Publications

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

Following a corporate decision to exit from the education sector by the end of 2011, SNV Zambia, using the five capabilities model developed by Baser and Morgan (2008), undertook an evaluation of its capacity development support to the education sector, where it had been active since 2003. SNV’s education capacity development strategy was based on a comprehensive analysis of the sector, which had identified the actors and factors having the greatest bearing on the attainment of the country’s education development goals and MDG targets. Issues impeding the quality of education service delivery were identified by key actors and informed the strategy for developing local actors’ capacity for enhanced education impact.

This report presents the findings of a study conducted Nov-Dec 2012, in the traditional cattle keeping areas of Zambia. The focus on the study was on untapped milk originating from the traditional cattle sector, with the aim of ensuring a stable and reliable supply for processors in Zambia and an income to smallholder farmers. The overall objective was to provide a solid basis for making informed decisions about interventions in the traditional/smallholder dairy sub-sector related to improving production, animal husbandry practices and milk marketing. The study demonstrates that traditional cattle farmers can supply a substantial amount of milk to support demand in the country, as well as enhance the utilisation capacity of milk processors. Information from the report will be useful for NGOs, the Zambian government and donors, as it enables to identify gaps in the value chain which they can strengthen, and support income generation.

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 publication has been produced as part of a series under the Building Advisory Practice (BAP) initiative of SNV East Africa; conceptualized and supported by a team of SNV staff and advisers. Lead consultant for the BAP initiative is Rob Sinclair.

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.

Improving the quality of education delivery in Zambia

Together with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Ministry of Energy and water development/Department of Energy in Zambia, SNV and Hivos conducted a feasibility study for domestic biogas in May 2012. The feasibility study established that there is scope for a medium-size domestic bio digester programme (7,500 in five years) in Zambia. High technical potential for biogas, with an estimated 80,000 cattle holders with five cattle or more and 10,000 commercial pig farmers with eight pigs or more.

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.

Energy in Africa capability statement

Since 2007, SNV has delivered capacity development services to rice farmer associations on value chain governance and management, financing, and business planning. Moreover, processors and other value chain actors are supported in establishing the Zambia Rice Federation, which is an apex body aimed at lobbying for an enabling environment. Over the last four years, these interventions at producer and processor level have resulted in a strengthened bargaining voice, improved access to market intelligence and business costing. Especially this bargaining voice has made farmers more competitive, and helped increasing incomes.

This case describes SNV’s inclusive methodology, advocating for joint action rather than isolated activities. SNVs intervention in the Zambian rice sector started in 2007 and created a new impetus in the rice value chain, by mapping all stakeholders in the value chain and formulating what was at stake per actor. Multi-stakeholder platforms were facilitated to demonstrate how it was possible for each stakeholder to satisfy their needs jointly. The major success of this methodology is the creation of a complete link that connects producers to the rest of the chain up to the customers. This has alleviated challenges to do with production, processing, marketing, financing and services provision to the sector.

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...

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.