2017 ANNUAL REPORT Part of the Gorta Group Self Help Africa Annual Report 2017 1 Contents OUR VISION IS AN Our Impact in 2017 6 Technology in Africa’s Future 9 ECONOMICALLY Development Going Digital 10 TruTrade Finding Markets and THRIVING AND Fair Prices for Farming Families 12 RESILIENT RURAL Combatting Armyworm Invasion 17 AFRICA Boost for Kenyan Agribusiness 18 Case Studies 22 Felsiter Namfukwe from Nsunda village, NorthernZambia Felsiter Namfukwe from Province, Engaging with the Public 30 Support in Action 32 2017 in Figures 35 Where We Work and Who We Work With 36 REPORTS AND FIGURES Letter from the Chairman 42 Directors and other Information 46 Report of the Directors 48 Directors’ Responsibilities Statement 75 Independent Auditors’ Report 76 CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 80 Consolidated Balance Sheet 81 Company Balance Sheet 82 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 83 Self Help Africa is the trading name of Gorta. Company Statement of Cash Flows 84 The Gorta Group is comprised of Self Help Africa, Notes to the Financial Statements 85 TruTrade, Partner Africa and Traidlinks. 2 Self Help Africa Annual Report 2017 3 2017 TWO MILLION LIVES IMPACTED Mary Auma Otieno, Nyabera Village, Kenya 4 Self Help Africa Annual Report 2017 5 WHERE THE MONEY GOES* *Excluding retail IMPACT In 2017, we supported 89% 10% 1% 315,435 PROGRAMMES RAISING FUNDS GOVERNANCE HOUSEHOLDS Households IMPACT SNAPSHOT diversifying Households with farming systems increased production ZAMBIA ETHIOPIA BURKINA FASO Target households that have sufficient The introduction of new seed varieties saw 110,837 food lasting for 12 months yields rise significantly for a number of crops 230,000 159,606 calls to mobile phone farm advice service in 77% 71% seven months Increased yield following launch. Households with in wheat increased resilience Households 40% An additional with acceptable 3,700 87% 68% people accessed small 141,538 dietary diversity Increased yield loans to invest in their in maize small businesses. 2016 2017 WHAT WE DO AGRICULTURE COOPERATIVES GENDER MICROFINANCE CLIMATE SMART ENTERPRISE & NUTRITION We bring communities We’re working to level the We invest in people – providing Those least responsible for climate We nurture small businesses Over 70% of Africa’s poorest together - working as a gender field in sub-Saha- access to small loans through change are most affected by global and encourage enterprise - people live on small farms. We cooperative means farmers ran Africa. When women microfinance gives impoverished warming. We support vulnerable enabling households to earn help these farmers achieve their can access new markets receive the same support rural families access to small loans communities to adapt to changing a vital alternative source of potential to grow much more and earn a better income as men, yields increase to improve their farms, so they can climate, through climate smart income to send children and earn more from their land. from their produce. 20–30%. grow, eat and sell more. agricultural techniques. to school. 7 Technology in Africa’s future Using a smart phone in Dublin or London, or typing on a laptop in New York, you’re a long way from the one billion people on our planet who survive on just a few dollars a day. However, in the pages of this annual understanding of the people with whom report, we share with you a few exam- we work, by measuring and analysing by Raymond Jordan ples of areas where Self Help Africa is the impacts of our efforts. To do this, we CEO harnessing technology to deliver more are applying digital technology to dis- effective solutions to ending extreme seminate information, to survey and track poverty for the rural poor communities. changes to animal and crop life, and to assist farmers to source new markets The potential of technology to combat and conduct financial transactions. the complex challenges of international development is recognised across the It is an exciting time to be working in world, with broad consensus that digital international development. It is a time of solutions have a vital role to play if we are great change, and a time when we have to achieve the United Nations’ Sustain- the potential to make huge progress, to able Development Goals by 2030. benefit the lives of vulnerable commu- nities. It is, of course, not a case of ‘fixing’ the issues with the click of a mouse or the In a rapidly changing world, technology press of a button. provides us with the opportunity to do even more to achieve our goal of lifting But at Self Help Africa, and across The millions of people out of extreme poverty. Gorta Group, we are deepening our Emma Keyala, Nsunda, Northern Province, Zambia 8 Self Help Africa Annual Report 2017 9 From digital tools that provide bespoke commodity Development prices to applications that track livestock movements, or even pest infestations – the role of technology is assuming importance like never before in how Self going digital Help Africa is supporting the fight against hunger and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the fact that the majority of about a range of topics. Text messag- households we are working with live ing services provide information about without electricity, let alone basic internet commodity prices, weather forecasts and connectivity, the work that Self Help Africa even advice about specific diseases and is doing across our projects is being threats that may be faced by livestock or transformed by the application of digital crops, including the Fall Armyworm (more technology. information on our efforts in this area on page 16). There’s vast potential and boundless opportunities, but for Self Help Africa the focus on new technology begins with our Mobile phones are being efforts to better understand the people we extensively used to disseminate are working with. information to farming households We know that it’s not ‘one size fits all’. about a range of topics. By collecting and analysing an extensive range of digital data, we can record the types of support people are receiving and Meanwhile, Self Help Africa is also when and where this is being received. investigating the use of remote sensing This information is then used by Self Help technologies to predict crop yields, and Africa to ensure that we can provide the even nutrient deficiencies in crops. appropriate targeted interventions, in the correct order, and during the right season. The potential use of technology to detect levels of contamination, such as potential This work with households across carcinogens (aflatoxins) in certain crops, sub-Saharan Africa can run the gamut and the use of imaging technology to from bar-coding of beneficiary cards and analyse soil types and quality, is under GPS (satellite) location tracking of proj- review. ects, to the use of biometrics to measure the nutritional and health impacts of our The innovations referenced above - work. At the same time, smart phones together with a host of others - are set and tablets with internet connectivity have to transform farming as we know it in supplanted traditional pen and clipboard sub-Saharan Africa. New tools are being in gathering data literally from the fields. added to the armoury of agricultural science at a rapid rate, and will have a In a more traditional sense, mobile phones dramatic impact on the battle to increase are being extensively used to dissemi- food production and end poverty. nate information to farming households Photo: iStock 10 Self Help Africa Annual Report 2017 11 TruTrade Africa TruTrade findingmarkets and fair prices for farming families TruTrade provides trade finance to agri-dealers to buy Social enterprise platform TruTrade crops from farmers, has gone digital, to reduce the risk of doing business in Africa. and uses a payment system that uses TruTrade, which is part of The Gorta Group seeks to digital money. provide smallholder farmers with a reliable route to market and fair prices for their produce. TruTrade provides trade finance to agri-dealers to buy crops from farmers, and operates a payment system that uses digital money. The move to an all-digital sys- Photo: TruTrade tem was initially taken to remove the previous risk with cash advances. And the innovative move has had additional benefits. Furthermore, TruTrade has provided farmers, paid The Software This expanding digtial network has provided TruTrade farmers to arrive with their crops. digitally via their mobile phones, with verifiable income The software that is powering TruTrade’s platform, with contact details of tens of thousands of farmers. records which are being used to establish credit ratings which was developed in Uganda, can now show these In both cases, the trader needed to carry large amounts TruTrade is now communicating with these farmers, via with other business lenders and micro-finance lenders food companies who the produce was purchased from, of cash to pay for crops – a potential security risk in bulk SMS messaging, about new opportunities to trade, – something not previously available when they were when it was purchased and how much farmers were remote areas. As a result, women were often reluctant or to provide advice from buyers regarding company working solely in cash. paid for the crop - another new innovation in agricultural to get involved. Using the TruTrade system, however, sourcing plans. This is a unique breakthrough, as large value chains. agri-traders only need to carry a smart phone, reducing food companies who source through dealer networks Under the new all-digital platform, all payments to trad- this risk considerably. from thousands or tens or thousands of small farmers ers, and to farmers supplying crops, are now made via Finally, digitising agri-trading is also encouraging have previously struggled to ‘speak’ directly to these mobile money to agri-dealers who are part of TruTrade’s more women to get involved in business.