Sydney-Johanna Stevns

Country: Chile
Organization: La Fundación para la Innovación Agraría (FIA) Santiago, Chile

SYDNEY-JOHANNA: "I worked with an organization called La Fundación para la Innovación Agraría (FIA) (or in English, the Foundation for the Innovation of Agriculture) in Santiago, Chile. The mission of FIA is to support a culture of innovation in agriculture that improves the competitiveness of sustainable and inclusive farming. They do this by conducting research on new technologies, providing trainings, and providing funding and assistance to programs that are locally run. Ensuring that farmers in Chile can successfully adapt to climate change is key to ensuring their continued livelihoods and economic growth potential. The project I worked on was helping FIA understand how their adaptation strategies could be improved, specifically by examining how they compared to American and international standards.

I worked closely with staff to understand the projects and visited several farms throughout Chile to better understand how the technologies they promoted functioned and how their programs were operating. My final deliverable was the recommendation that they should improve their programming on the management of natural resources and sustainable development (specifically for infrastructure). This recommendation has formed the basis for a grant application they are submitting to the World Bank to further expand their programs and research efforts in these areas.

When I began my internship I was at a very minimal level of Spanish. After working and living in Chile for two months my Spanish improved significantly, however, my vocabulary now mostly consists of very technical terms about agriculture and development. Because of the initial language barrier it took a while to understand the structure of the organization. My understanding is that FIA does very little of their own program implementation. Instead, they focus on local community empowerment. They recruit and identify small- to medium-sized projects throughout the country that align with their mission and then support them with information, connections, or finances. This is an interesting model because although they have the resources to leverage significant control over projects, they do relatively little of this.

My impression is that this way of supporting projects means that local communities are much more invested in the outcome. Not only does it require less operational work on FIA's end, but it simultaneously helps them achieve one of their goals to spread awareness and knowledge on these issues and tools. I also imagine that this model is much more effective, because if projects are self-initiated by local groups or individuals then they are able to more accurately address their local area's needs as opposed to a large national organization coming in to potentially address an insignificant problem. I find this model very fascinating, both because it makes a lot of sense and because it makes me wonder why this isn't the standard in development initiatives across the world."

Nashwa Khali

Organization: Vodafone Farmers Club / Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSMA)
Country: Ghana

NASHWA: GSMA1, working with a wide range of mobile network operators and civil society organisations, is launching a series of nutrition-focused m-health and m-agriculture initiatives in South Asia and sub- Saharan Africa, called mNutrition. The objective of mNutrition in mAgri is to create and scale commercially sustainable mobile services enabling smallholder farmers to improve their nutrition, yields and incomes. The product to be delivered and evaluated is the Vodafone Farmers’ Club. The service is a bundled solution offering agricultural information in addition to voice and SMS services. In order to measure the causal impact of the Farmers’ Club product, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will conduct an external impact evaluation of the mAgri programme in Ghana in November 2016. A randomized encouragement design will be implemented. Specifically, some communities will be randomly assigned to receive additional marketing and promotion of the Farmers’ Club product and some communities will not be assigned to the additional marketing and promotion. The additional marketing and promotion will consist of price discounts, advertisement scripts, and gender targeting.

Rationale for Intervention

The rapid expansion of mobile phone access to populations at the base of the income pyramid presents an unprecedented opportunity to expand coverage of nutrition and agriculture services to this previously overlooked segment of the mobile market. Mobile phones and computer centers are the most targeted channels to provide not only technical and scientific information on crop production and nutrition, but also to support the marketing of products that can help level the playing field between small producers and traders. Agricultural extension services delivered via mobile phones can in theory promote ‘nutrition-sensitive’ interventions by creating competent and efficient farmers who are able to increase productivity by making effective use of knowledge and information which is delivered to them.

Broadly speaking, nutrition-sensitive agriculture is aimed at improving the nutritional status of a population by maximizing the impact of food and of agricultural systems, while minimizing the potential for negative externalities regarding the sector’s economic and production-driven goals. In the last few years there has been a visible trend in agricultural policies and programs to become ‘nutrition-sensitive’ by leveraging agriculture to maximize nutrition impact. Yet there is an identified need to better understand the linkages between agriculture and nutrition, and to decipher the ways in which agriculture can contribute to improved nutrition. Despite the potential of mobile services coupled with agricultural change to improve nutrition and diet quality, very few studies exist that critically assess the application of mobile phone technology for nutrition in resource-poor settings.

Farmers’ Club

Farmers’ Club is a bundled solution offering farmers agricultural and nutrition information in addition to voice and SMS services. The target market Vodafone expects to attract is about 450,000 Farmer Club users by 2016/17 across 8 regions in Ghana: Eastern Region, Western Region, Ashanti Region, Central Region, Northern Region, Volta, Brong-Ahafo, and Greater Accra. Researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are conducting a rigorous mixed-methods evaluation to estimate the impact of mNutrition and to understand how the context and the components of the mNutrition intervention shape its impact. To estimate the casual impacts of the product on farmer’s behavior, knowledge, nutrition, yields and income, a randomized encouragement design is being implemented where some communities are randomly assigned to receive additional marketing and promotion of the Farmers’ Club product and some are not assigned to the additional marketing and promotion. The additional marketing and promotion will consist of price discounts, advertisement scripts, and gender targeting.

The goal of the impact evaluation is to measure the causal impact of Farmers’ club on behaviors and outcomes linked to nutrition and agriculture. But before a full scale impact evaluation is rolled out; which is resource and time intensive IFPRI decided to do a pilot, which is the leg of the project that I was brought on to do. Essentially the purpose of the pilot was to test the assumptions of the evaluation and related encouragements before they are rolled out for the study and to test willingness to pay for the Farmer club product. As soon as I landed in Ghana I had three priority areas to work on:

1. Build relationships with potential implementing partners and all the involved stakeholders; including Vodafone, The University of Ghana, and ESOKO2

2. Collaborate with Vodafone to do user feedback surveys for existing Farmers’ Club customers. This would help the research team at IFPRI understand the rates of take-up of the service as well as the perceived benefits of subscribing.

3. Set up the IRB3 protocol, as well as pilot evaluation that would allow us to answer the following research questions:

   •   How effective is the Farmer Club at increasing the knowledge and changing the behavior of farmers?

   •   What are the impacts and cost-effectiveness of the Farmer Club product on household’s dietary diversity, agricultural income, and production?

   •   Does targeting women increase impacts over and beyond the impacts of a non-targeted Farmer Club product?

  What is farmer’s willingness to pay for Farmer’s club?

The preliminary data gathered while I was in Ghana evidenced that Farmers’ Club positively enhanced the livelihoods and quality of life of smallholder farmers by improving access to information, financial services and supply chain solutions, delivered via mobile phone. Furthermore the mNutrition component of the intervention promoted behaviour change around key farming decisions and practices via mobile nutrition content.

Mark Karugarama

Country: Rwanda
Organization: Zamura Feeds LTD

MARK: "Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work with a young but promising social-enterprise in Rwanda’s growing Agri-business sector. Located in Musanze District, Northern Rwanda, Zamura Feeds LTD operates in the commercial livestock feed industry. It is a relatively new industry, formerly subsidised by the government, but slowly becoming more and more commercialised, to effectively cater to the growing needs of farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs in the region."

My responsibilities revolved around 2 major activities; i) working directly with cooperatives and small-holder farmers to assess their needs and ii) designing a marketing and distribution plan to use a similar business model to reach parts of Southern and Eastern Rwanda, as well as neighboring border towns in Uganda and the DRC. This model will be used in conjunction with distribution centers to determine the most cost-effective way to get the product to market and to reach even those farmers in the most rural areas.

"We worked with farmers on two fronts; i) farmers who purchased the feed for their farms/animals and ii) farmers who supplied all the input (i.e maize bran, whole maize, cotton seed cake, sunflower seeds, soybean, limestone, shells, and a multitude of other inputs). An effective distribution channel would therefore be helpful not only for selling the product, but also in sourcing input--which Zamura pays competitive prices for, to ensure the farmers are making enough to support themselves and their families. Gaining an understanding of the farmers and their families’ economic goals and aspirations--and how the company is working closely with them--had a deep and lasting impact on my entire internship experience.

Two of my colleagues and I traveled off-site, twice a week, to meet with smallholder farmers and small businesses in the border towns of Goma (Congo) and Kabale (Uganda), some of whom are clients of Zamura Feeds. In discussions with farmers and cooperative leaders, we were able to get further insights into people’s overall perception of the product, and note down any challenges; access; price, effectiveness, etc. My experience was greatly shaped by thought-provoking conversations with farmers and the cooperatives they work with, which help them get their produce to market. I have learned a lot both from the businesses perspective and from the farmers who seek to lift themselves out of poverty. Challenges abide, but the agribusiness sector is ripe with opportunity and potential."

"Production success stories were told across the livestock production sector in other neighboring villages we visited for not just dairy farmers but broiler,layer and swine farmers whose goals intersect at one point: increasing yields be it of eggs, meat or milk/dairy products. It inspired a feeling of hope in me, that simple but well-organized animal husbandry could have such a tremendous impact on people and help them lift themselves out of poverty, especially in a country where around 67% of the population depends on agriculture for their sustenance. Overall, the internship experience was for me a learning opportunity unlike any other."

Justin Erickson

Countries: Managua, Nicaragua
Organization: Technoserve

JUSTIN: "This summer I worked at Technoserve in Managua, Nicaragua. Technoserve is a large international non-government organization that works in the areas of agriculture and entrepreneurship. They are based in Washington, D.C., but they have offices in Africa, Latin America, and India. I worked out of Managua, which is their headquarters for Central America. About one hundred people (almost exclusively Nicaraguan) work out of the office. I traveled to El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala during the internship. The eight-week long internship was formalized on the part of Technoserve as part of their Volunteer Consultant Program. Volunteer consults work on projects in all of the areas Technoserve works.

Technoserve brought me on board in order to better understand their place in the entrepreneurship assistance market in Central America. They are currently running two entrepreneurship programs in the region. One is called CRECE. CRECE is a program for young people to help them develop their business ideas or start-ups. The other is ITE, which stands for Impulsa Tu Empresa (push your business). This program is for small and medium enterprises in the C-4 region (Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala) to grow their businesses. The average business in this program has about 14 employees and does about $200,000USD in sales per year. Both of these programs have been running for about three years in the C-4 region. About 75 businesses participate in the program per country per year."

At the end I created a thirty slide presentation and presented it to my supervisor in Managua. We then looked discussed some changes to be made and I turned in a final report. I was invited to give my presentation to the Director of Entrepreneurship in Washington, D.C., and so after my fellowship ended I went to D.C. to give the presentation. Using my work, Technoserve has a better understanding of its place in Central America, ideas for how it can create more impact, a qualitative review of their two main entrepreneurship programs, and a starting framework that will appeal to funders as they are in the process to raising money to support the programs in the future.

Manisha Basnet

Country: Uganda

Organization: FIT Uganda

Manisha Basnet worked as an Economic Consultant for FIT Uganda. The eight week project involved field research on market information system, cost-benefit analysis and market trend analysis of agricultural commodities.

Manisha: “This internship has helped spur my interest in strategic management consulting. It has also helped reinforce my interest in financial inclusion as a tool for social and economic development.”

Julia Leis

Country: Burkina Faso
Organization: Millennium Challenge Corporation

Julia Leis was selected to work on the Diversified Agriculture Activity, a $30 million project of the $490 million Millennium Challenge Compact with Burkina Faso, designed to increase rural incomes and employment and to enhance the competitiveness of the rural economies in the Sourou Valley and the Comoe Basin. She completed an extensive value chain analysis of the project’s deliverables, synthesizing different activities along the supply chain within certain sectors, providing insight on the multitude of interventions taking place in the regions over the past few years.

Julia: “Working with MCC and Burkinabé colleagues was an incredible experience. I gained an understanding of the complexity of contract management and program implementation in the field. While I have studied international development during my undergraduate years and now graduate school, it was incredibly valuable to see how complex projects are managed and implemented on the ground, and learn about the importance of partnerships with local communities. I now feel more prepared and committed to pursuing a career in development in West Africa and I’m very grateful to have had this opportunity.”

Liz Henry

Country: Ecuador
Organization: Root Capital

Liz Henry was assigned by Root Capital’s office in Lima, Peru to investigate and formulate a plan for expanding its loan activity into Ecuador. Using her Spanish language she was able to engage with diverse stakeholders, include personnel international: agencies such as USAID and NGOs such as Catholic Relief Services, directors at the Inter-American Development Bank, representatives from commodity trading firms, employees and consultants at Ecuadorian government ministries, CEOs of SMEs and rural cacao and coffee farmers.

Liz: “Working for Root Capital in Ecuador was a perfect fit for my Blakeley Fellowship. I now recognize the crucial role of the agricultural sector and SMEs within development, as well as the importance of promoting access to finance for such businesses.”

Bernardo Goriupp

Country: Uganda

Organization: MAPLE (Microdevelopment for the Alleviation of Poverty through Learning and Entrepreneurship), an Oregon based NGO operating in Uganda

Bernardo Goriupp worked as Project Manager, responsible for design to implementation of a small scale fish farm. This included everything from technical and business modeling to investigating potential sources of funding to developing a business plan to be used for grant applications and for expansion.

“What makes me proud is that I left behind something that did not exist before… it may well be one the the things of greatest significance I have ever done. The whole experience was also very useful in serving my own careet objectives. I have a profound interest in the synergies between development objectives and business, in particular the role that the private sector can undertake to promote sustainable and long-lasting social progress.”

— Bernardo

Elisabeth

Country: Tanzania

Elisabeth worked for MicroEnsure, a subsidiary of Opportunity International, on a health microinsurance project for poor, small shareholder coffee farmers in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. She assisted the NGO with marketing and communications.

Meghan

Country: Nicaragua

Meghan conducted the Program Evaluation of a microcredit and sustainable agriculture program in Leon, Nicaragua for SosteNica, a U.S.-based nonprofit that funds sustainable agriculture and development initiatives in rural Nicaragua . As the Evaluation Consultant, Meghan developed and conducted an assessment of the socio-economic and environmental impact of this pilot program on its participants.

Jenya

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Jenya worked at Kompanion, a Microfinance Company established by Mercy Corps. She worked on monitoring and evaluating agricultural extension programs that Kompanion carries out as part of its development mission and also provided recommendations on how to develop a social performance management system for the company.

Jocelyn

Country: Catholic Relief Services

Jocelyn worked with Catholic Relief Services-Rwanda (CRS-Rw) to analyze how male and female farmers benefit differently from CRS’ agricultural and value-added production programs. She designed focus group surveys to meet with coffee, sweet potato, and cassava farmer’s groups. Her research was shared with the CRS-Rw livelihoods team to improve future agricultural and gender programming.

Jillian

Country: India

Jillian worked at CARE’s Economic Development Unit, examining and documenting agricultural projects put in place as part of the recovery process after the 2004 tsunami that devastated the east coast of India. She is analyzing agricultural and fisheries value chains, with an eye to using markets to empower women and support sustainable development.

Rabeh

Country: Lebanon

Rabeh worked at the Lebanese Transparency Association conducting an assessment and developing a business strategy for the creation of a new social enterprise for organic agricultural products with a focus on access to markets for the bottom of the pyramid.

Kristy

Country: Niger

Kristy was an intern with Catholic Relief Services, working on a cell phone literacy project, focusing on helping rural farmers create improved access to markets and in the identification of avenues for obtaining current pricing of products.

Suzanne

Countries: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador

Suzanne worked with Catholic Relief Services on the Agriculture for Basic Needs Project, analyzing the project in four countries (Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador) with a special focus on the savings-led credit groups and the impact on sustainable agriculture, innovation and learning.