Publications

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.

The case sketches a rapid development in Uganda’s oil seed sector; with increases in production of over 400% from 2005 to 2009. It focuses on a combination of two interventions; a) a collaboration between the leading Uganda processing firm Mukwano and SNV, to develop a contract farming scheme for more than 50,000 farmers; and b) the facilitation of multi-stakeholder platforms at both national and regional levels to facilitate joint agenda setting. The emerging collaboration between various actors led to improvements in general farming practices, business relations and input provision. Jointly they also influenced government policies and financing streams. The combination of these two interventions was particularly powerful and eventually helped to improve the incomes of more than 100,000 farmers. A strong focus was put on improving farmer capacity to deal with markets and vibrancy of the farmers-market interface. It led to major productivity increases and an increase in price of oilseeds of 350% with a corresponding rise in farmers’ incomes, and significant substitution of national imports.