Publications

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.

Pineapple cultivation holds great potential for improving farmers’ livelihoods, if they can control diseases. An outbreak of pineapple wilt in the Western region of Uganda made many small-scale producers stop growing the crop, not knowing how to manage the wilt. This case describes how SNV worked to re-energize the process with the help of large regional producer groups and local researchers. Increasing producers’ confidence in their abilities to manage wilt was essential.

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.

Despite markets available and a range of actors involved, not enough oilseeds is being produced to meet consumer demands. The main constraints are a limited supply of seeds for planting, and secondly financing for smallholders, to get access to planting seeds. The case describes how SNV partnered with Centenary Bank, a financial institution that provides business development services and financial services to smaller farmers. In addition, they partnered with VECO East Africa, a development organisation promoting the growing and marketing of sunflowers. SNV and its partners were able to broker contractual linkages between farmers and private businesses, as well as linkages with the Centenary Bank to extend financing tailored to farmers’ needs.

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.

Towards the end of 2008, SNV Uganda signed a partnership agreement with Mukwano group of companies to implement an inclusive business model for enhanced growth, equity and competitiveness within the oilseed value chain. Initially, the company used to import seed for only farmers it had contracted to work with, but currently imports sunflower planting seeds for all the farmers interested in growing sunflower country wide. In the period up to last year, Mukwano supported an oilseed out grower’s scheme of approximately 45,000 individual smallholder farmers in the mid-north region, and has a processing plant located in Lira with capacity to crush 200 metric tones of raw material per day.

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...

Milk production is increasingly commercializing with market development in rural areas. Farmers however lack access to secure and formal milk markets, and access to buyers that would offer attractive terms of payment and associated services. The case focuses on Mama Omulungi Dairies, which is a private processing company, offering an alternative market outlet for dairy farmers in Kiruhura district. SNV identified the need to support their in-house capacity to predict, identify market opportunities and design strategies and tactics to counteract the competition from already established dairy firms. They were trained in processing techniques, business management and institutional development, which enabled them to operationalize equitable contracts for dairy farmers and opportunities for space to dialogue on fair prices.

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.

Nearly 60% of the people in Uganda’s West Nile region live below the poverty line compared to the national average of 31%. Agriculture is the backbone of the regional economy, but farmers lack access to sustainable and profitable markets. To address value chain inefficiencies, SNV sought to rebuild trust between different actors by finding areas where they could complement each other and create synergies. SNV provided market linkage services, whereas a Local Capacity Builder, Nile Pro Trust, was tasked with coordinating client activities and mobilising farmers to engage in collective marketing activities. This resulted in engagement of two key corporate actors in the sesame value chain to buy sesame from farmers in bulk.

Women in the Kapchorwa district in Uganda play a crucial role in sustaining their families through dairy and agricultural production. They provide most of the farm labour in combination with caring for their families. However, women continue to face major barriers with regard to access and control of production resources and dairy markets. The Kapchorwa Community Development Association (KACODA) therefore entered a partnership agreement with SNV, to facilitate effective marketing of dairy products and provide farm supplies and services needed by dairy farmers, and especially women.

Nearly 60% of people in Uganda's West Nile region live below the poverty line compared to the national average of 31%, according to an estimate from the 2008 West Nile Profiling Report. The population is predominantly rural, so agriculture is the backbone of the regional economy; cassava, sesame, beans, cotton, tobacco and groundnuts are the major commercial crops. Unfortunately, rural farmers lack access to sustainable and profitable markets for their products. Eradicating poverty in the region therefore requires improving smallholders' access to markets and increasing their productivity. This case study highlights SNV Uganda's efforts to rebuild trust between the different actors by finding areas where they could complement each other and create synergies.

How do you address low oilseed production? Do you 'pump' in more funds to the farmers so that they have more resources to invest and increase their production? That has been the traditional approach to the challenges of low production. However this raises the question of sustainability. What happens when donations dry up? This case study highlights SNV Uganda's efforts to promote sustainable, market-driven solutions for smallholder oilseed farmers in Eastern Uganda, a measure aimed at encouraging competition in the oilseed sector.

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.