Publications

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

Beekeeping has been carried out across many generations in Rwanda and plays a critical role in the livelihoods of the rural communities, although it has long remained traditional and of subsistence in nature. This is changing as beekeeping is increasingly taken up as a business enterprise; access to finance is however a key challenge for small entrepreneurs. SNV therefore initiated a Value Chain Financing Study (VCF) assessing the financial needs of current and potential beekeeping entrepreneurs, available opportunities from financial and other institutions, and identifying existing gaps hindering beekeeping entrepreneurs from accessing available financial services. The study also identified several best practices for adoption by SNV and other stakeholders towards enhancing the performance of the sub-sector in a sustainable way.

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.

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.

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.

The Rwandan dairy sub-sector has undergone dramatic and dynamic progress after the 1994 war and genocide. Of recent years a number of initiatives from the government, development partners and private investors have been growing. Although the dairy industry has been growing fast, its faced with a number of constraints that provide the challenges for development but equally provide the opportunities for actors who want to invest in the sub-sector.
This report summarises the trend for the last 10 years to 2020 along the national development strategy and how the dairy sub-sector can provide investment opportunities along the value chain. Dairy is a profitable and one of the best investments that can work properly in the rural areas due its benefits not only as a source of income but also as a way of providing food security and support of crop production through manure.

Brochure which describes the partnership between SNV and FLO (Fairtrade International). In 2006, a unique partnership was born. Responding to the need for an integrated, market-based approach to the challenge of persistent poverty, SNV Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and Fairtrade International (FLO) teamed up to help producers in the World South reach consumers worldwide via Fairtrade. As a result of the partnership, numerous farming communities in eleven African countries now benefit from expanded market access, increased production, employment and income, as well as broader social progress and greater control over their future.

This is the story of the partnership, the people involved and the progress made.

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.

Rwanda Animal Resources Development Authority Takes the Lead in Modernising Beekeeping in Rwanda

The brochure is a compilation of various case studies illustrating the impact of SNV's work in the life of millions of people in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

It portrays the approaches and methods used by SNV to empower local communities, businesses and organisations to break the cycle of poverty by providing them with the tools, knowledge and connections they need to increase their incomes and gain access to basic services.

This Rwanda Practice brief highlights the findings of a study on certification opportunities based on the experiences of SNV and the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) in Rwanda. The brief explores the potential for sector and coffee chain development via certification systems and other sustainable initiatives.

Sustainable Impact in the Rwanda Coffee Sector

Rwanda produces the prized Arabica Bourbon coffee, highly sought after in specialty coffee markets world over. The process of getting this coffee from the farms to the cup is, however, a complex one—probably best appreciated by taking a holistic view of the coffee value chain. This report, takes you through the coffee journey and demonstrating how SNV and other actors support smallholder farmers to surmount various obstacles along the chain. That unique mug of coffee in your hands will begin to look a whole lot different when you see in it the challenges faced by coffee producer cooperatives, and when you know that the money you pay for it helps transform lives in the picturesque hills of rural Rwanda.

Today we work with 30 cooperatives that have coffee washing stations and 15 coffee unions, representing 69,000 coffee farmers. These cooperatives are now more profitable operations, producing higher quantities of better quality coffee. Some have also been awarded at the national Cup of Excellence, the world’s most esteemed competition for top quality coffees.

Rwanda is on its way to becoming an important service hub in East Africa’s economically vibrant market. Positioned in a resource-rich region, Rwanda has wagered on increasing its attractiveness for business through establishing a stable political environment with modern institutions and urban amenities. The cityscapes of Kigali as well as satellite towns such as Musanze, Huye, Rwamagana and Rubavu are changing almost daily.

However, livelihood in the rural areas still largely depends on subsistence farming. Embattled with low production levels coupled with the hardship of fetching water and firewood rural Rwandans are eager to find ways to earn a share in the country’s progress.

Working in close collaboration with the national authorities, SNV builds capacity and provides solutions for access to clean water and proper sanitation, renewable energy and agriculture. We contribute to local economic development through mobilising specialised knowledge and skills for management, better cultural practices, market linkages, improved accountability relations and favourable policies.

This document presents a bird’s eye view of how we work together with our partners to advance renewable energy, water, sanitation and hygiene and agriculture in Rwanda.