Publications

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.

SNV Netherlands Development Organization subscribes to these developments and devotes considerable part of its advisory services for capacity development in the tourism sector. SNV advisors work with a variety of organizations, stakeholders and actors, such as Ministries of Tourism, Tourism Boards, Hotel Associations, Community Based Tourism Organizations as well as with Associations of Tour Operators and many others. Against this background SNV East and Southern Africa brought together practitioners in the tourism sector to present and exchange experiences around the issue of Government Incentives to Boost Local Economic Impacts of Tourism.

This document is the outcome of that initiative. SNV and Rwanda’s ORTPN hosted a regional tourism workshop in Kigali Rwanda in October 2006. The workshop drew on ‘action research’ by SNV advisors in 6 countries and brought together SNV partners and advisors from East and Southern African countries.

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.

The main objective of the institutional arrangement mission was to finalize the institutional arrangements for the proposed domestic biogas programme in Uganda. The document describes the objective of the proposed Uganda Domestic Biogas Programme (UDBP) and its target group. Further, it describes the sector, its demand and supply side. The primary process is described as the commercial transaction between the (prospective) biogas household and the Biogas Construction Enterprise (BCE), in which both parties aim to maximize their returns.

National biogas programmes require a wide range of functions to be executed in a comprehensive and coordinated manner. Examples of such functions are promotion and marketing, financing, construction & after sales, operation & maintenance, quality control, training & extension, research & development,
monitoring & evaluation, and programme management. This is called the multi-actor approach.

The document continues with apex actors in the sector like the National Biogas Steering Committee (NBSC), the Uganda Biogas Programme Office (UBP- Office), ABPP and Hivos, international technical assistance and the Ministry of Energy and Mines Development. The primary process actors in the sector are: biogas construction enterprises, the Uganda Biogas Association (UBA), and micro-finance organizations. Support process actors in the sector are: rural development, renewable energy and organic farming NGOs, vocational training institutes, Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PFSU), and the East Africa Energy Technology Development Network (EAETDN). Finally the detailed actor – activity matrix for the Uganda Domestic Biogas Programme, based on the detailed Institutional Arrangement Consultations of the mission is presented.

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.

The LeaPPs story is a case study about how SNV Uganda , in partnership with the International Resource Centre (IRC) Netherlands (and later with the Centre for Governance and Development, or CEGED) introduced an approach called Learning for Policy and Practice in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (LeaPPS) to encourage local governments, civil society and the private sector to collectively craft and implement WASH policies.  LeaPPS encourages cooperation between participants because it centres around the concept of a “learning alliance” involving WASH users, service providers and promoters.

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.

The Uganda Domestic Biogas Programme (UDBP) shall focus on the development of the biogas sector in Uganda.The plans for strengthening the biogas sector, started with the tasks of undertaking a feasibility study (2007), which examined the technical, economic, and sociological and political context of the feasibility of a national program for household biogas. In the Nairobi conference of 20-23rd May 2007, the Government of Uganda committed itself to the Biogas for better life Africa initiative.

This document presents the Programme Implementation Document for Uganda. The report contains information on: The country background and energy situation in Uganda with a focus on the economy, poverty and the environment, government structures, biomass demand and supply, renewable energy sources, and national level policies and plans that links to biogas; Biogas in Uganda with the history, existing practices and knowledge, market potential, economic and financial potential, limitations, biogas plant size selection, strength and weaknesses and opportunities and threats; Programme objectives with the overall and specific objectives, and expected results; Output targets with production targets, biogas service providers, appliances manufacturers, and quality management; and Programme components, activities and inputs with different work packages called Promotion and marketing, Finance, Private sector development, Quality management, Training/Capacity building, Extension services, Institutional support, Monitoring and evaluation, and Programme sustainability.

The success of the Uganda Domestic Biogas Programme (UDBP) will largely depend on how it will market and or communicate appropriately to the stakeholders. There is need to create awareness and education for the biogas technology, its benefits and financing opportunities available. Secondly, there is need to create awareness on the side of investors and financiers to look at opportunities available for biogas as a viable business idea.

SNV Uganda, therefore engaged the services of a communication expert to support the development of an Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials dissemination framework, being cognizant that different target audiences require different approaches, channels and tools. The methodology involved reviewing literature; a field visit and interviews of 10 beneficiary households in Mukono district and interview with key SNV and Heifer staff.

The IEC Materials Dissemination Framework outlined in this report aims at promoting awareness about the benefits of the Uganda Domestic Biogas Programme to different stakeholders including rural households, private construction companies, masons, vocational training institutions, financial institutions, local governments, the Central Government, Parliament, civil society organizations and development partners. The report outlines the key messages for each of these target audiences and the channels to be used to reach them. The IEC Dissemination Framework Matrix explains in more detail the specifications, required quantities, cost and duration of applicability of the required IEC materials. In order for the IEC Dissemination Framework to be effective some elements of a communication and advocacy strategy have been incorporated into the framework.