CONTENT SUMMARY
Brief Description: The Integrating Very Poor Producers into Value Chains Field Guide is intended to provide the field-level practitioner with tools and applications to impact very poor households.
Uses: The intended outcome of the Field Guide is to increase market engagement for very poor households, especially women, through enterprise development activities.
The field guide is used to:
- Strengthen vertical linkages between very poor producers and buyers & suppliers
- Strengthen horizon linkages between very poor producers and other producers.
Tool Components: The field guide is comprised of five major components:
- Understanding Very Poor Producers
- The Market Systems (Value Chain) Approach
- Linking Very Poor Producers to Buyers & Suppliers
- Linking Very Poor Producers to other Producers
- Other Analyses & Opportunities
OPERATIONS
Number of Staff Required: Not specified; this will vary depending on the size and complexity of the program.
Time: The Field Guide explains a number of activities that should take place throughout a value chain/market engagement project. The total time required will be dictated by the length of the project.
Cost of Assessment: This will vary significantly with each project.
Training: The Field Guide is intended to provide the practitioner with the tools and applications to impact very poor households; no specific staff training is required.
Geographic Targeting: The process focuses on value chains, which may span multiple geographical areas. The geography will be determined by the value chain selected.
Type of Data Collection: The data required can vary depending on the specific project and its objectives. It often requires value chain analyses and situational analyses, in addition to market information such as prices, volumes, quality, and variety. The information required is often a combination of qualitative and quantitative data.
Degree of Technical Difficulty: The complexity of analysis and programming will vary depending on which elements of the Field Guide a project chooses to incorporate.
Complements other Resources: Program design should be based on a good technical understanding of the constraints of poor households. This can be linked to a number of different assessment tools, including food security and livelihoods assessments, and broader economic analyses.