MONTHLY FEED THE FUTURE REPORT USAID CEREAL VALUE CHAIN PROJECT (AID-688-C-13-00002) APRIL 2015 REPORT

DISCLAIMER

The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

IR3: RESILIENCE OF VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES AND HOUSEHOLDS INCREASED

Gender consultant short term technical assistance to CVC: In order to support the CVC project to strengthen its gender strategy, to finalize the Gender in Value Chain Analysis tools and to produce an action plan, , Gender Consultant started a short-term technical assignment with the CVC project on March 17, 2015. On March 18- 19, the consultant held introductory working sessions with the project’s Gender and Vulnerable Groups Director and the gender specialists from our and Mopti offices. Accompanied by the based Gender Director, the consultant conducted a field mission to Sikasso (March 28-30, 2015) and Mopti (March 30 to April 02, 2015). In Si- kasso, the mission visited , met with the Sikasso based Gender Specialist along with 5 field extension agents ( and oriented the field agents on how to test CVC’s gender analysis tools at the producers level. The mission also met with the mixed (male/female) producer organization of , district of Bougouni with 54 members including 28 women. The members were sensitized on the use of the gender analysis tools within their organization. It is important to show the complementarity between men and women within the organization. The analysis tool for the traders’ level was tested with the wholesaler in Si- kasso, the one for input providers’ level with the seed company SOPROSA. In Mopti, the mission worked with the Mopti based CVC Gender Specialist and met with wholesaler ,

The objectives of these field missions were to test and finalize the Gender in Value Chain Analysis tools, and produce a report on the collected information. In addition, the mission has collected information for an internal workshop to discuss an improved overall gender strategy for the CVC project to take place in early May 2015.

IR4: LOCAL CAPACITIES AND SYSTEMS STRENGTHENED

Continuation of Sell More For More (SMFM™) training in Mopti: During the week of March 20–25, 2015, CVC Mopti completed the last five Sell More For More (SMFM) training sessions on module 1 “Cooperative Organization” and module 2 “Marketing” curriculum. T

Completion of SMFM training, Part 1. Including the above mentioned last training in Mopti, USAID CVC Project trained 217 producer organizations (102 in Mopti, 115 in Sikasso) on the Module 1 “Cooperative Organization” and Module 2 “Marketing” of the Sell More For More curriculum. The training objective of this first step was accom- plished with the following results: 217 producer organizations reached, 1017 cooperative leaders trained (509 in Mopti, 508 in Sikasso; including 102 women in Mopti and 116 women in Sikasso). Through their organization, ap- proximately 10,000 members of the 217 cooperatives will benefit from improved performance of their leaders and cooperatives.

Start of SMFM training, Part 2: Prototype training of Module 3 and 4 of the Sell More For More (SMFM) curriculum at Deh. From March 30-April 4, 2015, in order to help cooperatives improving their cooperative finan- cial and administrative management, USAID CVC Project conducted a prototype training session on the modules 3 (“Money”) and 4 (“Management”) of the Sell More For More (SMFM) curriculum.. The session at the training center of Deh, Commune of , district of Sikasso was conducted by USAID CVC Project Bamako based Training and Capacity Building Director. In total, 29 representatives of 6 cooperatives, including 9 women, where trained while a number of trainers observed, and participated in conducting the training: the Sikasso based Post-harvest and Millet & Sorghum specialists, an external training consultant, GFORCE’s training coordinator, and CVC field

Monthly Feed the Future Report 2

extension agents. The trained trainers will replicate the same training at producer’s level during 19 sessions (14 in April, 5 in May) for 570 cooperative leaders of 112 cooperatives.

Replication training of Sell More For More (SMFM) Module 3 and 4 in : After the prototype session in Deh that prepared trainers to replicate the Module 3 “Money” and 4 “Management” of the SMFM curricu- lum, the USAID CVC Project started replicating the training sessions from April 7-12, 2015. The first four sessions were held at the training center of Deh, Commune of Gongasso, district of Sikasso (30 participants including 15 women), in Nièna, district of Sikasso (30 participants including 22 women), in , district of Bougouni (30 participants including 13 women) and in , district of (30 participants, all men). The trainers were the Sikasso based Millet & Sorghum and Post-harvest specialists along with field extension agents of the project. The second round of four sessions started with a session in the district of with 30 participants (all men) from producer organizations of Nèrèsso, Karagorola, Zandiéguéla 1, Zandiéguéla 2, Zandiéguéla Bomosso and Nampéna. The training was conducted by the consultant of GForce . In total 150 participants (including 50 women) took part in these 5 training sessions.

Short term support mission on financial services: CVC’s financial services and business development services consultant, of our partner d’intl arrived in Bamako on March 15, 2015 for a short-term technical assis- tance (STTA) assignment. During this STTA, his efforts focused on coaching of identified financial intermediaries, and training of all CVC field extension agents. As part of his support mission, partnered with the Bamako based Financial Services Manager to conduct a two-day training in Sikasso (March 24-25, 18 field extension agents including 8 women) and in Mopti (April 2-3, 12 field extension agents and 8 Mopti based specialists) on how to provide efficient support to POs preparing loan applications for inputs (fertilizer, seed, crop protection products, gasoline etc.). The topics covered during the trainings were: credit, agricultural cycle, the notion of interest, deprecia- tion, debt capacity, farm budgeting, balance sheet, financial analysis, etc. In addition participated in the CVC quarterly reporting and planning session to explain the essential issues of the project’s financial services activities.

OUTREACH & COMMUNICATION

Field mission to interview farmers for success stories in Mopti: From March 31 to April 03, USAID CVC Pro- ject Bamako based Communication Manager travelled to Mopti to interview two producers’ organizations to draft two success stories for the upcoming quarterly report. .

Presentation of the Intensive Rice System (SRI) to journalists: In order to prepare and orient journalists on the SRI technology before the national SRI workshop, USAID CVC Project initiated a presentation session on April 15, 2015 with journalists from different media in (radio, newspapers, online press, etc.). The main objective was to deepen their knowledge on SRI to increase their capacity to provide reliable information about the upcoming national SRI workshop (scheduled from April 17- 18, 2015). The participants highly appreciated the initiative and promised to be ambassadors for this technology that increases the competitiveness of the local rice.

National SRI Workshop with National Directorate of Agricultural and other partners: From April 17-18, 2015, to promote the Intensive Rice System (SRI) in Mali, the National Directorate of Agriculture organized with different partners a National Coordination and Exchange Workshop on Large Scale Extension of SRI in Mali at the Interna- tional Conference Centre of Bamako (CICB). The workshop was chaired by Deputy National Director of Agriculture (Delegated by Ministry of Rural Development). The workshop was co-financed by national and regional institutions,

Monthly Feed the Future Report 3

Signing of subcontract with the Observatory of Agricultural Markets (OMA): As part of facilitating access to market information for rice, millet and sorghum value chain actors, the USAID CVC project and the Observatory of Agricultural Markets (OMA) officially signed a collaboration agreement on Thursday, April 2, 2015. The objectives of this activity include (1) Provide value chains actors with of a dynamic and effective decision support tools through information on prices and key references, (2) Improve the incomes of actors through the creation and consolidation of trade links; and (3) Strengthen the negotiation capacities of stakeholders through information. The targeted areas are supervised by USAID CVC but were not yet covered by OMA: Districts of Yorosso and in Sikasso Re- gion, Commune of Diabaly in the Segou Region and Districts of Youwarou and Koro in the Mopti Region. The main expected outcomes of the activity are: (1) The information collected and processed on paddy rice, white rice, par- boiled rice, sounas millet and sanion millet, white sorghum, red sorghum and pounded sorghum will be communicat- ed to stakeholders through local radio stations, with a focus on the producer prices, wholesale prices and consumer prices, available stocks and demand; and (2) Profits and business opportunities for actors will be increased.

Meeting between USAID CVC project and PCDA Coordination in Mopti: On April 14th 2015, CVC’s Mopti based Gender & Vulnerable Groups Specialist met with the Coordinator of Programme de Compétitivité et Diversification Agricole (PCDA), a program funded by World Bank and the Malian government. The objective of the meeting was to discuss development of a partnership, as well as synergies and strategies to mobilize funding for financing of income generation activities in the intervention zones. They also discussed the modalities to finance infrastructure and inputs and the introduction of drip irrigation in market gardening. In such collaboration, USAID CVC Project could provide technical assistance in its intervention areas of Koro, Bankass, and Youwarou. ACDI/VOCA implemented Projects’ strategies presentation: On April 16, 2015, USAID CVC Project Bamako office hosted the USDA III project team from Mopti, ACDI/VOCA’s e and . The two pro- jects presented their strategies and expected results to the used this platform to present ACDI/VOCA’s vision and strategy “2020” to its staff. One of the rec- ommendations of the session was to increase exchange between the two ACDI/VOCA projects, funded by different sources of the US Government. Meeting between USAID funded projects in Mopti region: On April 7th 2015, CVC’s Mopti based Gender & Vulnerable Groups Specialist participated in the first regional meeting of all USAID funded projects in Mopti Region. The objective of the meeting, initiated by the USAID/Mali Health team, was to explain the importance of branding and visibility for USAID actions in the region. In addition, the different implementing partners were invited to estab- lish and increase synergies between projects to efficiently use resources and improve overall performance. The partici- pants at the meeting were: USAID/Mali Health Team, USAID CVC Project, FHI360, Catholic Relief Service (CRS), SIAPS Project, and Livestock for Growth (L4G), Spring Project, WASH Plus of Care, Hygiene and Nutrition Project. It was decided that the meeting will be held on a monthly basis and in rotation. The next meeting is scheduled for May 12, 2015 at the premises of the Livestock for Growth (L4G) project. ACDI/VOCA HQ Support to the project. From April 13-18, (Agribusiness Director and CVC’s HQ based Director) and visited Bamako to support the project team and meet with some partners (World Food Program, Peace Corps, Aga Khan Foundation). The most important visit was a meeting with the USAID Mission Director and the Economic Growth team.

Monthly Feed the Future Report 5

U.S. Agency for International Development 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20523 Tel: (202) 712-0000 Fax: (202) 216-3524

www.usaid.gov