Publications

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

SNV Zambia’s value-chain approach sought to change the unproductive honey market dynamics. The industry has responded to the challenges present, and solutions are being created with diverse stakeholders being able to meet, share experiences, learn together and contribute to decisions. Ultimate success towards outcomes has been in developing the collective commitment and capacity to turn ideas and plans into action.

“To empower rice farmers in the district to operate as profitable businesses by providing them with business development services”. In the pursuit of this dream the association has managed to provide its members the following services; input provision, access to market through contract faming arrangements, bulking and storage services and access to finance via savings and credit cooperatives. SNV has been providing capacity development support aimed at empowering the association to deliver these business services.Productivity of farmers has increased, but the clearest gain for the farmers are the higher prices farmers are getting for their crops, which improved with 100%.

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.

This factsheet summarizes SNV's work in the rice sector in Zambia.

Rice Farming in the Chambeshi Flood Plains

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.

Soul of the Forest, Honey Value Chain