This paper reports on the results of testing hypotheses about factors thought to be positively correlated with better nutritional status for rural children in Mali. These factors include:

1. Higher agricultural incomes and/or household wealth
2. More educated parents
3. Mothers who use recommended feeding and childcare practices
4. Availability and use of well staffed health facilities
5. Parents who are knowledgeable about prevalent childhood diseases
6. Use of recommended hygiene and sanitation practices
7. Parents’ age, health and genetic attributes
8. Location (type of agricultural production system, level of infrastructure, etc.)

Preliminary results suggest that improvements in health center coverage (e.g., reducing the average distance to a health center from 20 to 10 kilometers) and more diversity in complementary foods after six months of age (two or more different foods during a 24 hour period) have the potential to significantly improve standardized height for age scores. Other factors of importance are mothers’ incomes, prenatal visits, and parents’ standardized heights (reflecting either genetic traits or generations of poor nutrition).

The Project on Linkages between Child Nutrition and Agricultural Growth (LICNAG) seeks to identify means of strengthening positive linkages between agricultural development and factors that influence child health and nutritional status. LICNAG is surveying rural households in Mali was to understand the positive and negative repercussions that agricultural-led growth has on children’s health and nutritional status. This report on preliminary survey findings describes child health and nutritional status across three agricultural zones in Mali. Early results of the survey indicate that increasing access to food and income requires measures to reduce price and climatic risk (e.g., water management and transport infrastructure, and diversification of incomes) for agricultural households.

A Policy Synthesis of the findings is available here. The full report can be accessed below.

The LAC Development Marketplace & Knowledge Exchange Forum will be held in Washington D.C on January 14 to 15. It will showcase finalists from the World Bank’s 2010 Development Marketplace Grant Competition, which identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. This year’s theme is Youth Developing Opportunity: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Sustainability, in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

This event will include the following:

• Showcase of projects by Finalists
• Selection of Winners and Presentation of Award
• Capacity Building events and Exchanges
• Networking and Open Space Opportunities
• Working Sessions between the Finalists, Service Providers and DM Partners.

To find out more about this event, and the grant competition, follow the link below.

Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and supported by various partners that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. This year’s theme is Youth Developing Opportunity: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Sustainability, in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

This competition recognizes innovation across this spectrum, and will reward projects that focus on reducing poverty, enriching lives and generating productive, healthy citizens. A central focus of this competition will therefore be on ideas that have the potential to create employment for young people and bring associated benefits to communities and society at large.

The awardees will have programs that are youth-led and/or youth-focused in the following areas:

• The commercialization of locally produced biodiversity and agricultural products without degrading source habitats.
• Innovative approaches to income generating opportunities for young people living in poor urban areas that are “hot spots” of crime and violence
• Social and economic initiatives that contribute to the well-being of vulnerable groups

Since the goal is to fund innovation in youth-focused development, grants will be given to projects in either the pilot stage (5,000-15,000 dollars), or the scale-up stage (20,000-35,000 dollars). Find out more about eligibility and the DM by following the link below.

Finalists for this grant competition will present at the LAC Development Marketplace & Knowledge Exchange Forum, an event meant to showcase exemplary projects and provide a forum for networking and sharing knowledge.

This discussion paper presents an analytical review of the design and implementation of Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) schemes, particularly in Latin America; juxtaposing it with those schemes in India that have similar characteristics. The objective is to promote informed discussion among various stakeholders on the desirability and feasibility of introducing multi-sectoral CCT schemes for alleviating human poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in India. In India, food security issues coupled with the global financial crisis have made achieving the MDGs particularly complicated.

The paper focuses on many indicators at the heart of CYES efforts, including income inequality, primary and secondary education, and child labor, which often accompanies lowered household productivity.

With 27 percent arable land and no permanent crops, the West Bank and Gaza suffer from periodic food insecurity. Using proceeds derived from the monetization of commodity donated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, ACDI/VOCA funds drought relief and agricultural training activities for Palestinian farmers and pastoralists.

The ACDI/VOCA program in the West Bank and Gaza works with agricultural communities to mitigate the devastating effects of recent drought and reduce the risk of future drought loss. Under the project, the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) distributed emergency coupon subsidies and feed. From November 2001 to January 2002, the ministry distributed a total of 13,453 out of 13,582 subsidy coupons, supporting 912,000 sheep and goats in 12 districts. ACDI/VOCA reimbursed feed/fodder suppliers for 13,303 coupons totaling approximately $1.2 million. The feed subsidy program also served to strengthen cooperation between the extension service and MOA district offices, and provided economic stimulus to the livestock sector.

ACDI/VOCA is also working with at-risk agricultural communities to improve local community preparedness and response capability to drought events through the build-up of water catchment and collection structures, improved community awareness and water conservation education. To build capacity among rural inhabitants to better manage scarce water resources, PARC held training workshops for women, as well as students on water awareness and conservation, benefiting 1,098 participants. PHG held 60 workshops and conducted 49 home visits for 500 women, visited 27 schools to conduct awareness campaigns for 450 male and 455 female youth and held 20 workshops benefiting 130 men. These training workshops complement the building of water catchment structures in many of the localities where rainwater harvesting is carried out and an important source of water for irrigation.

In Gaza, ACDI/VOCA worked with World Vision to complete the construction of 36 agricultural ponds, and also led in projects to rehabilitate wells and conduct training workshops covering the following topics:

• strategies for reducing water consumption,
• maintenance of irrigation networks,
• water efficient irrigation systems and
• crop diversification

Alex Gebrehiwot
agebrehiwot@acdivoca.org

Feb 2001 – Dec 2001

When it was launched in September 2004, the India Growth-Oriented Microenterprise Development Program (GMED) was USAID’s first enterprise development project in India. A 4-year, $6.3 million program funded under the Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project (AMAP), GMED was an innovative program that developed sustainable and scalable approaches to job creation in agriculture by fostering the growth of micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

GMED’s components included agribusiness and urban services. The agribusiness component focused on fruits and vegetables, organically certified food products, maize value chain improvement, and the integration of HIV/AIDS-affected communities into commercial supply chains. The urban services component worked to improve municipal solid waste management through outsourcing to MSEs. GMED was solely a technical service program and had no grant or subsidy component, making it unique for a donor project.

Strengthening the Value Chain through Partnerships and Technology

GMED adopted a value chain approach to enterprise development following the principle that the growth of micro and small enterprises must be driven by sustainable growth strategies for all of the firms in a value chain. ACDI/VOCA developed partnerships with larger firms and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), which then provide embedded business development services to associated MSEs as an integral part of their commercial transactions. Thus, GMED was a service facilitator, rather than a service provider. The ultimate goal of the project was to enhance MSE growth opportunities by expanding the scope of the embedded services being provided by corporate and NGO partners, helping to make them more effective.

Addressing Opportunities and Challenges

• GMED, with two partner NGOs, organized and obtained organic certification for several thousand small, marginal, mostly women farmers. It also helped to effectively market and export these organically certified products.
• GMED helped several major Indian corporations and larger NGOs integrate smallholder farmers into commercial supply chains by increasing their capacity to meet market demand. Growing demand represented significant potential for smallholder fruit and vegetable farmers, who account for the great majority of fruit and vegetable production in India—provided that these farmers can gain the ability to produce to market specifications. GMED helped two of its principle corporate partners establish three model smallholder vegetable farmer production bases to illustrate the measures required to accomplish this.
• In addition, ACDI/VOCA pioneered the Village Extension Agent model to expand the availability of private agricultural extension services at reduced cost while providing employable skills to local youth. 18 under-employed farm youth from within a vegetable production cluster were recruited, trained in the rudiments of crop, soil, water and pest management and stationed in their home village. The village agents, who spoke the local dialect and were acquainted with the village farmers, were trained provide solutions to less complex farming problems and could call on professional agents whose work they supplemented.

ACDI/VOCA and GMED demonstrated commercially viable solutions to MSE growth constraints through development of these models, inspiring other industry participants to adopt them. This bodes well for the sustainability and scalability of GMED efforts, benefiting SMEs and the industries involved through enhanced competitiveness and greater growth opportunities in India.

Alex Pavlovic
apavlovic@acdivoca.org

Sept 2004 – Sept 2008

The RTP (Rural Technology Program) will make grants available for technology development, applied research, and/or training, with a focus on rural communities, to aid in the development of a workforce for bioenergy, pulp and paper manufacturing, or agriculture-based renewable energy.

The RTP addresses the following goals:

• To increase the number of students encouraged to pursue and complete a 2-year postsecondary degree, or a certificate of completion, within an occupational focus of this grant program;
• To assist rural communities by helping students achieve their career goals to develop a viable workforce for bioenergy, pulp and paper manufacturing, or agriculture-based renewable energy.

This is a United States Department of Agriculture grant for domestic programs implemented by educational and training organizations in the United States. See link below for details.

The USAID-funded Community Action Program (CAP) III builds upon the successes of CAP I and II in strengthening local government institutions and grassroots democracy in Iraq. ACDI/VOCA and its sub-partner, International City/County Management Association (ICMA), are implementing CAP III in four of Iraq’s northern provinces: Kirkuk, Salah ad Din, Diyala and Ninawa. The goal of CAP III is to increase the ability of local government to identify, articulate and better meet the needs of its constituency.

The program’s objectives are:

• Communities better articulate their needs and mobilize resources within and outside the community to solve common problems;
• Local executive and representative government in CAP communities better meet articulated needs of the community; and
• Civilian victims of conflict assisted by the Marla Ruzicka Innocent Victims of War Fund.

Meeting the needs of local youth is important to achieving these objectives, so CAP III incorporates several youth components:

• Apprenticeship Programs for Youth in Private/Public Sector
  The Apprenticeship Program was designed and implemented under the previous CAP programs to improve youth workforce capacity in areas of high youth unemployment. The apprenticeship program currently provides short-term jobs in combination with on-the-ground training for over 460 youth between 18 and 24 years old who are graduates of technical institutes and universities.
  
  Under CAP III, supervisors are being trained in how to mentor and coach apprentices, which improves employers’ human resource management. This addresses the needs of youth in the community, and also has the benefit of strengthening human resource capacity within the local government, which will be critical as local government becomes more decentralized. In addition, CAP III is introducing an apprenticeship program targeted at public health outreach. Through this program, young graduates, will assist health specialists in developing outreach and training materials targeting maternal and child health, water-borne diseases, and other community-identified critical public health issues.
  
  
• Youth Civic Action and Governance Summer Camps
  ACDI/VOCA will conduct two Youth Civic Action and Governance Summer camps for a total of 120 youth in the summer of 2009. The camps will bring together male and female youth from all four provinces who represent diverse ethnicities to engage them in activities that will teach community governance strategies through active simulation and participation. Through the camps, youth will be exposed to both diversity and commonalities among themselves, and they will learn how to effectively use conflict-mitigation strategies, team-building, and advocacy strategies as responsible citizens.
  
  
• Development of Youth Community Action Groups (CAGs)
  Under CAP II, the Quratoo Community Action Group in northern Diyala developed a strong focus on advocating for youth issues and developing youth leadership. It formed a Youth Action CAG, predominantly composed of men and women under 30 years of age who work in the public sector as teachers and government employees, to support and inform its work with and for young people. Currently, the Quratoo CAG focuses on promoting and advocating youth leadership to their sub-district council and higher levels of government.

Brandie Maxwell
bmaxwell@acdivoca.org

October 2008 - March 2010

The Women’s Refugee Commission is engaged in a three-year research and advocacy project aimed at improving the effectiveness of economic programming targeting refugee, internally displaced and returning women and youth. The project includes ten field assessments covering camps, urban settings and early return contexts. Under the program, six innovative pilot projects have been funded to allow operational organizations to try out new approaches and capture new learning.

The American Refugee Committee (ARC) implements the pilot project in Southern Sudan. This project utilized an extensive value chain approach and analysis of market systems in areas of return to facilitate refugees’ preparations to engage in enterprises that would provide the greatest employment and income generation opportunities. These types of in-depth market analyses have traditionally been neglected by relief and development agencies. They provide an important learning opportunity to determine the impact of applying more sophisticated market techniques to refugee livelihood programs.

Based on market analysis, the project identified apiculture (beekeeping) and lulu nut processing as suitable high-return sub-sectors for refugees. Women process lulu nuts (also known as shea nuts) which are used in high-value goods such as oil, shea butter, soaps and body lotions. The goal of the value chain approach in both subsectors is to:

• Generate research through these pilot activities to identify innovative, commercially viable solutions for current obstacles to high-quality shea nut oil and honey production;
• Improve the information flow among value chain actors and between levels of the shea nut (lulu) and apiculture value chains, expanding and strengthening market linkages; and
• Encourage suppliers and processing firms to invest in new production areas and techniques.

Through facilitation of activities in the targeted subsectors, the project targets sustainable improvements in honey and shea nut oil production, leading to increased wealth for women and their families.

On-going evaluation has led to adaptations in order to reach the overall goal of facilitating sustainable livelihood interventions for refugees. For example, it was determined that the program can have higher impact on transferring marketable skill sets when participants have a “go-and-see visit” to their place of origin. The project capitalizes on these visits to include a vocational training component, since conducting trainings in areas of return not only transfers skill sets but also contributes to social cohesiveness.

Terrence Isert (terryi@archq.org) or Connie Kamara (conniek@archq.org)
American Refugee Committee International
430 Oak Grove Street, Suite 204
Minneapolis, MN 55410

August 2006 – October 2009

For more information on the whole program, see the Promoting Appropriate Livelihoods for Displaced Women and Youth activity profile, or contact Dale Buscher at daleb@womenscommission.org.