Hey/Salut/Halla Balla! Hope everyone is doing well out there and that your 2010 is off a rocking start. I’ll get formalities out of the way and wish you the very best for the New Year. Health, prosperity and all that jazz (3 months late). This post has been a long time coming. Sorry for the delay, I swear it has nothing to do with me procrastinating and everything to do to my access to electricity or the lack there of. That’s the story and I’m sticking to it.
As promised, here’s all the dirt on what EWB is up to in Burkina’s agric sector (Note: this post may be a bit dry and lacking in my typically incredible wit, but I urge you to read on, it gets better I promise. Make your mother proud. Plus, I’ve added a few wicked drawings for your viewing pleasure)
Right on, let’s get cracking:
Agriculture in Burkina Faso – In Brief:
Here’s a quick rundown of the Agric sector in Burkina Faso and EWB’s place in it:
In 1991 the IMF (International Monetary Fund) introduced a Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in Burkina. The aim of the SAP was to reduce poverty through macro-economic solutions. To do this they recommended the following:
• Burkina to devaluate its currency, which would in theory increase its exports
• Burkina to liberalize its markets
• Burkina’s government to disengage from the agricultural sector
The disengagement of the government from certain parts of the agricultural sector gave rise to agricultural federations which are very much in action today. These federations play a role similar to a Ministry of Agriculture in terms of technical support provided to its provincial and departmental level branches or “unions”. These federations are EWB’s primary impact points in Burkina Faso’s agricultural sector. EWB volunteers (or APS: African Programs Staff as we’re now called) are embedded within these federations either at national or provincial levels. The scope of our work with the federations is primarily based on capacity reinforcement of groups and individuals on a variety of technical and organizational topics. Our
team currently works with three federations:
• FEPA/B: Fédération des Professionnels Agricoles / Burkina Faso (I’m embedded with this federation at the provincial level)
• FNGN: Fédération Nationale des Groupements Naam
• UGCPA/BM: L’Union des Groupements pour la Commercialisation des Produits Agricoles de la Boucle du Mouhoun
The general focus is to shift farming attitudes in Burkina from subsistence (farming to live) to entrepreneurial (farming as business). One of the key elements in enabling this shift is the CEF (Conseil à l’Exploitation Familiale - Family Farm Counseling) service offered to farmers by federations through their provincial and departmental unions. The basic principles of CEF services are:
• A comprehensive approach to running a family farm as a business. This means farmers are thought to consider not only technical, but also social and economic issues when managing their farm.
• Long term learning support and visioning on a variety of topics in the aim of achieving diverse and sustainable goals (namely financial autonomy)
• Decision making that prioritizes the health of the family and the durability of the family farming business
• Teaching methods (training sessions, exchanges between farmers) and decision support (technical and economic analysis) that values writing and calculation based on existing management tools
• The use of existing networks in rural communities for exchanging technical knowledge between farmers
• Open to others, especially women in the family, for the management of farm and family resources.
• Inspires curiosity and innovation
Basically, if you were to summarize it, the CEF service doesn’t only give farmers the “Savoire Faire” (how to do) but also the “Savoire Etre” (how to be). It aims at changing their mindset from farmer to farmer – entrepreneur; from a family farm, to a family business. It’s like an MBA for farmers (..well, kind of).
Before we go on I figure it’s best to lay out the structure and make-up of a typical farmer organization at the federation and union level to get you familiarized with the nomenclature.
Note that Farmers Unions can be broken up into provincial unions which can be further dissected into departmental unions and finally farmer groups that operate at a local village level. All are members of and supported by the federation at the national level. Here’s my lame attempt at a drawing to represent this:
As promised, here’s all the dirt on what EWB is up to in Burkina’s agric sector (Note: this post may be a bit dry and lacking in my typically incredible wit, but I urge you to read on, it gets better I promise. Make your mother proud. Plus, I’ve added a few wicked drawings for your viewing pleasure)
Right on, let’s get cracking:
Agriculture in Burkina Faso – In Brief:
Here’s a quick rundown of the Agric sector in Burkina Faso and EWB’s place in it:
In 1991 the IMF (International Monetary Fund) introduced a Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in Burkina. The aim of the SAP was to reduce poverty through macro-economic solutions. To do this they recommended the following:
• Burkina to devaluate its currency, which would in theory increase its exports
• Burkina to liberalize its markets
• Burkina’s government to disengage from the agricultural sector
The disengagement of the government from certain parts of the agricultural sector gave rise to agricultural federations which are very much in action today. These federations play a role similar to a Ministry of Agriculture in terms of technical support provided to its provincial and departmental level branches or “unions”. These federations are EWB’s primary impact points in Burkina Faso’s agricultural sector. EWB volunteers (or APS: African Programs Staff as we’re now called) are embedded within these federations either at national or provincial levels. The scope of our work with the federations is primarily based on capacity reinforcement of groups and individuals on a variety of technical and organizational topics. Our
team currently works with three federations:
• FEPA/B: Fédération des Professionnels Agricoles / Burkina Faso (I’m embedded with this federation at the provincial level)
• FNGN: Fédération Nationale des Groupements Naam
• UGCPA/BM: L’Union des Groupements pour la Commercialisation des Produits Agricoles de la Boucle du Mouhoun
The general focus is to shift farming attitudes in Burkina from subsistence (farming to live) to entrepreneurial (farming as business). One of the key elements in enabling this shift is the CEF (Conseil à l’Exploitation Familiale - Family Farm Counseling) service offered to farmers by federations through their provincial and departmental unions. The basic principles of CEF services are:
• A comprehensive approach to running a family farm as a business. This means farmers are thought to consider not only technical, but also social and economic issues when managing their farm.
• Long term learning support and visioning on a variety of topics in the aim of achieving diverse and sustainable goals (namely financial autonomy)
• Decision making that prioritizes the health of the family and the durability of the family farming business
• Teaching methods (training sessions, exchanges between farmers) and decision support (technical and economic analysis) that values writing and calculation based on existing management tools
• The use of existing networks in rural communities for exchanging technical knowledge between farmers
• Open to others, especially women in the family, for the management of farm and family resources.
• Inspires curiosity and innovation
Basically, if you were to summarize it, the CEF service doesn’t only give farmers the “Savoire Faire” (how to do) but also the “Savoire Etre” (how to be). It aims at changing their mindset from farmer to farmer – entrepreneur; from a family farm, to a family business. It’s like an MBA for farmers (..well, kind of).
Before we go on I figure it’s best to lay out the structure and make-up of a typical farmer organization at the federation and union level to get you familiarized with the nomenclature.
Note that Farmers Unions can be broken up into provincial unions which can be further dissected into departmental unions and finally farmer groups that operate at a local village level. All are members of and supported by the federation at the national level. Here’s my lame attempt at a drawing to represent this:
The following lame drawing aims to represent the organizational hierarchy specific to my placement with the FEPA/B:
UPPA - Union Provinciale des Professionnels Agricoles (Provincial Union of Agricultural Professionals)
UDPA - Union Départemental des Professionnels Agricoles (Departmental Union of Agricultural Professionals)
If a picture is worth a thousand words then a “smart art” drawing by our resident artist Noémie Paradis is worth like a bazillion. (Merci Noémie, la glace délicieuse vous attendra à Danny Ice au prochain RM!) Here’s a breakdown of a farmer organization at the federation and union levels:
President: Pretty self explanatory, ou bien? The fat cat in charge of overseeing operations, having a vision for the organization and leading the organization towards that vision.
Representatives: The executive board of the farmer organization. This includes all the usual suspects: Vise-President, Secretary, Vise Secretary, Treasurer, Vise-Treasurer Program Coordinator etc..
Field Agents: Most technical support provided by the union to individual farmers or farmer groups are carried out by these agents and as such, the reinforcement of their capacities is an important part of our strategy. Notably all CEF services are provided through field agents so the evolution of their skills has a clear and immediate impact on the quality and effectiveness of the CEF approach.
Field Agent Manager: Situated at the provincial level, the field agent manager will regularly supervise, monitor and evaluate the performance of field agents operating at the departmental level. His reports are sent to the technical staff at the national federation level who can then identify improvements and innovations to their field staff training programs.
Reaseau Gestion (Management Network): This is group of representatives from several different farmer federations that convene to share best practices and exchange information and ideas regarding changes and developments in Burkina’s agricultural sector.
Also worth noting is that interactions with the government, NGOs, financial institutions, markets and the private sector can take place not only at the federation level but also at the union level. Hence, provincial and departmental unions have the opportunity to innovate on their own and are not totally dependent on support from their federation. This decentralization means unions can take the initiative to set up various projects or revenue generating activities without relying on higher powers. This means going out and interacting with all those players with the ultimate goal of having a completely autonomous union. Seeing as how I work at the union level I get to play a significant part in this innovation process which, I reckon, is pretty damn WICKED!
EWBs – ERA (Entrepreneuriat Rural Agricole) Strategy
Our strategy in the Burkina’s agric sector can be broken up into three different yet interrelated streams. Essentially we’re looking to impact three groups of players to bring about the systemic change that will lead to increased economic growth through agricultural activities.
• Farmer Organizations
• The Government
• Financial Backers
Here’s a quick overview of the change we want to bring about with each group and the proposed action plan to make it happen!
Farmer Organizations (Farmers Federations, Farmers Unions, Farmer Groups etc.)
What we want to see:
1. Farmer organizations have the ability to create and put in place their own programs that are pertinent, efficient and best support the needs of their members (smallholder famers). Note: Programs can be anything from technical training courses (eg. Cultivation of Mais) to revenue generating activities (eg. Growing and selling of improved certified seeds)
2. Farmer organizations have the ability to monitor these programs, evaluate their impact and make the necessary innovations so that they continually evolve to match the needs of their members
Action Plan:
• Creation of a practical CEF guide that will increase the quality of the service by sharing best – practices and experiences between farmer organizations
• Capacity reinforcement of CEF animators (field agents) with respect to communication, reporting, planning and innovation to ensure the quality of the CEF services offered to farmers
• Capacity reinforcement of farmer organization leaders with respect to their management and innovation skills to ensure the proper evolution of CEF programs as well as other programs that respond to the needs of farmer group members
• Investment in the leadership of the young Burkinabes, so that new resources in management can be invested in rural development
• Innovation in financial services and services providing access to the inputs (fertilizer, high quality seeds etc.) offered by farmer organization. The aim is to streamline these services so that they yield higher profits.
• The harmonization of monitoring and evaluation of farmer organizations to allow for a prioritization of activities based on effectiveness
Government:
• Capacity reinforcement of CEF animators (field agents) with respect to communication, reporting, planning and innovation to ensure the quality of the CEF services offered to farmers
• Capacity reinforcement of farmer organization leaders with respect to their management and innovation skills to ensure the proper evolution of CEF programs as well as other programs that respond to the needs of farmer group members
• Investment in the leadership of the young Burkinabes, so that new resources in management can be invested in rural development
• Innovation in financial services and services providing access to the inputs (fertilizer, high quality seeds etc.) offered by farmer organization. The aim is to streamline these services so that they yield higher profits.
• The harmonization of monitoring and evaluation of farmer organizations to allow for a prioritization of activities based on effectiveness
Government:
(Now I know I mention that the government had to disengage from certain areas of the agricultural sector with the advent of the fated SAP program. They have now however, in the past few years, started to re-merge and have already caused a bit of damage with possible dangerous implications to come in the future)
What we want to see:
1. A sharing of responsibilities in supporting the agricultural sector between the government and the existing farmer organizations of Burkina Faso. (This is highly important so that the government and federations don’t work against each other which would obviously have disastrous consequences)
2. Valorization of experience gained by farmer organizations over the past two decades. For example, using the CEF guide as a base for agricultural counseling in Burkina Faso. (Again, this is important so that the government doesn’t start from scratch and repeat the same errors made by farmer organization during the learning process)
2. Valorization of experience gained by farmer organizations over the past two decades. For example, using the CEF guide as a base for agricultural counseling in Burkina Faso. (Again, this is important so that the government doesn’t start from scratch and repeat the same errors made by farmer organization during the learning process)
Action Plan :
• Creation of a practical CEF guide which will set a standard of quality for all agricultural counseling services offered (either by the government or farmer organizations)
• An impact study of all activities carried out by the 5 famer federations of Burkina Faso. A valorization of these impact studies in the form of articles that can be presented at national and international conferences on agricultural counseling
• Pushing for higher inclusion of the expertise gained by farmer organizations for use in governmental approaches and implementation of agricultural services
• Active sharing of all knowledge and skills related to CEF services between farmer organizations and the government
Financial Backers:
• An impact study of all activities carried out by the 5 famer federations of Burkina Faso. A valorization of these impact studies in the form of articles that can be presented at national and international conferences on agricultural counseling
• Pushing for higher inclusion of the expertise gained by farmer organizations for use in governmental approaches and implementation of agricultural services
• Active sharing of all knowledge and skills related to CEF services between farmer organizations and the government
Financial Backers:
What we want to see:
1. Financial backers finance local organizations based on their performance on the ground as well as the effectiveness and the relevance of the services they provide to the agricultural sector
2. Financial backers prioritizing investment in the knowledge, skills and attitudes of the local organizations rather than the implementation of ambitious action plans that are outside the capabilities of these organizations
Action Plan:
- Documentation of “best practices” with respect to capacity reinforcement of farmer organizations that can be shared with and used by financial backers
- Innovation in the relationship between financial backers and farmer organizations which employ better skills and tools in monitoring of results so as to incite new types of financing programs – l reckon you call this “results based financing”
- Documentation which promotes and advises on the need for capacity reinforcement in farmer organizations as opposed to ambitious external projects
My placement:
As you may have seen from my DaVinci-esq smart art drawing, my placement is with the FEPA/B federation working in the south central (represent!) province of Nahouri. I’m based with a “provincial” union (“UPPA/N”) in a small village called Ziou. So in terms of our strategy I’m working in the farmer organization stream. That said, if I play my cards right I can have an impact on the government and financial backer streams of our strategy. Time will tell. I’ll delve deeper into the life and times of my placement in the next posting, which hopefully will be out in less than 3 months. What I can say is that so far, my placement has been pretty tough, physically, emotionally, professionally and personally. I feel like I’ve been slapped/punched/kicked in the face/head/gut several times, figuratively speaking of course (well, mostly). But whatever, according to my dad it builds character (frankly I feel like I’ve got enough character, I don’t see why I need more - just sayin’). Anyhow, I’m making it through with support from good friends, a great team and some type of perpetual motivation machine that luckily, seems ingrained in me.
No worries.
Right on, hope this gives you a better understanding what my team and I are trying to accomplish out here. If you’ve got questions or need elaboration / clarification let me know. I promise the next post will be a lot juicier.
And say hi to your mother for me ok? You’ve made her proud.
Lates,
R.K.
