Monthly Collaboration Meeting Resources
FEWS NET Monthly Collaboration Reports
January - June 2024
FEWS NET Data and Information Flow
USAID introduced a new approach to FEWS NET's Monthly Collaboration Meetings that will focus on building an inventory of information related to data and data systems. The following information will be collected for each Data Domain discussed: data nature and quality; data sources; data processing and management; data documentation; data ownership, Permissions, and utilization, data volume and growth rate, level of effort and prioritization. Reports for each data discussion will be available in mid-2024.
December 2023
Links to resources
How to use new livelihood baselines for chronic acute food insecurity analysis
Mali and Nigeria: Accomplishments, limitations, and lessons learned
Summary of Presentations
How to use new livelihood baselines for chronic acute food insecurity analysis
The Early Warning team provided an overview of potential uses of new HEA baselines developed with the Livelihoods team for early warning analysis and chronic food insecurity resilience-based development planning.
Mali and Nigeria: Accomplishments, limitations, and lessons learned
The Livelihoods team reflected on key events and takeaways from recent field trips to Mali and Nigeria. The presentation highlighted accomplishments from both trips related to Household Economy Analysis (HEA) baseline development, capacity development, and strengthening partner relations.
November 2023
Links to resources
Using Evidence-Based Learning Approaches to Support Workplace Performance
Summary of Presentations
Using Evidence-Based Learning Approaches to Support Workplace Performance
The Hub, which is working across the project to develop subject-specific learning content, presented three evidence-based approaches to learning to increase engagement and ensure various strategies, approaches, and objectives are addressed in each FEWS NET learning activity.
October 2023
Links to resources
Seasonal Monitor and Probability Generator (SMPG) for Tracking Precipitation at the Sub-national Level
Markets and Trade Knowledge Base Priorities
Summary of Presentations
Seasonal Monitor and Probability Generator (SMPG) for Tracking Precipitation at the Subnational Level
USGS presented the SMPG tool by providing an overview of the data used, how the tool functions, and the types of results it generates. The presentation also included an explanation of how results from the SMPG tool are used in FEWS NET's Seasonal Monitor reports, including a recent report for Afghanistan.
Pillar 3 Task Order 2 Introduction
USAID introduced the second task order under Pillar 3, which has been competitively awarded to TetraTech. TetraTech will manage the newly-awarded BHA Strategic Planning Activity Design until April 2026. FEWS NET's new IDIQ manager for TetraTech introduced the project management and technical teams and previewed five areas of work including market studies, Scenario planning, and more that will be fully developed in the coming months.
Markets and Trade Knowledge Base Priorities
In the context of Pillar 3's announcement of a second task order, the Early Warning team presented existing gaps in the Markets and Trade knowledge base that could benefit from increased attention in the near future. The Early Warning team's presentation included priority products and geographies that knowledge base products should be developed or updated for.
August 2023
Links to resources
JAWP Team Presentation Slides
Web Space and Font Optimization
Summary of Presentations
JAWP Team Presentations
All FEWS NET pillars and partner organizations presented high-level collaboration topics to kick off annual JAWP activities. The Hub, Early Warning team, Science team, and Livelihoods team all reported on expected cross-pillar areas of collaboration for the upcoming year. USAID also presented points of collaboration related to the pilot Health Threat Extension activity and CIAT's Climate Security Observatory. IFPRI shared high-level expectations for collaborative work in the coming year.Â
Web Space and Font Optimization
The Hub shared ongoing design development work to enhance the fews.net website, with an emphasis on web page spacing and fonts. The design brief focused on maximizing content above the fold on fews.net, minimizing scrolling, and improving user orientation across content types and presentations. Participants got a first look at mockups of the home page, a country page, and a report page.
July 2023
Links to resources
Summary of Presentations
FEWS NET Exchange Card Sorting Activity
The Hub team shared ongoing plans to reorganize the Exchange navigation menu to make existing resources more accessible. The presentation included a card sorting activity for collaboration meeting participants to share where they believe certain resources and existing content should live as part of a reorganized navigation system. The Hub will review card sorting activity results and implement changes to the navigation menu accordingly. Any additional comments or suggestions regarding the Exchange can be submitted at any time through the HelpDesk portal.
April 2023
Links to resources
Food Insecurity Trends in FEWS NET Documentation
Conflict Analysis and Forecasting
Summary of Presentations
Food Insecurity Trends in FEWS NET Documentation
CIAT presented an update on ongoing work to use machine learning to assess FEWS NET reporting and evaluate food insecurity trends and dynamics in FEWS NET-monitored countries. The presentation highlighted data collection and processing methods used, in addition to efforts to measure accuracy, validate, and fine-tune the machine. Key findings were shared and a dashboard with full results will soon be available to the FEWS NET team.
Conflict Analysis and Forecasting
The Early Warning team gave a presentation on current approaches for analyzing and forecasting conflict in FEWS NET reporting. The presentation looked back at challenges uncovered as part of a conflict task force, and some limitations in the use of conflict data were discussed. The Early Warning team shared plans to develop a guidance document on conflict-related analysis that will help standardize approaches to defining and projecting certain types of conflicts.
March 2023
Links to resources
Monitoring Urban Food Insecurity
Global Heat Hazards Outlooks
Summary of Presentations
Monitoring Urban Food Insecurity
The Early Warning team shared an overview of past Urban Task Force work to understand the urban livelihood context as part of an effort to apply FEWS NET's scenario development process for rural areas in urban areas. The task force made progress in the development of an urban livelihood protection basket tracker and internal guidance documents on urban livelihoods.
Global Heat Hazards Outlooks
The Science team presented updates on heat-health early warning systems, including information on experimental global heat hazards alerts. The presentation explained the significance of forecasting excessive heat/heat waves, and attention was placed on ongoing work to better publicize timely forecast information and warnings to prevent negative health outcomes.