Publications

A capability statement concerning our work on Agriculture in Africa which focuses on equity and growth for smallholders.

La présente note thématique est basée sur les expériences de la SNV en matière d’appui aux pasteurs en Afrique, en vue d’améliorer leurs moyens d’existence. Elle se fonde sur une large gamme d’études de cas qui, à travers le continent, mettent en évidence un certain nombre de traits communs aux
pratiques des pasteurs. La collaboration avec les pasteurs nous a appris qu’ils ne sont pas les traditionalistes que l’on décrit souvent. Ils s’adaptent au changement rapide comme tout autre groupe en Afrique. La présente note met en exergue l’éventail de stratégies d’adaptation, d’options de commercialisation et de mécanismes institutionnels qui ont cours à l’heure actuelle au sein de ces communautés. Ces expériences démontrent que le travail de la SNV a permis d’apporter des améliorations  tangibles aux moyens d’existence des éleveurs, tout en augmentant leur contribution au développement écon omique dans certains des milieux les plus difficiles en Afrique aujourd’hui.

In June 2010 SNV, together with IFAD, organised a conference on ‘brokering knowledge for upscaling best practices in Inclusive Markets Access in East & Southern Africa’, which brought together over 70 participants from 11 African countries from donor, public and private sector to share experiences. This report summarizes the main issues discussed during the conference, of which the main focus was seeking to bring about systemic change for larger-scale sustainable inclusive markets with a wider significance.

The main purpose of this study was to explore the potential of camel milk from the Isiolo district in Northern Kenya to access sustainable formal markets. And secondly, establish whether the value chain presents a business case for investments by the private sector and development agencies interested in increased livelihoods of pastoral communities and other actors involved in the value chain.

The document presents the summaries of the 12 case studies used to illustrate SNV practices which contributed to the writing of the practice brief N° 4 focusing on Gender and Agriculture (see: www.snvworld.org/en/sectors/agriculture/publications/gender-and-agriculture-practice-brief). The summaries provide an insight of the gender issue and what practices SNV implemented to address to this specific constraint. The document also offers you hyperlinks at the end of each summary to enable you read the full intervention.

The camel and its products have been described by some as a ‘sleeping giant’, summarizing the potential that the camel has, especially in the face of droughts, effects of climate change and the unexploited nutritional value of camel products. This case study focuses on camel milk in the greater Isiolo region (Northern Kenya) and what various actors, including SNV, are undertaking to make the chain more effective, market oriented, and consequently contributing immensely to people’s livelihoods.

The dairy value chain in Kenya has the potential to provide income and employment opportunities for over one million smallholder households. This tremendous opportunity has however remained untapped due to a number of dairy value chain constraints. Production segment is characterised by low productivity levels due to lack of knowledge on appropriate dairy husbandry and feeding practices, and farming is rain dependent making the production susceptible to severe seasonal weather fluctuations. The case describes how SNV Kenya has provided capacity development services since November 2008, targeting 5000 dairy farming households in the Lessos milk shed.

This annual report provides more detail of the strategic position choices SNV made in East and Southern Africa in 2007 and illustrates our approach with case studies from our practice.

There is a growing interest for camel milk and related products, particularly in the Horn of Africa. Camel breeds kept by pastoralists in subsistence production systems are very reliable milk producers during dry seasons and drought years when milk from cattle, sheep and goats is scarce. This case study highlights the experiences of a pilot intervention, among the first in the camel milk market, facilitated by SNV in Isiolo district of North-Eastern Kenya. A key objective of the SNV intervention was to enhance commercialisation of the camel milk sector in order to strengthen the socio-economic position of pastoralist women. It also sought to strengthen women’s organisations and enterprises, foster market linkages and private sector involvement within the sector, promote efficient use of technologies, develop and disseminate knowledge for replication of good practices in-country and across the region, as well as contribute to a policy environment that conducive to the commercialisation of camel milk.

This practice brief explores women and gender issues in SNV Netherlands Development Organisation’s support to agricultural value chains in Africa and Asia. Across the two regions there are wide disparities in women’s access to and control over productive resources, service delivery and market opportunities. Drawing on a wide variety of case studies, the Brief describes various ways in which the underlying gender constraints are identified and addressed, through an explicit focus on women’s economic and social empowerment.

La présente note thématique porte sur les questions relatives aux femmes et à l’équité du genre du genre dans l’appui apporté par la SNV -Organisation Néerlandaise de Développement-, aux chaînes de valeur agricoles en Afrique et en Asie. Il existe à travers ces deux régions d’importantes disparités en matière d’accès des femmes aux ressources et aux moyens  de production, aux services ainsi que de leur contrôle et aux possibilités d’accès aux marchés. Se fondant sur une large gamme d’études de cas, cette note décrit différentes façons dont les contraintes de genre sous-jacentes sont identifiées et abordées, en mettant explicitement l’accent sur l’autonomisation économique et l’inclusion  sociale des femmes...

This practice brief shares SNV's experiences in supporting pastoralists in Africa to improve their livelihoods. It bringstogether a wide variety of cases from across the continent that draw out a number of commonalities in pastoralist practices, for instance their management of water resources in Tanzania and Niger. But it highlights as well the diversity of the contexts within which pastoralism operates, as seen in the contrasting scales of dairy processing in Kenya, Niger and Burkina Faso, or the different roles played by local brokers in the livestock markets of Southern Sudan and Benin. Working with pastoralists has taught us that they are not the traditionalists they are often depicted to be. They are adapting to rapid change as much as any other group in Africa. This Practice Brief highlights a variety of adaptation strategies, commercialisation options and institutional arrangements that are currently in use. These diverse experiences demonstrate that SNV support has helped bring about tangible improvements in pastoralist livelihoods, whilst increasing their contribution to economic  development in some of the most challenging environments in Africa today.

Kenya is estimated to have the fifth largest camel herd in the world, and more than 50,000 households in arid and semi-arid lands directly derive part of their livelihood from camels, through home consumption or commercialisation. SNV Kenya is therefore supporting efforts to create efficiency and market orientation of camel milk in the Isiolo district, and this brochure describes SNVs activities.

This case describes how ‘Lessos Horticultural Growers Association’ was established. Starting with some passion fruit self-help groups in Kenya, a divisional agriculture officer and SNV advisors, a new umbrealla organisation was formed from all passion fruit growing self-help groups. SNV further facilitated capacity building of the group, as well as meetings between buyers and the association.

SNV’s approach to development is principally to work in an advisory capacity with meso-level organizations. Taking on this advisory role has considerable implications for the way that SNV handles issues. In essence, it is the quality of the advisory service itself, rather than the specific knowledge to be shared or transferred, that makes managing such issues successful. Clearly SNV advisers must be able provide guidance and support to partners and their staff to do this. At the same time SNV seeks to learn from other organizations that may be emphasizing the advisory process.

East African SNV programmes have undertaken an initiative to build new models for advisory practice, what we call ‘Building Advisory Practice’ (BAP). The initiative has examined in detail what characteristics constitute a quality advisory practice, what others are doing that SNV would like to emulate, and the best way to share the knowledge gained with the wider public. Meeting these objectives means building new ways of learning and sharing within SNV and with external partners and knowledge systems. This publication on private sector development is a major product in that endeavour.

The publication, as with the whole BAP process, has involved the energy, commitment and patience of literally hundreds of persons, from partner organizations as well as SNV staff, many of whom are acknowledged at the back of the booklet.

Follow up to case study on Lolunguniani - a partnership for progress published in 2008.