Transfer Programme for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) managed by the Department of Children Services at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA). Its purpose is to provide a set of instructions on the organisation, procedures, and resources for an efficient and effective implementation of the Programme in order to: Enable stakeholders to understand the scope, content, organisation, and activities of the Programme. Indicate the performance expected of the management, operations and personnel. Ensure that the requirements for transparency, equity, compliance and accountability are met. Guide the operations of the functions to be performed under the project to ensure consistency, timeliness and accuracy. This manual regulates the CT-OVC operations; however, if the need arises for it to be modified or adjusted, the Central Programme Unit in charge of the Programme may suggest changes deemed convenient to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the donors providing resources to the programme. Changes should be implemented after been disccuses and if the pertinent stakeholders are in agreement. For this purpose, proposed changes will need to be circulated and finally approved by the National Steering Committee. 6

8 A. USERS OF THE MANUAL This Operating Manual has been prepared mainly for use by all entities and members of staff who directly or indirectly participate in the implementation, financing and/or administration of the CT-OVC Programme. Such parties include the following stakeholders: 1. National Steering Committee on Orphan and Vulnerable Children 2. Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs (OVP & MOHA). Department of Children Services Central Programme Unit (CPU) District Children Offices (DCOf) 3. Ministry of Education. District Education offices (DEO) Schools 4. Ministry of Health. District Medical Offices (DMO) Clinics 5. Ministry of Finance 6. Payment Agency (Post Office or any other entity in charge of paying the beneficiaries of the Programme). 7. Civil Registrar 8. Community organisations and members Area Children Advisory Council (AAC) District OVC Sub-committee (DOSC) Location OVC Committees (LOC) Volunteers 9. Service providers (trainers for awareness sessions) 10. Beneficiaries Households B. KEY COMPONENTS OF THE MANUAL The Operational Manual consists of a main document wherein the CT-OVC Programme characteristics are described including the purpose, objectives, goals, stakeholders, organisational structure, design variables, operational cycle and monitoring/evaluation systems. Additionally, it contains 14 annexes describing in detail specific operational processes which are: Annex A: Annex B: Annex C: Annex D: Annex E: Annex F: Annex G: Annex H: Annex I: Annex J: Annex K: Targeting Manual Supply Capacity Guidelines Enrolment Guidelines Guidelines for Post Offices Payment to Beneficiaries DCO Guidelines for Payments and Updated Information Organizational Structure Management Information System (MIS) USER GUIDELINES Case Management Guidelines Guidelines for Health Compliance Guidelines for Education Compliance Awareness Sessions and Home Visits Guidelines 7

9 Annex L: Annex M: Annex N: Annex O: Annex P: Civil Registration Guidelines Monitoring Guidelines Financial Guidelines Budget Guidelines Evaluation Framework Document C. EXPANSION PHASES OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME The pilot will be scaled up in 2007 (phase 3), for which a tendering exercise will take place to find alternative delivery mechanism capable of reaching households unable to reach a Post Office to collect their payment. The evaluation will not cover these additional households in terms of the impact of the programme on the household and the children. However, it will include an assessment of operational and process aspects during this phase to draw insights on the most effective mechanisms. During phase 3, the pilot estimates to scale up to reach up to 50,000 OVC. The target population of the programme is 300,000 OVC at a national scale. The following table summarizes these figures. TABLE 1: NUMBER OF OVC BENEFICIARIES PHASE GOK-UNICEF GOK TOTALS Period: Period: Period: Districts: 3 Districts: 10 Districts: 13 1 Beneficiaries: 500 Beneficiaries: 5,000 Beneficiaries: 5, Period: Districts: 7 Beneficiaries: 8,000 Period: Districts: 7 Beneficiaries: 10,000-30,000 Period: Districts: 19 Beneficiaries: 50,000 FULL SCALE PROGRAMME Period: Districts: 10 Beneficiaries: 2,500 Period: Districts: 10 Beneficiaries: 10,000-30,000 Period: Districts: 18 Beneficiaries: 50,000 Period: Districts: 17 Beneficiaries: 10,500 Period: Districts: 17 Beneficiaries: 30,000-50,000 Period: Districts: 40 Beneficiaries: 100,000 Period: Districts: 74 Beneficiaries: 300,000 The last phase (phase 4) of this programme will entail making final adjustments to the design and the programme operations based on results obtained from the impact, operational and cost evaluations performed by Oxford Policy Management. MOHA will be able to make final adjustments to the design and operational procedures at least one year after having the programme in operation. The pilot is also intended to build capacity for the Government structures at both central and local levels. As a result, it is expected that MOHA and specifically the Children s Department will be ready to expand the programme nationwide (300,000 by 2015). Beneficiaries will stay in the programme at least for the duration of the pilot which is 3 years. It is estimated that in order for the programme to be scaled up, a budget in the amount of US$ 3.7 million dollars will be needed during 2007; US$ 10.8 million dollars during 2008; and US$ 12.6 million dollars beginning in 2009, in order to attain coverage for 8

10 no less than 100,000 OVCs distributed amongst approximately 40,000 households. Administrative costs are estimated at around 9.4% for 2009 at the time the 100,000 OVCs goal is met. Annual budgets will be prepared in detail following the procedures set forth in the budget guidelines (Please see Annex O: Budget Guidelines). III. STAKEHOLDERS OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME The main roles to be assumed by each one of the stakeholders can be summarised in this chapter. However, the duties identified for direct actors or those in charge of programme implementation are detailed on Annex F: Organisational Structure. The National Steering Committee for Orphan and Vulnerable Children is the policy body that oversees all issues with respect to OVC. The Department of Children Services acts as Secretariat. The CT-OVC programme implementation started after the committee approved the design on April, At the central level, the Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs (OVP & MOHA) is the Executing Agency under the responsibility of the Permanent Secretary who provides guidance and makes policy decisions. Agreements are made with other ministries and agencies at this level education, health, civil registrar and finance- in relation with the operation of the programme. The corresponding agreements are included as annexes in this operational manual. The Department of Children Services (DCS) is under the Office of the Vice President and Ministry of Home Affairs. This department supervises the daily operations of the CT-OVC programme for which a Central Programme Unit (CPU) was conformed. The deputy director oversees the operation directly by having at least one weekly meeting with the CPU coordinator, key personnel, consultants and donor representatives. The DCS is also in charge of providing the required infrastructure, personnel and resources to the CPU, as well as of coordinating with the donor agencies to obtain technical assistance, resources and support. The DCS is the official entity responsible for applying the procedures indicated in this operational manual. In case changes or modifications are necessary, the department will consult with donor agencies providing resources for the no objection to the changes/modifications, and will then submit the proposal to the National OVC Steering Committee for approval. The Central Programme Unit (CPU) has a head office in Nairobi and district offices in charge of the operation at the regional level (see annex F: Organisational Structure). The CPU is in charge of managing the implementation of the programme, and therefore, it must carry out the different phases of the project cycle as indicated in this operational manual. The CPU is composed of the unit coordinator and a coordinator for each area: operations; planning and monitoring&evaluation; information systems; and administration and financial. At the district level, the District Children Offices are the units in charge of executing the programme, for which one officer (DCO) is assigned per five districts and will be able to perform their duties assisted by members of the District OVC Sub Committee (DOSC) and volunteers. The Ministry of Education (MOE) provides the guidelines and procedures to the District Education Officers required to implement the program nationwide following the guidelines set forth by the National Steering Committee on Orphan and Vulnerable 9

11 Children. A representative of MOE attends meetings and is a member of this Committee in order to coordinate and ensure that policies set forth by this Committee are in agreement with those enforced by the Ministry. The District Education Officers are in charge of implementing the programme at the district level with the support of CT-OVC officers in each school where the programme operates. The DEOf has been entrusted with training headmasters, teachers and OVC officers in participating schools, in order to ensure their duties of collecting and forwarding information on compliance of conditionalities within the established time frames. Additionally, DEOfs are responsible for investigating and resolving to problems detected during processes or which may have been brought forward by programme beneficiaries. (Please refer to AnnexJ: Guidelines for Education Compliance). Participating schools formal and non-formal, public and private are responsible for providing education to programme beneficiaries. Likewise, they have the obligation to submit information to their respective District Education Officers concerning compliance of conditionalities by beneficiaries once the registration period has been completed by the end of each term. The headmaster of each school will be trained to properly supervise these activities as described in Annex J: Guidelines for Education Compliance and approved by the Ministry of Education. Likewise, the Ministry of Health provides the guidelines and procedures to the District Medical Offices (DMO) in line with guidelines set forth by the National Steering Committee on Orphan and Vulnerable Children. A representative of the Ministry attends meetings and participates in this Committee in order to coordinate and ensure that the policies established by this Committee are in agreement with those being enforced by the Ministry. The District Medical Officers of Health (DMOH) are in charge of implementing the programme at the district level with the support of CT-OVC officers in each health facility where the programme operates. The DMOH is in charge with training directors and health providers at the participating health facilities, and also with monitoring in order to ensure that they meet their obligation to collect and forward information on compliance of conditionalities within the established time frames. Additionally, the DMOH is in charge with investigating and resolving problems arising during operations and those which might be claimed by programme beneficiaries. Participating health facilities whether public or private; faith based or mobile are responsible for providing health services to programme beneficiaries. Likewise, they are under the obligation to forward information to the DMOH concerning compliance of conditionalities by beneficiaries within the established time frames aplicable for children from 0 to 5 years old. The director of each health facility will be trained to properly supervise these activities as described in Annex I: Guidelines for Health Compliance and approved by the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of Finance provides the guidelines and directives for the transfer of funds for the CT-OVC programme. The Ministry is the entity through which the nation budgeted funds are distributed to the Ministry of Home Affairs, which in turn uses the funds for programme operation and transfers. Likewise, the Ministry is the entity that supervises and/or channels funds from donors to the CT-OVC programme (see Annex N: Financial Guidelines). If funds from donors are directly transferred to the program, the Ministry of Finance is infored about this transaction. 10

12 The Payment Agency (POSTA) is the agency in charge of receiving the funds and the list of beneficiaries in order to distribute payment to these beneficiaries at the local level. The payment agency gets the funds from donors or government and is under the obligation of making payments every two months. At the end of each payment period, the Post office (POSTA) reconciles the accounts and informs the CPU, which in turn reimbursed any unpaid funds to donors and/or Government (see Annex D: Guidelines for Post Offices Payment to Beneficiaries). The Civil Registrar is the agency in charge of providing support to District officers for beneficiaries to obtain national identity cards and birth and death certificates. An agreement between MOHA and this agency will allow its participation in the execution of the programme to facilitate the process of obtaining personal documents to beneficiaries who do not have them. The intention is to expedite the bureaucratic procedures during the following months for members of the household to obtain national identity cards and birth/death certificates for the members of households (Please see Annex L: Civil Registrar Guidelines). Several community organisations support the program. The Area Advisory Council (AAC) is the entity that oversees project implementation at the district level. These councils are comprised representatives from local governments and stakeholders who are interested on improving the children s wellbeing. MOHA, with UNICEF support has created and trained these councils in every district where the CT-OVC programme is being implemented (Please refer to Annex A: Targeting Manual). The District OVC Sub-committee (DOSC), which is a sub committee of the AAC, is in charge of supporting the DCO to implement the programme at various stages, especially during the targeting and enrolment processes, as coordinators. DOSC members also have an important role for monitoring the activities of the programme and for the resolution of appeals and complaints cases from beneficiary families (Please refer to Annex A: Targeting Manual). The Location OVC Committees (LOC) are in charge of identifying poor households with OVCs in the villages. Additionally, they have an important follow-up role with beneficiary families; by coordinating home visits and awareness sessions carried out with volunteers, which aimed at helping families to comply with the obligations of by the Programme (Please see Annex A: Targeting Manual). Volunteers are in charge of supporting monitoring mechanisms and providing awareness visits to beneficiary households. In this manner, MOHA can ensure families meet their conditionalities and that their complaints are acknowledged, that their needs for assistance are met and that the changes required for updating the information can be obtained and reported to the DCO (Please see Annex A: Targeting Manual and Annex M: Monitoring Guidelines). 11

13 IV. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME A. CENTRAL PROGRAMME UNIT Personnel. A Central Programme Unit (CPU) is established within MOHA, to coordinate, plan and manage the activities of the OVC-CT Programme. Figure 1 shows the organizational structure for the fiscal year , which includes 4 main areas: Operations Planning & Evaluation and monitoring MIS Administration and Financial The staff will be composed of several members headquartered in Nairobi; the operations unit will have one officer per five districts who needs to work on exclusive basis for the Project. (See Annex F: Organizational Structure) FIGURE 1: CENTRAL PROGRAMME UNIT The main duties of the CPU are: 12

14 a) Coordinate the identification and selection of beneficiaries processes. b) Produce the lists of eligible households. c) Coordinate logistics for enrolment. d) Supervise the compliance of conditionalities under the processes. e) Request cash transfers to payment agencies and approve payments to beneficiary households. f) Coordinate programme promotion procedures g) Organize training for programme operations for central and local staff h) Ensure proper documentation and reporting for programmes processes The CPU Coordinator has to manage and supervise the day to day activities related to the programme and provide operational guidelines for the programme to the operations coordinator. The CPU coordinator will report directly to the Director of the Department of Children Services at MOHA about the CT-OVC programme s results. Among the numerous activities the CPU coordinator has, s/he has the following responsibilities: 13

15 Plan and coordinate activities for the programme s implementation throughout the country Ensure the programs are implemented according to the Government s guidelines, legal framework and donors agreements Supervise the financial and procurement activities to guarantee transparent procedures during the implementation of the programme The Unit coordinator will advice and assist the work carried out by the CPU coordinator on issues the programme may face. In addition, there are two officers responsible for the areas of communications and training that will support the job accomplished by the CPU coordinator. There will be four coordinators under the CPU responsible for: i) Operations, ii) Planning and M&E, iii) MIS and, iv) Administration and Financial areas. Each of these units is responsible for other activities that will contribute with the programme development. B. DISTRICT CHILDREN OFFICE Personnel The District Children Office will have one or two District Children Officers in charge of the administrative aspects of the programme and to coordinate significant logistics processes. They manage the programme at the District level and serve as a link between the CPU and the entities providing health, education and civil registration services, and the beneficiaries. The DCO is also in charge of monitoring compliance and reporting information back to the CPU. Location OVC Committee (LOC) members, District OVC Sub Committee (DOSC) members and elderly members of the community support the activities of the DCO in activities related to selection of beneficiaries, enrolment, conditionality compliance, payments, monitoring and complaints as described below. 14

16 FIGURE 2: DISTRICT CHILDREN OFFICE C. ADVISORY AREA COUNCIL (AAC) The AAC was created to coordinate and supervise activities and services for children at the district level; it is a replicant/reflection of the composition of the National Council for Children s Services (NCCS) as provided for in the Children Act. The composition of the AAC includes: District Commissioner (chairperson), District Children Officer (Secretary), District Education Officer, District Labour Officer, District Social Development Officer, District Statistics Officer, District Medical Officer, District Officer Commanding Police Division, District Information Officer, Representative of Non-governmental Organisation, Representative of Faith Based Organisation, Representative of private sector, Children s Magistrate and an officer from local authorities. The AAC creates a District OVC Sub Committee who is in charge of supporting the implementation of the CT-OVC program. D. DISTRICT OVC SUB COMMITTEE (DOSC) The DOSC is in charge of sensitizing district administrators, opinion leaders and the community on the CT-OVC Program. They are also in charge of creating, training and supervising Location CT-OVC Committees, whose responsibilities are described below. Finally, the DOSC assists in the programme cycle activities. This includes beneficiary selection and monitoring and direct assistance to beneficiaries with respect to compliance, payment, updating records, appeals and complaints. 15

17 E. LOCATION OVC COMMITTEE (LOC) The general role of the LOC is to sensitize the community of the Children Act and the plight of OVC and HIV/AIDS. The LOC also encourages the community to obtain birth and death certificates and maintains OVC data. Their most important role is to identify OVC within their location, assist to identify enumerators for household surveys, validate selection of beneficiaries through the community, assist with enrolment, coordinate home visits and awareness sessions processes and monitor progress of OVC continuously. V. DESIGN VARIABLES This chapter describes the design variables established for the CT-OVC programme, including objectives, eligibility criteria, conditionalities, compliance system, noncompliance and arbitration right, the type of benefit, amounts of benefit, and exit strategy. A. OBJECTIVES The main objective of the CT-OVC programme is to: Provide a social protection system through regular and predictable cash transfers to families living with OVCs in order to encourage fostering and retention of OVCs within their families and communities and to promote their human capital development. Based on the overall objective of the project, the specific objectives for the household beneficiaries are specified on Table 2. 16

18 TABLE 2: SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES OF CT-OVC OBJECTIVES OF THE CT-OVC PROGRAMME No. OBJECTIVES Education: 1 * Increase school enrolment, attendance and retention of 6 to 17 years old children 1 in basic school (up to standard 8th). 2 Health: * Reduce the rates of mortality and morbidity among 0 to 5 year old children 2, through immunizations, growth control and vitamin A supplements 3. Food security: 3 * Promote household nutrition and food security by providing regular and predictable income support 4 5 Civil registration 4 : * Encourage caregivers to obtain identity cards within the first six months after enrolment * Encourage caregivers to obtain birth certificates for OVC and death certificates for deceased parents Strengthening capabilities within the household: * Coordinate with other Ministries and partners training on topics such as nutrition and health 5. * Provide guidance and refer cases related to HIV/AIDS 6, both to adults and children who are members of the households. B. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR HOUSEHOLDS A community based approach, combined with systematic data collection and analysis that allows for verification, is used for targeting eligible households. The targeting mechanism for identifying eligible households at the location level uses a two step approach which makes the process transparent and effective. Members of the community defined as Location OVC Committees (LOC) 7 are in charge of identifying households based on the eligibility criteria indicated below using Form 1. Then, enumerators collect systematic information (Form 2) on households identified by the LOC members and verified as eligible by the Management Information Systems (MIS). This allows the CPU to verify whether the households identified by the community actually meet the following eligibility criteria: 1 Children up to 17 years old could still be enrolled in basic school 2 Health focuses on immunization, nutrition and children illness 3 As discussed and agreed with MOH as per health regulations 4 The programme will allow a period of 6 months to household beneficiaries to obtain these documents. (Please see AnneL: Civil Registrar Guidelines) 5 To be part of the awareness sessions and home visits strategy 6 Beneficiaries who voluntarily admit have HIV/AIDS will be referred to ARV and UNIMIX support. 7 LOC roles and responsibilities are described in detail below 17

19 Households: 1. Having permanent members as orphans or vulnerable children (OVC) of 0 to 17 8 years old; 2. Being poor households; and, 3. Not being beneficiary of other cash transfer programmes 9 (applies to direct OVC beneficiaries only, not other household members). OVC for the programme are defined as follows: Single/double orphans. Children or caregiver are chronically ill 10 Child headed household. Detailed procedures for beneficiary selection under the Programme are described in Annex A: Targeting Manual C. RANKING Depending on resources available for the Programme, it is possible that the targeting process identifies more eligible families than can be covered with actual Programme resources at that time. Therefore, the CPU has put in place a ranking system to identify families having greater vulnerability so they can access the programme in a prioritized order. The ranking system to prioritize eligible households is the following: 1. Child headed households, and within them, households with larger number of OVC 2. Eldest headed households. And within them, households with larger number of OVC 3. Households with larger number of OVC and within them, those with disabled members. 4. All other households with OVC All this information is analyzed using the MIS of the CT-OVC programme. Once the ranking list is completed and organized, this list of selected beneficiary households is sent back to communities for a final validation in terms of eligibility and level of vulnerability (Please see Annex A: Targeting Manual). In case additional funds are available, more families will be enrolled following the same priority list until completing the entire list of eligible families. 8 As per Children`s Act Cap Other cash transfer programs in the village providing equal or better benefits to potential beneficiaries for the CT-OVC programme 10 Defined as been bedridden or not able to peformed and has been chronically at least for the las 3 months(i.e. AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer) 18

20 D. CONDITIONALITIES The Programme is designed to test the extent to which CT can promote education and health services. The role of conditionalities is to ensure that children go to school and attend health facilities, which fosters the long-term human capital development of the children (see Annex I: Guidelines for Health Compliance and Annex J: Guidelines for Education Compliance). They are not designed as punitive mechanisms against the most vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. The community approach for monitoring beneficiaries will support households in understanding and complying with conditionalities. Households will be visited and warned when constantly failing to comply with conditionalities. The approach used for this is home visits and awareness sessions (see Annex K: Guidelines for Awareness Sessions and home visits). A warning will be received by the household when the household beneficiaries have three consecutive periods of non-compliance of conditionalities before exiting the program. This means the household has at least one year in the Programme before being considered for exiting. Beneficiaries will not be subject to conditionalities if shortages of health and school services exist and it will actually serve to call attention for education and health authorities to act upon. In addition, beneficiary children will be exempted of complying with conditionalities when are disabled and/or chronically ill. However, for payment purposes, it will be calculated as if these children fully comply with their conditions. Two levels of conditionalities are proposed to be tested during the pilot project: conditionalities and no conditionalities. The group with conditionalities will have a fine applied for not complying whereas the no-conditionalities group will never be fined. Testing for two conditionalities and having their control groups will allow to determine the impact of the project in each group and making comparisons among them, as well as obtaining information on the impact the level of transfer vs. the conditionalities First Group: Conditionalities This intervention group is subjected to the conditionalities indicated in table Having several groups implies a well-design programme allowing comparisons and evaluations among the different alternatives 19

21 TABLE 3: CONDITIONALITIES FOR THE FIRST GROUP OF BENEFICIARIES BENEFICIARY CONDITIONALITIES FREQUENCY OF REQUIRED COMPLIANCE FREQUENCY OF COMPLIANCE MONITORING Children between 0 & 1 yr old Children between 1 & 5 years old Attend the health facility for immunizations, growth monitoring and vitamin A supplement. Attend the health facility (for growth monitoring and vitamin A supplement ) 6 times per year Every 2 months 2 times per year Every 6 months Children between 6 & 17 years old Must enroll in school Attend basic school institutions* Once per academic year 80% attendance of effective days** Every 12 months Every 2 months One adult parent or caregiver Attend awareness sessions 1 time per year Every 12 months * Only if there is supply capacity in the school and health facility and within reasonable accessible distance ** Justified absences do not count as absences The following formula indicates how the percentage of absenteeism needs to be calculated, which shall not exceed 20%. % of absences = Number of missed classes * 100% / Actual class days per term 2. Non-compliance and fines or penalties All children in the household are subjected to conditionalities. If a household fails to comply with the conditionalities, it will fall under non-compliance and fines will apply. The fine is Ksh 500 per child or caregiver that does not fulfil with the conditionalities within their corresponding compliance period which is a fixed amount. If a member does not comply during its respective compliance period, the household is penalized with Ksh 500 in the next payment to be received. Independently of the fine applied, this can never be greater than the amount the household receives as a benefit. It means that if three of more members the do not comply with the conditionalities within the monitoring period the maximum amount to be deducted will be Ksh

22 3. Second Group: No suspensions of payments This treatment group of beneficiaries is not subjected to payment fines. This group will provide information regarding the impact of imposing fines on the beneficiaries. Monitoring and payments of this group are made with the same frequency as beneficiaries with payment fines, which means that information is collected on this group as well, but not monitored for compliance and thus payment is received automatically. The impact of recipients receiving cash with no fines will also be evaluated and compared with the impact of beneficiaries with fines. This group is followed and supported by the Programme as well, meaning that community committees follow and monitor the progress of the OVCs to encourage, support and promote their education and health. This will ensure equal treatment for both groups. E. TYPE OF BENEFIT, DELIVERY MECHANISM, PAYMENT AMOUNT AND FINANCING Cash Benefits: The monthly benefit is Ksh 1,500 Payment frequency: Beneficiary households receive their cash benefits every 2 months. The payments will be made during the months of February, April, June, August, October and December. Delivery Mechanism: Post offices (POSTA) Payments to households will be made bimonthly through one or more of the Payment Agencies 12 and payments to CT-OVC beneficiaries will be made through POSTA. The first payment is given in full and does not include the fulfilment of conditionalities, and therefore no deduction or penalty is applicable. However, the procedures thereafter applied penalties for those districts with conditionalities. 1. Payment Amount to Households Households are entitled to a bi-monthly full payment if conditionalities have been met. They are encouraged to obtain national identification cards in order to receive the payment 13. Total benefits received by the household are the same no matter the composition of the household in terms of number of orphans. In other words the amount established as cash transfer is fixed and does not depend on the number of OVC in the household. The full payment is Ksh 3,000 every two months. 12 The CPU will hire the Post Office as Payment Agency for the first year of the pilot. Nevertheless, depending on the financial and coverage conditions and the efficiency of the service delivery, the CPU payment agencies for the remaining period of the pilot. 12 POSTA account must have at least two signatories may add other payment agencies for the remaining period of the pilot. 13 The caregiver will be provided with a Programme ID that should be presented at the payment agency 21

23 F. EXIT POLICY The programme intends to ensure maximum impact by providing the beneficiaries with the cash transfers as long as possible, provided they have a need and they continue to meet the programme criteria. Beneficiaries will exit the programme for the following reasons: After being in the programme for 5 years Before the maximum period when: The household has no longer at least one OVC under 18 years old. The household members fail to comply with the conditionalities for four consecutive periods, in case the caregiver doesn not pay attention to the warnings and home visits made to caution him/her. The household decides to renounce to be beneficiary of the programme. The household moves to another district and/or location where the programme is not operating. The CPU and/or the community deem the household no longer poor The household caregiver has presented false information related to eligibility and/or commited fraud against the programme. The characteristics which a household must meet in order to continue in the project are indicated below. TABLE 4: CRITERIA FOR BENEFICIARIES TO CONTINUE IN THE PROGRAMME CRITERIA 1. At least one OVC beneficiary child (below 18 years old) has not completed the basic education (up to 8th grade) 2. If household still qualifies within the poverty and vulnerability assessment (3 years after the programme starts) 3. If household continues to meet its conditionalities and has no exited the programme for non-compliance VI. SUPPLY ASSESSMENT The CT-OVC Programme demands compliance of health and education conditionalities for beneficiary children. Because this situation can involve a significant increment in the demand for space at schools and care at health centres, the CPU shall demand such compliance when education and health services are available to beneficiaries. Therefore, capacity available at each school and at each health facility needs to be assessed beforehand. A simple methodology has been developed, consisting of comparing 22

24 maximum capacity and current registration at the school as well as comparing maximum capacity of health facilities and outpatient visits 14. (Please see Annex B: Supply Capacity Guidelines) A. EDUCATION SERVICES The Cash Transfer (CT) Programme for OVC requires the compliance of conditionalities in education. Cash payments condition children from 6 to 17 years old to be enrolled and attending a school on a regular basis, meeting at least 80% of attendance requirements (justified exempted). This situation could inevitable increase the demand in schools. Therefore, compliance of this condition should be mandatory when and if education services are available. The supply capacity is performed using a simple methodology of comparing maximum capacity with current levels of enrolment. Several steps are followed to apply this methodology: 1. The maximum capacity for each standard is determined by obtaining the following: number of classrooms with teachers by standard officials figures on ratios of students per teacher (40 average in Kenya 15 ) the number of students enrolled during the last academic year in that standard school fees 2. Available capacity is determined by deducting the number of students enrolled from the maximum capacity of that standard in that school. 3. If the balance is positive, then there are slots available which may be used for new beneficiaries from the programme. 4. The fee is assessed to determine if additional expenses will be incurred to the household The formulas used for estimating existing and utilized capacities are as follows: PER STANDAR Maximun Capacity = No. of Classrooms with teachers * students/ teachers Available capacity = maximum Capacity No. of enrolment students 14 It is important to note that this programme calls for attention of MOE and MOH authorities when suply is not available, but it is not designed to address the issues of supply or quality directly. 15 MOE policy 23

25 This formula can be applied to each standard or for the school facilities as a whole depending on the available data. A special Form called Evaluation Form -Education is designed to calculate available capacity for each standard. (See Annex B: Supply Assessment Guidelines). B. HEALTH SERVICES The Cash Transfer Programme (CT-OVC) demands compliance of conditionalities in health. The programme conditions children under 1 year old to be taken to a health facility for immunizations, and children between 1 and 5 years old to go to medical visits for growth monitoring and vitamin A supplements. Compliance of conditionalities in health, as in the case of education, can imply an increase in the demand of services provided by health facilities; therefore, compliance of these requirements is exempt in the absence of supply of health services. In order to ensure that the compliance process for conditionalities is successfully implemented, the availability of services at each health facility must be assessed. The supply capacity is performed using a simple methodology of comparing maximum existing capacity with current levels of usage. Several steps are followed to apply this methodology: 1. The maximum capacity for the health facility is determined by obtaining the following: number of health care providers the facility has available number of patients seen by health care providers per day average time per patient hours and days of operations total number of patients during the last month charge per immunisation charge per growth control or vitamin A control 2. Available capacity is estimated by deducting the number of patients seen from the maximum existing capacity of the facility, and this figure is divided by the number of patients to be cared for during one year under the Programme (which is estimated at 3) 16. The following formulas are used to determine maximum and available capacity concerning health centres: Maximum capacity per month = No. health care providers * No. patients/hour * No. hours/day* No. days worked during 1 month Available capacity = (Maximum Capacity patients seen per month) 16 Six times for children under one year of age and two times for children between one and five years of age. 24

26 The available capacity calculated is for the people visiting the health facility once per month. However, the beneficiaries of the programme should go to the health facility three times per year on average. Therefore the available capacity for the programme cases should be multiplied by three. Available capacity for programme = Available capacity * 3 A special Form called Evaluation Form Health is designed to calculate available capacity for each standard. (See Annex B: Supply Assessment Guidelines). The fee is assessed to determine if additional expenses will be incurred by the household. VII. PROJECT CYCLE Figure 3 provides the scheme for the project cycle, including selection procedures for eligible households, enrolment of beneficiaries, payments, conditionality compliance and handling of updated records and complaints. The project cycle is supported by two important aspects: community based approaches for the operations of the Programme and a Management Information System utilized to monitor the activities of the Programme. The project cycle is as follows: 25

27 FIGURE 3: PROJECT CYCLE A. TARGETING The target population under the CT-OVC corresponds to poor households which have orphans and vulnerable children who are not currently receiving benefits from other Cash Transfer programmes. First, geographical areas are selected based on poverty levels and OVC prevalence. Within the geographical areas identified for the programme, poor and vulnerable households must be selected using the targeting procedure and instruments described below (See Annex A: Targeting Manual and forms). 1. Identification of households with OVC Once the initial geographical targeting based on OVC incidence and poverty has been completed, the processes to identify eligible households at the location level are as follows: The Area Advisory Council forms a District OVC Committee (DOSC) The DOSC forms and trains a Location OVC Committee (LOC) on beneficiary selection for each location 26

28 The LOC Committee identifies and produces poor (using localized poverty criteria) household listings with OVCs using Form 1 2. Verifying eligibility criteria from identified households The Record of Identified Households is composed of households that meet the following criteria: Poor households Having permanent members as orphans or vulnerable children (OVC) of 0 to 17 years old; and, Not being beneficiary of other programmes receiving any benefits in cash or inkind 17 OVC for the programme are defined as follows: Single/double orphans. (A child who has lost one or both parents) Children or caregiver are chronically ill Child headed household. The household must have at least one OVC to meet these eligibility criteria. The terminology chronically ill is defined as a caregiver or child who has been bedridden for at least the last past 3 months and has a terminal illness (i.e. AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer) Once these lists are produced, they are forwarded to the DCO in order to be entered into the MIS. This information is sent to the CPU via the Internet. The MIS is designed in such a way as to identify three types of households: Identified households who meet the criteria and are ready for form 2. Ambigous cases of households who present contradictions and require to be sent back to the LOC for them to verify data in the household and correct the information. Rejected households who failed to meet the criteria. 3. Selection of elegible households The second part of the targeting process is applied through the use of the list of identified households as follows: The LOC assist to select enumerators to conduct the targeting Form 2 (household survey) in the identified households with OVCs. Supervisors are usually the DCOs or members of the DOSC. The number of supervisors and enumerators are selected based on number of households to be interviewed. The DCO and DOSC members train enumerators who will be conducting Form 2. Supervisors collect the Forms 2 and review them to review the information, and then deliver them to the DCO or a DOSC member. 17 The benefit should be regular for at least 12 months and equivalent to ksh 1,000 per month 27

29 Data is entered into the MIS by CPU officers. The MIS produces three lists of households: a) Eligible households: meet the eligibility criteria b) Ambigous cases of households: present contradictions and require to be sent back to the enumerators for them to verify the information of the household. c) Rejected households: fail to meet the criteria When resources are not enough to enrol all eligible households, then a priority list is produced by the MIS. The priority list of eligible households is sent to the DOSC, via the DCO, for the validation process performed by the LOC and the community in a baraza. Ambioguos cases are reviewed with the assistance of the DCO if necessary. The final list of selected households for the Programme is produced. After the enrolment process, three types of categories are generated: The beneficiaries household who actually are in the programme Peding household who are the cases that may enter in the expansion phase of the program Rejected are those cases where the information provided by beneficiary households is false The selected households are invited for the enrolment process. The following diagram summarized how the household beneficiaries are identified and selected as eligible: 28

30 FIGURE 1: SELECTION OF ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS

31 B. ENROLMENT The Central Programme Unit (CPU) of the CT-OVC programme coordinates the organisation and implementation of the enrolment process to be carried out jointly with the District Children Officers, which comprises the following stages: 1) planning, 2) implementation, 3) closure, and 4) information systematization. (See Annex C: Enrolment Guidelines) 1. Planning Includes activities prior to the enrolment procedures: Logistics coordination with District Children Officers (DCOf), the CT-OVC team and other entities who have agreed to participate in the event: Registrar Office, District Education Officer (DEO) and District Medical Officer of Health (DMOH). Training of DCOf who will perform as master trainers. They will be in charge of identifying, selecting and training the enrolment teams. 2. Implementation of the enrolment process This stage corresponds to the day the large process takes place in which the selected households express their interest for participating in the programme. During the event, households will provide the information required by presenting the relevant documents and will receive the pertinent orientation. The privacy and confidentiality of information provided by beneficiary household are important to ensure discretion in the process. The information must not be disclosed without previous consent of the household. This process lasts between 1 and 4 days but there are exceptions where the process may last 5 days at most, depending on the number of selected households at the location or sub-location and budget. In order to carry this into effect, the DCOs and the enrolment teams perform a series of actions prior to and during the event as follows: Distribute the material required for the enrolment team. Coordinate the required logistics to ensure good operations under the process. Arrange for safety and handling of enrolment materials. Open and close down the process according to these guidelines. 3. Closure stage Once the enrolment process has been completed, the site is closed down. This implies gathering, counting and organising all the materials. This process involves seven steps: 1) Reporting the complete, incomplete, and unattended forms, 2) Packing and Labelling, 3) Recording and Reporting, 4) Submission of Enrolment Forms, 5) Verification, and 6) Submission of Forms to CPU.

32 4. Information systematisation Once the documentation gets to the CPU, Enrolment Forms are organised, reviewed and entered into the Management Information System (MIS). The MIS produces three types of lists: Beneficiary households who are ready to receive the first payment Incomplete household forms: some information is missing and the caregiver needs to submit it before completing the enrolment process. Non attendance households who for some reason decided not to attend the event. Once the enrolment process has been completed, the next step is to disburse the first payment. C. PAYMENTS Payments to households will be made bimonthly through the Post Office (i.e., POSTA). The payments will be made during the months of February, April, June, August, October and December. Specifically, they will begin the second to last Monday until the last business day of each month. The first payment does not consider compliance of conditionalities, and therefore no deduction is applied. For this reason, the procedures for the first and second payments have been described separately (see Annex D: Guidelines for Post Offices - Payment to Beneficiaries) The four agencies involved in this process are (i) CPU, UNICEF, and (iii) Post Office Once the amounts to be paid to beneficiary households have been calculated in the MIS, the list of payments must be sent to the Post office - POSTA. These payments contemplate previous and subsequent activities that are part of the financial cycle involving the various stakeholders, which are the following: (i) compliance of health and education conditionalities; (ii) collection and processing of information concerning compliance of conditionalities; (iii) payment disbursement procedures; (iv)actual payments; and, (v) payments reconciliation. 1. Payment Cycle The following diagram describes the mechanism used for transferring payments to the CT-OVC beneficiaries: 31

33 FIGURE 2: PAYMENT CYCLE TABLE 5: PAYMENT PERIODS CORRESPONDING TO COMPLIANCE OF CONDITIONS 32

34 For the first payment, it is assumed that all the households have met all conditionalities and the payment is in full. The MIS will generate a document containing a list of beneficiary households included for the first payment. The MIS will determine the total amount to be paid. The CPU sends the payment information on each one of the beneficiary households to the POSTA HQ via magnetic form and requests for the funds from UNICEF 18. The pertinent funds are transferred by UNICEF to POSTA in order to make the corresponding payments to the households. Upon payment, a receipt is provided to the household representative. S/he must make sure that the amount s/he is receiving corresponds to that indicated in this receipt, which provides details of the amount paid and any deductions involved. If no explicit deduction fees are included in the receipt, no deduction should be applied. The receipt is issued by the post office and should include the following information: (a) name of the household representative and each beneficiary member; (b) type of noncompliance in regard to conditionalities, if any; and, (c) the total amount of cash transfer. The beneficiary should sign or put the left thumb fingerprint in a form provided by the Post Office as evidence of receiving the payment. Once the payment period has ended, each regional post office delivers the corresponding signed forms and reconciliation to the central Post Office in Nairobi. They, in turn, consolidate the information and prepare the reconciliation or settlement report for the CPU. For the second payment and onwards, after having entered compliance of conditionalities into the MIS (concerning health and education) corresponding to the immediate previous cycle, the CPU carries out two processes simultaneously, one is to request funds for the next payment by generating a special form called Payment of cash transfers according to household and location (see annex D: Guidelines for Post Offices-Payment to Beneficiaries) and the other one is to prepare the reconciliation process, corresponding to payments carried out during the immediate previous cycle. Due to the above, the CPU will send to UNICEF the application for funds to cover payments for the current cycle and the reconciliation of payments for the previous cycle. 2. Calendar of Payment Periods and Compliance of Conditions The following figure shows how the payment process should be made according to the CPU processing requirements: 18 Eventually, once the Government payment system is tested and streamlined, all funds will go through the Treasury. 33

35 FIGURE 3: PAYMENT PERIODS AND COMPLIANCE OF CONDITIONS In summary, the payment cycle for each period, must comply with the given time schedules so that it can be repeated without any delays every two months. Figure No. 1 describes the payment cycle which begins once the compliance forms are collected from the schools and health facilities, and the CPU officers or district children offices enter the data into the MIS. 34

36 D. COMPLIANCE AND MONITORING OF CONDITIONS The compliance process involves the following steps, and it is explained in detail in Annex I: Guidelines for Health Compliance and Annex J: Guidelines for Education Compliance. Health and education compliance forms are pre-printed with the names of beneficiaries and are sent to the pertinent schools and health facilities at the onset of either the academic or calendar year. Beneficiaries meet their commitments during the specific cycle, depending on the age and type of conditionalities education or health. CT-OVC officers at health facilities and schools fill out the corresponding information in the compliance forms. The forms are sent again to DCOfs through the respective DEOf and DMOf. The information is entered into the MIS as soon as it reaches the DCOf. If no facilities are available, then the forms are forwarded directly to the CPU to be entered into the MIS. Once the process has been completed, the CPU reviews whether or not schools and health facilities have delivered the information. If not, then the DCOfs will request it within the established time frames. Compliance periods concerning conditionalities, data gathering and MIS data entry periods are shown in the Tables 8-9. The information begins to be collected at the last week of the compliance period, which is immediately sent to DCOf to be entered into the MIS. In this sense, the information should be entered no later than 15 days after the compliance cycle has been completed. TABLE 6: COMPLIANCE MONITORING HEALTH DIRECT BENEFICIARIES Children under 1 year old Children aged between 1 and 5 years old COMPLIANCE PERIOD Recording of H2 January - February March April May - June July August September October November-December January - June July - December COLLECTION OF FORM H3 March May July September November January July January *The form H1 will be filled out at the end of the year between November and December FINE ON PAYMENT DUE April June August October December February August February 35

37 TABLE 7: COMPLIANCE MONITORING EDUCATION DIRECT BENEFICIARIES Children aged between 6-17 years old COMPLIANCE PERIOD Recording of E1-E2 November December COMPLIANCE PERIOD E3 January - February March April May - June July August September October COLLECTION OF FORM H3 End of February End of April End of June End of August End of October Early January FINE ON PAYMENT DUE End ofapril End of June End of August End of October End of December End of February As shown in the previous table, the compliance for Health and Education conditionalities has similar payment calendar. Bi-monthly payments occur upon having verified compliance for the conditionalities included in Table 3. For example, a payment made in June, corresponds to benefits to which beneficiaries are entitled upon having verified compliance of conditionalities for (i) infants aged 0-1 yr old during the months of March to April for health; and, (ii) for children 6-17 yrs old during the months of January to March for education (children do not attend school during the months of April, August and December, which are holiday months). With the information collected, the CPU identifies which children complied with conditinalities and calculates the respective amount using the payment formula. 1. Monitoring of education conditions This process is undertaken by the CPU and the pertinent MOHA district officer, with support provided by schools and District Education Officers. Forms need to be filledout at schools, collected by the District Education Officers and delivered to the District Children Officers who will enter the pertinent data into the MIS. The conditionality process begins with the enrolment of potential beneficiaries according to school where the caregiver of eligible households will report the names of children aged between 6 and 17 years old who are members of household, the school they are attending or are planning to attend, and the respective grades. In the event the child has never attended a school or has dropped out, the caregiver should choose a school in order to meet the conditionality. If not, the child will be assigned arbitrarily to any school (taking into consideration the situation of the household such as the location). Beneficiary children will be waived from complying with education conditionalities whenever no school exists or if it is located further than a 30 minutes walking distance. Once the information collected during the enrolment process is fed into the MIS, the lists of beneficiary children will be issued including the respective schools they are attending; such lists must be delivered to the pertinent schools within the established periods of time either in soft or hard copies, depending on the technocological availability of each school. In complying with the second conditionality concerning education, the DCOs forward special forms to each school, in order for them to keep attendance records by children 36

38 aged between 6 and 17 who belong to beneficiary households. The conditionality consists of the children attending school at least 80% of the effective class days. This cycle begins once the Lists of Beneficiary Children have been sent to the schools. An CT-OVC officer in every school will prepare the information on children not attending classes by the end of each term, using the Non attendance control Form E-3 which records unjustified absences of beneficiary children. Children who are regularly attending school should not be reported. The pertinent reports, by school, are sent to the DCO through the DEO. The DCO enters the information collected in the forms and the CPU consolidates it in order for it to be entered into the MIS at a later date. (For the complete process, see Annex J: Guidelines for Education Compliance). The calendar year for monitoring conditionalities in the Programme has been divided into three term cycles (which coincide with the school terms), beginning in January. Therefore, cycle 1 corresponds to January-March; cycle 2 to May-July; and cycle 3 to September-November. 2. Monitoring of health conditions This process is undertaken by the CPU and the pertinent MOHA district officer, with the support provided by health facilities and the District Medical Officers. Forms need to be filled-out at health facilities, collected by the District Medical Officers and delivered to the District Children Officers who will enter the pertinent data into the MIS. The conditionality process begins with the enrolment of potential beneficiaries in each health facility where the caregiver reports the name of children aged between 0 and 5 years old who belong to that household, and the name of the Health Facility they will visit to comply with the health conditionality. This distribution will take into consideration the results of the assessment performed on the supply of services which should have been carried out prior to the enrolment process. Beneficiary children will be exempted from complying with health conditionalities if no health facility exists in the area or if it is located further than 1 hour walking distance. Once the information collected during the enrolment procedures is entered into the MIS, lists will be issued for beneficiary children and their corresponding health facilities. Such listings must be delivered at the pertinent health facillity within the established time frames either in soft or hard copy, depending on the technology available at each place. The next step in monitoring compliance of conditionalities consists of recording attendance at the health facility according to children s age bracket (between 0 and 5 years old) who belong to beneficiary households. This process shall be jointly carried out by the Ministry of Health and MOHA. The CT-OVC officer in each health facility will mark in the Health Visit Control Report Form the visit of the child in the corresponding period immediately after the beneficiary child has visited the facility. Upon termination of the compliance period, the CT-OVC officer prepares the information using the forms provided by the Programme. Only information on children 37

39 who do not comply with the visit during the reporting period will be recorded in the form, namely the beneficiary s identity number, name and date of birth. The forms will then be collected by District Medical Officers, who will deliver them to the DCO. The DC will enter the missed visits information into the MIS, if available, or will forward the data to the CPU. For more information on this issue, please refer to Annex I: Guidelines for Health Compliance. 3. Arbitration for non-compliance In case the beneficiary household disagrees with the non-compliance status, the LOC member and/or Volunteer should assist the family to verify the information and explain the consequences and the right of arbitration by filling out and submitting a complaint Form C-1 to the DCO. LOC members should also follow up the cases of recurrent noncompliance in order to promote a change to this situation and to avoid future noncompliance through home visits. It is important to point out this is also performed for the non-conditioned group in case the children are not attending school or visiting the health facility and in case of payment mistakes in order to make sure both groups are treated equally. E. AWARENESS SESSIONS AND HOME VISITS The process for home visits and awareness sessions is the following: The DCO with the assistance of LOCs identify volunteers in the community, who are trained and are under the obligation to visit beneficiary households at least twice per year. Home Visits. Approximately every 4 months, a volunteer visits the beneficiary household. During this visit, the volunteer orients the members of household on aspects related to compliance of conditionalities, collection of benefits and possible claims or issues they may have. The visit also serves the purpose of identifying potential problems affecting a given household and which may need specialised assistance. Awareness sessions. During at least one of the three visits, the volunteer shall orient the members of household on aspects having to do with education, health or home care, as defined by the CPU for that year, which correspond to awareness sessions and materials delivered to volunteers for meeting this conditionality. Volunteers fill out a visit form which is then forwarded to the DCOf to be entered into the MIS. In the event the household does not wish to receive or interact with the volunteer; shows no interest or mistreats the volunteer, this information will need to be entered in the visit form and will be handled by the Programme as a case of noncompliance concerning this conditionality. In other words, Ksh 500 per household will be deducted in the payment once in a year. 38

40 Awareness sessions are part of the Programme for both groups with and without conditionalities, in order to foster households to deal with health and family issues, allowing the Programme to have a more comprehensive impact. The topics such as nutrition, children and maternal health, social health and prevention and treatment of chronic illness such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, STDs, etc will be covered at least in one of the home visits per year (see annex K: Guidelines for Awareness Sessions and Home Visits) 19. F. INFORMATION UPDATES Changes in household status can take place, which might affect the payment of cash transfers. Therefore, the system allows incorporating and updating changes in a continuous manner in order to respond in a timely fashion. These changes are not automatically captured by the system, thus they should be registered in the Update of Information Form or Form U-1 which is the main instrument to be used by the households to report changes on their households or the members of the household. District Children Officers are responsible for updating records pertaining to the household. These possible changes are as follows: Increase/ Decrease in number of children: births, deaths, adoptions, change of home address, correction of data and other Change of school: the child is transferred to another school or has left the school by the following reasons: change of home address, graduation, dropouts, school is not registered by the Ministry of Education or other. Change of health facility: the household look for another health facility because of the following reasons: change of home address, shortage of staff, Vitamin A supplement, or immunizations, health facility is not registered in the Ministry of Health, or other reason. Change of payment facility: the household may change the payment facility because of the following reasons: payment facility is too far, change of home address, correction of data, or other reason Change of home address: the family moves to another place either within the district or outside the district. Change of caregiver or the alternative representative who are the persons responsible to collect the payment If the household moves to a district where the Programme does not operate, the DCO must advise the family that they cannot longer be beneficiaries from the Programme. The mechanism to be followed in updating the information involves the following steps: 1. Form U-1 shall be made available to any adult member of the eligible household wishing to share information 2. The applicant may fill out the form on his/her own, or may be assisted/ interviewed by any DCO or an entity officer where the update form is available. 19 UNICEF has training modules in health, education, nutrition and HIV/AIDS, which can be utilized for the awareness sessions. 39

41 3. The completed form is submitted to the DCO who will issue a stamped receipt stating that the update form has been received. 4. The Form U-1 must be accompanied by the following documents: New children: birth certificate and if it is not available, letter provided by the chief of the community Less children: death certificate or letter from the chief of the community Change in school of health facility: certificate Change of caregiver: letter provided by the chief of the community stating the reason for the change Change of home address: letter provided by the chief of the community of the beneficiary household s new address 5. DCO officials will examine the legitimacy of the Form U-1 and the new information will be entered in the MIS. 6. CPU reviews the information entered and approves the change. The process should not take more than 15 days after Form U-1 has been delivered to the DCO. (See Annex J: Guidelines for Update of Information, Complaints and Appeals). G. COMPLAINTS Beneficiaries may submit complaints about the following issues during Programme implementation: payments or quality of services for education and health using a form called Form C-1: Complaints. The first type of complaints refers to payments. For example, when the household has complied with the conditionalities, but there is an incorrect deduction in the payment receipt. This type of miskate can also occur if errors were made during data entry in the MIS. Within this category, complaints also can be made due to blackmailing, fraud or additional improper charges to beneficiaries made by officials in the programme. The second type of complaints refers to the quality of services provided by schools, health facilities and payment agency by the professional or administrative staff in these entities. Other types of complaints include management of the programme by the CPU, District Children Offices, DOSCs and LOCs. The mechanism for complaints is the following (see annex H: Case Management) 1. Complaint forms are available to the household representative at schools, health facilities and DCO offices 2. The representative fills out the form, either on her/his own, or assisted by a LOC member or DOSC member. 3. The representative and the LOC or DOSC member deliver the form to the DCO office, where the DCO officer must hand out a receipt to evidence the submission of the complaint. Prior to issuing the receipt, the official ensures that 40

42 the complaint is clear and corresponds to one of the established categories (payments/quality of services), so the process can start. 4. The DCO carries out an investigation with the assistance of DOSC or LOC members if needed. 5. The DCO informs the results of the case in writing to the applicant within 30 days of the complaint been submitted. H. APPEALS After the targeting process is completed, the list of beneficiaries is published. Households, who feel they have been unfairly excluded as beneficiaries and believe they meet the criteria established, can submit an appeal to the Programme officers using Form A-1: appeals, clearly stating the reasons for appealing. The process to be followed is described below (see Annex H: Case Mangement Guidelines). 1. Copies of Forms A-1 are available at health facilities, schools and DCO offices, in order to ensure household accessibility. 2. Any household that feels unfair treatment regarding admission to the Programme and believes that it meets the eligibility criteria, must fill out Form A-1 to present their case. The form can be filled out with the assistance of a volunteer, LOC member or DCO. 3. The household representative should attach to the form the following documents: national identity cards; birth certificates; death certificates; disability certificates issued by a Health Facility; or a letter from the chief stating their case if the above documents are not available. 4. The applicant submits the complete form to the DCO who will issue a stamped receipt confirming that the appeal was received. 5. The DCO enters Form A-1 into the MIS. 6. The DCO will visit the applicant in order to collect information using the targeting forms. 7. The DCO enters the information into the MIS, accompanied by his/her recommendation and recommends the CPU to either accept or reject the appeal. 8. If the appeal is accepted, the new beneficiary will become part of the list of beneficiary households who will participate in the enrolment process. 9. The household may appeal only once, and the resolution on such appeal shall be final and conclusive. VIII. FINANCIAL CYCLE This section describes how the financial cycle operates within the CT-OVC Programme. The administrative and financial area needs to be established and members of staff need to be knowledgeable on the administrative and financial procedures of MOHA and the Donors (See annex N: Financial Guidelines and forms). This structure will be represented by an Administrative and Financial Coordinator who will be in charge of the following activities: CPU financial control. 41

43 CPU accounting control. CPU disbursement control through UNICEF and the Treasury. CPU procurement control. In fulfilling its activities, the area should: Ensure that the CPU financial strategies promote transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in hiring procedures, human resources management, procurement and financial control. Develop the necessary tools for generating reliable and timely financial information concerning the operations, according to the requirements of the various CPU stakeholders. Implement the financial process according to the country s applicable legal regulations, ensuring compliance of all clauses enacted as part of agreements covering resources to be used by the CPU. Ensure that the funds are being used efficiently and for the earmarked purpose. Protect against fraud and corruption, since it will promote the establishment of internal checks and balances. Likewise, this area will be in charge of interacting with the Nation s General Directorate of Treasury, through the tools to be established, in order to carry out the different disbursements and controls involved in the CPU operation. A. CASH FLOW REQUIREMENTS The programme will manage resources and cash flows depending on the type of source fund and the type of expense. The Programme funds could be pooled together from resources coming from: Government of Kenya - GOK, DONORS directly or through UNICEF Cash flows on the different CPU expenditures include: Payment for cash transfers to households Payment for administrative expenses for CPU operation Payment for consultants and suppliers The following sections describe the processes according to the source of funds. Each section explains the requirements to be followed for each type of cash flow. 1. Flow of Resources through the GOK GOK resources through the CPU must follow procedures thoroughly so that regular disbursements should be sufficient to cover CPU administrative expenses and cash transfers to beneficiary households in a timely manner. The CPU administrative and financial area should prepare the Annual Budget based on the operational guidelines according to the source of funds (see Annex O: Budget 42

44 Guidelines). Based on this budget, the CPU will request the required resources from the GOK, and will report on funds provided by other donors through UNICEF. 2. Flow of Resources through UNICEF Direct Payment The CPU may, on behalf of the GOK, request resources from other Donors, and act as a grant s implementation agency. The disbursements should be performed according to the specific procedures for each Donor. This process consists of submitting an invoice and making direct payments to suppliers, consultants or service companies that have been hired to support the programme operations according to the disbursement procedures agreed in the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) for the period of Direct Payment is the preferred method by Donors for beneficiary households, suppliers and consultants. MOHA submits regular requests for disbursements, as required (i.e., monthly, bimonthly, etc.) prior presentation of the necessary documentation in order for UNICEF to make disbursements directly to the Payment Agency, suppliers or consultants. This method will guarantee timely transfer of resources to the Programme. The use and management of resources, the detail of various eligible expenses for grant resources under the Programme and the various procedures that need to be followed prior to the disbursement of UNICEF and other Donor funds are described below. In order to execute the process of direct payment three phases should be considered: a) Phase I is where the operation agreement between UNICEF and MOHA is outlined for the administration of resources. b) Phase II, in which the agreement for expenditures in the respective fiscal year is made, to be able to execute the programme. The CPU should present to UNICEF, the The Initial Report of OVC - CT 20 including transfer amounts, agreed dates and suppliers. c) Phase III corresponds to the disbursement process of the resources for the execution stage. 20 The initial report of the CPU should include : i) CPU Operational Plan, which should contain the specific information, as required by the Donors and UNICEF. ii) Work schedule iii) Financial planning, which includes the source and application of funds detailing an investment scheme by investment categories and description of the required annual contributions forthcoming from various sources of funds used to support the CPU. 43

45 FIGURE 4: CASH FLOW DIAGRAM In order to be able to execute this payment method, agreements should be signed and initial reports should be approved, otherwise the disbursement schedules will not be able to be completed. B. PROCESS AND CONTROLS FOR THE EXECUTION OF THE PROGRAMME A number of controls need to be incorporated into the programme implementation procedures, along with reports that need to be organised according to the various CPU tasks. These reports will provide the basis for UNICEF disbursements and for follow-up of the programme which are described below. 1. Annual Operation Plan The CPU areas should prepare unified action plans for applying operational, administrative and financial controls. The Administrative and Financial Area must lead 44