THE USAID YIDGIRI ACTIVITY USAID AGREEMENT NUMBER: 72068520CA00001 FISCAL YEAR (FY) 2020 ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT (FEBRUARY 17, 2020 – SEPTEMBER 30, 2020) Implemented by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) Submission Date: December 30, 2020 Submitted to: Katherine Younker Agreement Officer’s Representative Resilience Coordinator USAID/Burkina Faso Period of Performance: February 17, 2020 – February 16, 2025 This annual Progress Report was made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under its Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced program, which supports vulnerable communities in Burkina Faso and Niger to effectively prepare for and manage recurrent crises and pursue sustainable pathways out of poverty. The contents are the responsibility of CNFA and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Table of Contents ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................................. iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................................................................................ 1 PART 1: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION .................................................................................................................. 3 PART II. REFINEMENT PERIOD ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS ...................................................................... 4 PART III: PROJECT MANAGEMENT ............................................................................................................... 32 PART IV: PROJECT PERFORMANCE .............................................................................................................. 36 ANNEXES ................................................................................................................................................... - 1 - Annex 1: Comprehensive property inventory list ............................................................................................ 2 Annex 2: Table of indicator targets and results ................................................................................................ 5 Annex 3: FY20 Financial Table .............................................................................................................................. 9 Annex 4: Success story ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Annex 5: Annual Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Report ............................................................ 12 Annex 6: Annual Shock Response Contingency Plan Report........................................................................ 28 USAID Yidgiri | FY20 – Annual Report 3 | P a g e ACRONYMS AE Health Auxillary AGRA Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa AGRODIA National Association of Wholesalers and Retailers of Agricultural Inputs A2N Nodde Nooto (A2N) AMEA Agribusiness Market Ecosystem Alliance AMP Affordable Mobile Phones BDSP Business Development Services providers B2B Business-to-Business CFA Communauté Financière Africaine or “African Financial Community” CIPA Credit for Agricultural production Intensification CNFA Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture CPI Capacity Performance Index CODEC Coopérative Diocésaine d’Epargne et de Crédit de Kongoussi COGES Market Management Committees COP Chief of Party CRA Regional Chamber of Agriculture DGPV Direction Générale de la Protection des Végétaux DCOP Deputy Chief of Party EMMP Environmental Mitigation Monitoring Plan FCPB Fédération des Caisses Populaires du Burkina FOE Farmers’ Organization Extensionists GIE Groupe d’Intérêt Economique GIZ German Corporation for International Cooperation GRAD Groupe de Recherche et d’Action pour le Développement GSC Groupement de sociétés Coopératives INERA Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Research IDP Internally Displaced Person IR Intermediate Result MELP Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan MFI Microfinance Institution MoHD Ministry of Agriculture and Hydro-agricultural Development MOU Memorandum of Understanding NGO Non-Governmental Organization USAID Yidgiri | FY20 – Annual Report 4 | P a g e ONV-BF National Order of veterinarians of Burkina Faso PO Producer Organization REGIS-AG Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Accelerated Growth REGIS-ER Resilience and Economic Growth in the Sahel – Enhanced Resilience RISE Regional Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced RSAP Local Animal Health Network SME Small and Medium Enterprises SONAGESS Société Nationale de Gestion des Stocks de Sécurité Alimentaire TOR Terms of Reference UPCPN-S Provincial Unions of Cooperatives of Cowpea producers of Sanmatenga USAID United States Agency for International Development WFP World Food Program USAID Yidgiri | FY20 – Annual Report 5 | P a g e EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Awarded on February 17, 2020, USAID Yidgiri was launched in a context marked by a double crisis: a global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, and increased insecurity in the USAID Yidgiri intervention areas of Burkina Faso. Despite these challenges, in FY20 Yidgiri efficiently mobilized resources for operational start-up, implemented formative refinement period research, established important partnerships with stakeholders, and begin implementation of programmatic activities that will build resilience to the impacts of this increasingly volatile context. In terms of programmatic activity implementation: • A total of 84 demonstration plots were established in the Centre-Nord region to strengthen producers’ technical capacity and promote improved production technologies. Twelve Farmer Field days (10 communal and 2 provincial) were organized, reaching 2,013 people, including 1,601 women. • Yidgiri conducted a survey of provincial and communal unions as well as Producer Organizations (PO) to assess their current level of performance and identify capacity building needs. For the province-level unions, analysis showed that 2 unions had a high level of performance while the remaining 5 had a lower level of performance. For the commune-level unions, analysis showed that 9 unions had a low level of performance, 7 had an average level of performance, and 3 had a high level of performance. For POs, the majority of POs had a low to medium level of performance. The results of this assessment will inform FY21 work planning priorities. • A total of 208 new POs were identified in Centre Nord communes not covered by the predecessor activity, REGIS-AG. These new POs will receive USAID Yidgiri support. • The team identified 34 new potential buyers in the targeted value chains: 9 institutional buyers in the cowpea value chain, 3 hotels and 15 traders in the poultry value chain, and 7 buyers in the small ruminants value chain. • A total of 7 livestock markets were pre-selected for Yidgiri support. • Yidgiri developed a flier on best practices for fodder production and processing, which will be used in producer trainings. • Designed the methodology and launched data collection for the Market and Nutrition (M&N) Pathway Assessment. Yidgiri established strong collaboration with stakeholders, donor-funded programs, and private sector actors. • Yidgiri signed six (06) Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with unions: two (02) MOUs with Directorates in Charge of Agriculture and Livestock; and one (01) MOU with the Fédération des Caisses Populaires du Burkina (FCPB). • Yidgiri organized several meetings in Kaya and Ouagadougou with RISE II implementing partners (ViMPlus, TerreEauVie, Breakthrough Action, and Sahel Collaboration Communication), private sector actors (Generale Microfinance and Yeleen Sahelia Solar & Insurance products), and USAID Yidgiri | FY20 – Annual Report 1 | P a g e government stakeholders (Technical Secretariat for Nutrition, the Directorate of Nutrition and the Regional Directorates of Health for the Est, Sahel and Centre-Nord). Moreover, the Yidgiri nutrition team joined the UN Nutrition Cluster and the ANJE-Prevention sub-group in May 2020. Project management activities focused on administrative and operational matters, as well as Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL). • Yidgiri recruited 43 staff, which includes the consortium lead CNFA as well as consortium members CARE, GRAD and A2N. • A variety of health and safety measures were implemented in response to the realities of COVID-19 pandemic, including instituting a teleworking policy during the peak of the pandemic, maintaining hygiene measures in the office, practicing social distancing, and developing health protocols to be observed by staff and other participants to mitigate the spread of COVID–19. The COP initiated a review of key program activities and issued health and safety measures to allow staff to travel to the field when necessary. • Security assessments were conducted on the overall security situation in the zone of intervention as well as the security in the regional office of Kaya and sub-offices of Kongoussi and Boulsa. The recommendations were compiled in a Security and Safety Action Plan. Yidgiri staff was trained on safety and security awareness. A Conflict Sensitivity Advisor was also engaged to support the development of key deliverables and build staff capacity in considering the nuances between security and conflict-sensitivity in project implementation. • Yidgiri developed its Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP) which was submitted