Agroenterprise Learning Alliance for southern and eastern Africa
CRS has been studying practical methods for linking poor smallholder farmers to markets in over 30 countries since 2002. We have worked with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and a number of other technical partners in this process, and the principles of a good methodology have steadily evolved.
In recent years CRS has started working with new technical partners who use a wide range of approaches, methods, and tools for linking smallholder farmers to markets. This is particularly true in southern Africa, where a number of multimillion-dollar food security projects have been initiated. These technical partners include ACDI/VOCA, Land ‘o Lakes, the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development (CIIFAD), CARE, and Project Concern International (PCI).
Purpose and content of this meeting:
- Review the different methodologies (and ICT) that CRS and partner organizations are using to link smallholder farmers to markets
- Discuss of the strengths and gaps of the different methods, and identify potential complementarities and synergies between them
- Agree on approaches for developing one or more “hybrid” methodologies that will be applied and evaluated in on-going or new development programs
- Agree on a format for a continuing learning alliance that will bring all of the partners together regularly to evaluate methodologies at the field level, share learning, and continuously strive to refine and improve methodologies for linking smallholder farmers to markets over the next five years
Participants:
- All organizations working in projects jointly with CRS and leading market-based activities in southern and eastern Africa
- CRS deputy regional directors (SARO, EARO), senior technical advisors for agriculture, senior country program staff, and chiefs of party for relevant projects
- Representatives from key donor and regional trade organizations
Dates: 24–30 September 2009
Venue: Ethiopia
Facilitators: Mayling Simpson, Jean-Philippe Debus, Robert Delve, Tom Remington
A detailed agenda will be available soon. To help planning, please send a short message indicating your interest in participating to Judy Songwe (jsongwe@saro.crs.org) and Geoff Heinrich (gheinrich@saro.crs.org).
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