1. Cover page THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (budget between DKK 500,000 and 5 million)

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1 1. Cover page THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (budget between DKK 500,000 and 5 million) Project title: Sustainable Marketing Associations (MAs) for organic agribusiness development on basis of FFLGs in the Rwenzori Region, including advocating for an enabling environment for their activities Danish applicant organisation: Organic Denmark (Økologisk Landsforening), Silkeborgvej 260, 8200 Aarhus, Other Danish partner(s), if any: Local partnerorganisation(s): None 2. SATNET (Sustainable Agriculture Training Network) 3. NOGAMU (National Organic Agricultural Movement of Uganda) Country(-ies): Uganda Country s GDP/capita: $ 547 Project commencement date: Project completion date: 1 st of July st of June 2018 Contactperson for the project: For OD: Aage Dissing; fasanvej11@gmail.com mobil For SATNET: Rev. Kitooke Michael (Chief Executive Officer); satnetinfo@satnet.com For NOGAMU: Jane Nalunga; address: jnalunga@nogamu.org.ug 1. Ref. no. (to be filled out by CISU) Number of months: 48 Amount requested from the Civil Annual cost level: Society Fund: (Total amount requested divided by number of project years) Is this a re-submission? [X] No [ ] Yes, previous date of application: Is this a: [ ] A. New project? [X] B. A project in extension of another project previously supported (by the Civil Society Fund or others)? Do you want a response letter in (choose one): [ ] Danish or [X] English? Synthesis (maximum 10 lines must be written in Danish, even if the rest of the application is in English) Dette foreslåede projekt har til formål at etablere bæredygtige kooperative markeds-organisationer (MA) som markedsfører økologiske produkter til lokale, regionale eller internationale markeder, i et samarbejde mellem Økologisk Landsforening og de ugandiske organisationer SATNET og NOGAMU. Såkaldte Farmer Family Learning Groups (FFLG), som er veletablerede i Rwenzori regionen i Vest-uganda, vil enten danne eller indgå i sådanne markeds-organisationer, og gradvist kapacitetsopbygges til at kunne indgå stabilt i udvalgte værdikæder. Projektet har ambitioner om at etablere mindst 20 stabile markeds-organisationer med rødder i 45 FFLGer, samt skabe kapacitet i organisationerne til at opskalere MA-tilgangsvinklen og medvirke til at skabe muligheder for støtte af denne måde at producere og markedsføre økologi på gennem målrettet fortalervirksomhed. Date Person responsible (signature) Aarhus Financial Manager Torben V.Lauridsen Person responsible and position (block letters) THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 0

2 List of abbreviations MO Member Organisation in SATNET CBO Community Based Organisation SATNET Sustainable Agricultural Trainers Network NOGAMU National Organic Agricultural Movement Uganda OD Organic Denmark IFOAM International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements FFLG Farmer Family Learning Group FFS Farmer Field School NAADS National Agricultural Advisory System, Uganda CPF Community Process Facilitator CSO Civil Society Organisation MA Marketing Associations CABCS Community Agribusiness Capacity Services PGS Participatory Guarantee System ECOSAF NOGAMU& OD project M&E Monitoring and Evaluation 2. Application text A. THE PARTNERS A.1 The Danish organisation Organic Denmark was founded in 1981 with the mission of development of organic agriculture in a local, national and international context. Its vision is to unite, cooperate and develop all parts involved in: primary organic agricultural production processing of organic produce consumers marketing people for organic produce scientists - teachers and extension staff in organic agriculture. The objective of Organic Denmark is to work within 4 ethic principles as mentioned below: Principle of health: Organic Agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plant, animal, human and planet as one and indivisible. Principle of ecology: Organic Agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them and help sustain them. Principle of fairness: Organic Agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities. Principle of care: Organic Agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment. The number of members in Organic Denmark is presently The members cover a wide range of occupations, but all with a common interest of organic agriculture and can be claimed to have a broad and deep public foundation: 962 organic farmers with different size of farms and abroad variation of productions. The farm size range from a few ha to more than 1000 ha. The production is horticulture, fruit, cereals for human consumption and animal fodder, fodder production for roughage. Animal production is milk, eggs, and meat from pigs, cattle, chicken, sheep and goat. 102 traders and marketing firms in organics. Again the sizes vary considerably from small farm shops to wholesale dealers with thousands of items, to a huge dairy company like Arla Foods 3567 other members interested in supporting the organic movement in Denmark. Typical background of these members is concerned consumers, consultants, scientists, students etc Organic Denmark publishes 2 magazines ( Økologi og Erhverv (3000; fortnightly distributed) and Økologisk (30000; particularly aiming at consumer information). Organic Denmark organizes events, contacts between farmers and consumers and conferences every year, and is represented in a number of local and national events during the year. The management structure of NOGAMU is presented in the fact sheet and on the website THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 1

3 Global Organic Network was established in 2007 by members of the organization with broad spectrum of experience in development work. The Network consists of members who have a keen interest and knowledge of global organic agriculture, and who all felt the need to emphasize the organic approach to agriculture also in a worldwide perspective. The Network represents people with practical experience with project implementation in the Global South, as well as scientists with international experience from Eastern Europe and developing countries. Global Organic Committee is elected by and among members of Organic Denmark/Global Organic Network to act on their behalf. The added value for the organization of participating in projects like the proposed one is the constant learning and interaction about the many perspectives until particularly on the two issues which are the force and focus of the Organic Denmark organization, namely organic farming using agro-ecological methods, which is the basis of existence for the organization, and the use of Farmer Field Schools for development, which is the organization s prior method of interacting with farmers from Denmark, for their own development. In the mid-2000s, the organizations adopted the Farmer Field School method inspired from Uganda, as their main method of extension in Denmark. The combination of working with organizations in Uganda to use the method in its developed forms particularly for organic development brings a huge amount of challenges, reflections and knowledge into the organization, as e.g. discussed at the thematic workshop in the organization in March 2010 Famers take their hoes in their own hand, and again at a development workshop 9 th November 2010 about collaboration between research and development using this project as an example. When now proposing this new project, further one aspect is added, which is also a core area of the work in Organic Denmark, namely establishing linkages to markets and establishing sustainable local production and marketing in clever ways. In other words, the proposed project strengthens the focus areas of the Danish organization even more, by including new perspectives and adding to the amount of experience which then can be used in the collaboration with sister organizations in other ways. The organization does not formally collaborate with other institutions in the collaborating country Uganda The project team in this project (Aage Dissing, Inge Lis Dissing, Mette Vaarst, Klaus Sall, Lars Skytte and Per Rasmussen) has many contacts on different universities and in different organizations in Uganda. Organic Denmark is currently working in formalized collaboration with two other East-African organizations with focus on organic production in Kenya and Tanzania this is not in the collaboration country, but in the region. A.2 Other Danish partners Not applicable A.3 The local organisations SATNET The Sustainable Agriculture Trainers Network (SATNET) is an indigenous umbrella network of sustainable agriculture trainers organization operating in 7 districts (Kabarole, Kasese, Kamwenge, Kyenjojo, Bundibugyo, Ntoroko and Kyegegwa) of the Rwenzori Region of Western Uganda. It was founded in 2000 by 11 founding organizations, and now there are 40 Member Organizations (MOs) subscribing to it. It is an umbrella organisation which is deeply rooted in the area. Currently SATNET works with over farmers. The Board Directors is elected by the General Assembly which is the supreme organ governing the network. It has a secretariat responsible for the day to day operations. The following is the SATNET organizational structure. The existence of SATNET has significantly strengthened the work of all the local NGOs/CBOs promoting sustainable agriculture in the Rwenzori region. SATNET has created a trainers network in sustainable agriculture in order to improve the livelihoods of the communities, particularly the farming community by empowering them through building capacity of organizations to effectively and efficiently deliver services to the communities. The vision of SATNET is A vibrant sustainable Network delivering quality services in the Rwenzori Region which is fulfilled by the following mission statements: To empower Member Organizations (MOs) deliver sustainable agri-business services. SATNET aims at lobbying and advocating for formulation and implementation of farmer friendly and realistic policies and government programmes to the local government. They work in order to enhance the capacities within the relevant fields of sustainable agriculture, as well as to promote and strengthen cross cutting issues. They promote participatory research and utilization of research information as well as farmer driven Agri-business initiatives and all networking initiatives in general. SATNET will participate in this project in close collaboration with and via its member organisations. The three following staff members will be responsible for the practical planning and conducting of the project activities: THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 2

4 Rev. Kitooke Michael holds a MA and BA with several post graduate credentials. Kitooke, is the CEO for SATNET. He is a long time serving member of the Network having first of all served the Network as Board Chairman for five years. Kitooke is currently the manager of al the Network programs and take charge of all the collaborative linkages and the human resource of the Network. On the project the CEO will give managerial support supervision to the technical staff particularly in the areas of tracking activity implementation, results planning and management, integration of project activities into the wider scope of SATNET programmes to give a comprehensive package to the membership and general beneficiary community. The CEO will support the system development for a feasible sustainability strategy. Longino Masareka is a member of the SATNET secretariat team working as programme manager; Agribusiness and Market Linkages. He has supported several groups to become vibrant joint marketing initiatives. Given that SATNET promotes agriculture as a business, he has been key in attaining income and food security in the participating households through striking balances between agribusiness initiatieves and sustainable farmer family incomes. As a marketer, he has strongly linked farmer groups and their products to high value markets. Longino holds a BA. Business management and adminstration, a higher diploma in Marketing and various certificates in line with agribusiness and marketing. He is responsible for supervising the implementation of SATNET capacity building business and market linkages programme. Through SATNET member organizations he handles; development of business and investment plans for marketing associations (FFLGs), organizing collective and bulk marketing for marketing associations (FFLGs), organizing market linkages for the marketing associations (FFLGs), mobilization and advising marketing associations (FFLGs) registering as legal entities (cooperative societies or companies), business record keeping/documentation, promoting savings & credit among MOs/FFLGs, organizing business platforms and exchange learning visits of marketing associations (FFLGs) for improved business ideas/skills and generally backstopping of business entities (marketing associations). He is responsible for the planning and implementation of the project together with the rest of the team. Mr. Thaddeo Tibasiima holds a MSc. Agro-ecology, a BSc. Agricultural land use and management and has attended several short courses in agro-ecological farming. Tibasiima is in charge of agricultural research in the SATNET Network both covering livestock and crop production. He sets up research trials for farmers to learn from and make logical decisions based on their learning. He facilitates at CPF learning sessions (education system), supports CPFs with skills of agro-ecological methods and systems analysis and he is in charge of the SATNET demonstration farm. Mr. Tibasiima s role in piloting the FFLGs has been to mentor and coach the Community Process Facilitators (CPFs) in sustainable agricultural practices. He does the technical back stopping for the CPFs on monthly basis through discussing their monthly reports on the FFLGs proceedings. The CPFs seek for strategies on how to keep the process moving and a way forward to keep the FFLGs participatory is laid in the discussions. He does the field monitoring on quarterly basis and has been in charge of mediating between the CPFs, Member Organisation (MO) and the farmers. Tibasiima has been involved in the present FFLG project since 2009 when the FFS approach was being piloted. He worked with the CPFs to come up with the Most Significant Change testimonies of the existing FFLG that will be used to forge a way forward to improve the quality of FFLGs and create sustainability of the FFLGs education approach.tibasiima will oversee the role out of FFLG approach and the localisation of the approach in the MOs to ensure MO managed training for CPFs. Mr. Mugisha Samuel holds a BA. Development studies, a post graduate diploma in public administration and management and has participated in various courses on participatory M&E. Samuel has expertise and has designed SATNET participatory M&E project systems and has spearheaded engagement of the farming communities advocacy initiatives. Samuel will ensure results-based Monitoring and Evaluation for the project through: (a)clearly articulating the projects M&E priorities, objectives, targets and performance indicators; (b) creating a solid basis for internal resource allocation monitoring; and (c) setting a stronger platform for comprehensive monitoring results management. This will increase the project s M&E focus, clarify its areas of comparative advantage, and facilitating the measurement and reporting on results. For each project focus area, Samuel will spell out its key result areas and outcomes, with a view of further strengthening the project s alignment with other SATNET projects and programs. He will together with the team, develop an advocacy strategy which will be used in the identification of advocacy issues from the MOs/FFLGs and also from the external environment for the engagement of the concerned parties/stake holders at various levels. Ms. Kembabazi Dinavence holds a BSc. Agricultural land use management and has diverse experience in working with small holder farmer communities and has skills of participatory extension methods in agriculture. Dinavence is the programme officer in charge of agriculture extension geared towards agribusiness development in SATNET. She has been at the fore front of advising FFLGs in good agronomic THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 3

5 practices leading to increased production and productivity. This has resulted into FFLGs getting food for their households and a surplus for marketing. She has been key on the documentation and reporting of the previous project. Dinavence will play a central role of documentation project implementation processes and experiences, organizing farmer through exhibitions and farm to farm exchange visits for enhanced agribusiness skills. She will also handle continuity of advisory services on agriculture extension for improved agricultural quality production and management. NOGAMU The National Organic Agriculture Movement of Uganda, NOGAMU, was founded in 2001 with the following mission: "NOGAMU shall coordinate and promote Sustainable Organic Agricultural Development, Networking and Marketing. Inauguration of the organization took place in January 2001 after some individuals realized the need for a common voice and coordinated action for development of organic agriculture. NOGAMU is an umbrella organisation, which mainly organises farmers and smaller organisations and facilitate the contact between them through organisation of training and meetings, and work for their common interests in relation to market possibilities. It is a membership non-governmental organization that coordinates and promotes sustainable organic agriculture development, networking and marketing. Its objectives are: 1) To build capacity in organic research, training, education and extension in Uganda 2) To promote local and international marketing of organic products from Uganda 3) To increase the application of organic standards and certified organic production 4) To increase awareness and attract support for organic agriculture in Uganda Being a young organization NOGAMU has never the less managed to work with great success in the all areas mentioned. Today the progress is reflected in numbers: corporate or individual members, and more than ha certified organic and furthermore unknown number of ha under organic cultivation. IFOAM NOGAMU OD Western Region SATNET 40 Member Organisations (MOs) CBOs or NGOs The management structure of NOGAMU is built up around a Central Committee (Board), which is elected on the annual General Assembly. NOGAMU implements its activities through six activity committees i.e. finance, lobbying and advocacy, standards, training, research and marketing. The activity committees report to the central committee (Board), which in turn reports to the general assembly. NOGAMU also works in collaboration with four partner organizations, one in each region, to ensure more coordinated action to the grassroots community for development of the organic sector. NOGAMU will participate in this project in close collaboration with SATNET, and be involved in all coordination, planning, monitoring and evaluation because the organisation is planned to build up capacity to be the driving force in up-scaling this methods for organic farming development. The following staff members will in particular be involved: Jane Nalunga: Ms Nalunga is the Training Officer for NOGAMU, where she has acquired hands on experience in designing practical solutions to farmers observed constraints. She has organised and set up organic internal control systems for farmers groups dealing in organic production and export. She has more than 14 years experience in training farmers, farmers groups and extension personnel in production, soil fertility management, pest management, harvesting and post harvest handling for both the local and export market. She is responsible for organizing, preparing, and implementing training programs, as well as designing training materials. In the ongoing FFLG project, Ms Nalunga has been involved in supervision and monitoring of FFLG activities, as well as training on organic agriculture methods, marketing and group THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 4

6 dynamics, depending on the needs of the different FFLG. In Uganda, NOGAMU works on developing the so-called Participatory Guarantee System in cooperation with NGO s like Kulika, Africa 2000, SATNET, LOFP, AFRIRED, SOFA, Rucid, Caritas, St Jude Training Center and many others. All are working in the field of organic agriculture and training. Kulika Charitable Trust has played a special role for development of organic farming and empowerment of farming communities, as it has trained Ugandan farmers in a program called Key Farmer Training from Since 2000 it has taken place in Uganda and 40 farmers per year are trained. Many of these work as trainers in NGO s today. A.4 The cooperative relationship and its prospects Since 2008, SATNET, Organic Denmark and NOGAMU have been in partnership implementing the development of the FFLG approach in the Western Uganda, beginning with an appraisal in The joint development of the concepts of farmer groups which was developed in the first project meant that OD was closely involved in all aspects of the project processes. In the subsequent project, SATNET and NOGAMU took lead in managing the CPF education system and transition of farmer Field Schools into FFLG. Since then SATNET has strongly taken the lead role of implementing the project together with its MOs at grass root levels while OD takes the role of a partner who advice project design, monitoring and re-planning. In this way, the partnership between the three organisations has strengthened and the role distribution has been clear and logical. SATNET is the lead implementer of the project and will provide the lead technical capacity in agribusiness, advocacy and agro-ecological practices while providing the structural alignment of the project. At the moment SATNET is a membership of 40 MOs who are based in the seven districts of the Rwenzori Region. SATNET implementation of activities is basically through her member organizations who are legally registered as NGOs, Faith based organizations and community based organizations. SATNET has managed to bring the collaboration between the MOs, itself (SATNET), NOGAMU and OD up to a very good communicative status over the past year, in this way, the mutual trust between all the actors in the area has been strengthened considerably, and expected to be further strengthened for the future, based on this new project initiative. The partnership between NOGAMU and SATNET is likewise expected to develop and remain strong and collaborative, as it has during the previous 2 project periods. The partnership between NOGAMU and OD in relation to project development began with the initiative of the first project on Farmer Field Schools, developing into Farmer Family Learning Groups, in Since then, their partnership has developed in a partnership activity (funded by the Project Pool) and they are currently working together in the project ECOSAF, as well as in a major East African project ECOMEA, funded by Danida. In this project, NOGAMU particular take the leadership of developing the PGS for localised marketing and setting a framework for certification to a wider market and a larger consumer community. The partnership included common learning on these aspects. NOGAMU will furthermore spearhead advocacy initiatives at national levels to influence policies and lobby for farmer friendly marketing conditions. This is also a common vision of the three organisations and therefore expected to contribute to developing their partnership. The project will therefore in many ways strengthen the collaboration between the three sister organisations and develop their common understanding of development perspectives of organic farming and agribusiness development. We foresee that SATNET will use the approach and that agribusinesses will be developed in the region after the completion of the project, and we have built this into our exit strategy. However, we expect that our collaboration between our organisations will continue far beyond the project period with regard to exchange of experience, mutual internships and other activities, including the common learning process in an international network of FFLG learnings. B. PROJECTANALYSIS B.1 How has the project been prepared? Since 2008, SATNET has co-developed and fronted the FFLG approach as a way of reaching majority smallholder households with minimal extension resources. This approach has been preferred for as one of the organisation s primary extension methods. This project has been prepared over a long period. The preparation comprised the following elements: 1) In 2013, SATNET convened meetings to analyse the situation regarding farmer livelihoods and capacities in relation to FFLGs and MOs. These meetings were held between internal and external THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 5

7 facilitators of Farmer Family Learning Groups, MO directors who are key stakeholders in ensuring institutional frame work operations, and farmers who are direct beneficiaries and active participants, and are at the forefront of the project implementation. 2) In December 2013, joint partner meetings were held between SATNET, NOGAMU and OD to analyze the achievements and challenges for 2 projects which we have carried out in partnership in the period 2009 to The MO leaders participated in one of these meetings, and the FFLG facilitators in another meeting. Joint monitoring visits were conducted where men, women and children in the different FFLGs participated. 3) In addition to and partly parallel to this process, an external evaluation was carried out by the end of the project, in December The evaluation report was released in January 2014, and the results of this contributed further to the clarification on 1) what was achieved and not achieved in the previous projects, 2) challenges in the district among farmer families and 3) strengths and weaknesses of the MOs and their capacities See the evaluation report (Annex G).This process added to the common learning process, which took place between the project partners in the 5 year long collaboration in previous projects. This process led to writing the FFLG manual ( The Rwenzori Experience ( as well as the journal-manuscript Building institutional capacity in relation to Farmer Family Learning Groups in Rwenzori Region (in preparation). 4) In addition to this, a number of District sensitization meetings were held and were attended by both the technical and political leaders in the region. They explicitly appreciated the FFLGs as holistic approach that tackles social-economic issues such as gender based violence and joint marketing that encourages households participation. Some FFLGs have been taken up and supported by NAADS as centres of excellence. 5) A number of collaboration meetings were also held between SATNET and the private sector. This was to specifically create an enabling business relationship for the FFLGs jointly marketing their products like coffee and cocoa to some of these export business organizations (e.g. Bukonzo Organics Cooperative Union, Semuliki Cooperative Society and ESCO (U) Ltd). These companies are export organic coffee and cocoa to the EU markets. 6) Finally, a meeting was held in February 2014 between representatives from OD, SATNET and NOGAMU, exchanges and gradual common development of the project proposal inbetween these meetings, and regular local meetings in SATNET as well in OD about the proposal. Below, we describe reflections on the development process during the period from 2008 to date, both A) in relation to the development in the farming communities of Rwenzori region, and B) in relation to the organisation development in and learning of SATNET and the MOs, which is paramount to the conduct of the proposed project, C) summary and reflection on the Evaluation Report, and D) Summary and reflection on the marketing possibilities and skills within the MOs and the FFLGs. A) Summary of and reflections on the development in the farming communities of the Rwenzori region after the initiation of the FFLG-projects The collective efforts both within and between households has promoted inter learning and social capital building, where farmers rely on each other for knowledge generation rather than thinking that their issues require external expertise. The approach has built confidence among farmers especially women and youth to share knowledge and support each other s initiatives. The approach led to higher levels of food security on all FAO s four aspects: availability, access, utilisation and stability. Households participating in the FFLGs have greatly appreciated the approach in many ways. In the FFLGs, the savings culture has spread among the households, and the family cohesion leading to sharing of enterprises, joint planning in families and involvement of children and youth. Today this is vivid in households. The approach also built self-supportive initiatives, e.g. that FFLGs maintain their own seed bank, community roads, water sources and internal lending schemes. SATNET leadership (Board of Directors) has appreciated and recognized the FFLG approach as the most effective and efficient means of improving the smallholder farmers income and food security. During the first period of the project, bonding within and between groups was greatly achieved. However, few groups than expected realised joint marketing even during the second phase of this project. This is associated with the long lapse of members to adjust into trusting their individual projects into group management, establishing proper record keeping systems that ease market linkages and the shortage on crop finance to enable the farmers bulk their produce. Farmer family record keeping systems remain weak and non uniform hence hardly reliable to engage into feasible agribusiness. In the following a short analysis THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 6

8 of the existing FFLGs actual marketing / business experiences and competencies are inserted: a. Most FFLGs are into production and marketing of mostly Coffee, Cocoa, Maize, Rice, Bananas, Beans; b. Existing FFLGs experience is that: some sell jointly as loose associations (not registered as legal entities). They collect and bulk together. They look for buyers or ask for help from SATNET for potential buyers. After selling each takes his or her money according to the quantity supplied by the individual farmers c. Some FFLGs/MAs are registered as community based organizations at sub county and district level. Though this does not make them legal entities. It makes them to be recognized and known groups by the local leadership and stake holders that exist. d. Five FFLGs/MAs are members of registered cooperatives e. 90% of FFLGs have weak governance structures which make their business capacities quite low. f. There is limited ownership in some FFLGs/MAs by members due to collapse of cooperative in Uganda in the early 80 s which were mostly controlled by Government. This creates mistrust and individualism at marketing level g. FFLGs have limited working capital/cash flow which causes side selling. As Uganda is a liberalized economy h. Some FFLGs/MAs have integrated savings and credit in marketing together their produce. Somehow this makes some farmers not to sell prematurely their produce, though the practice is still at a low stage and has not yet transformed into high sums of money to create working capital. i. Quality and quantity of produce is still very low resulting from inadequate post harvest handling processes j. FFLG members don t have centralised storage places. This makes management and control of quality quite hard k. Business record keeping is still inadequate in all FFLGs/MAs. This makes it quite hard to capture on farm production and business transactions/sales. l. At the moment there are 45 FFLGs/MAs which are different stages of development. Some MOs are promoting more than one FFLG/MA hence making them 45. In Annex N, a recent field monitoring visit to business initiatives and MAs illustrates history, levels of organisation, strengths, weaknesses and other issues raised by MAs in relation to business planning. Our common learnings from this project was very many, but reflecting on it afterwards, the importance of involving whole families, emphasising the social and human capital building in local communities, and the need for combining family food production with income generation to sustain a family s livelihood, were two absolute key learnings. B) Summary of and reflections on the organisational development especially between SATNET and its MOs during the FFLG projects When we initiated the first project, we created and enhanced and increasingly strong partnership between SATNET, NOGAMU and OD. We educated facilitators of the FFLGs, and they were monitored by SATNET staff members, supported by NOGAMU and OD. The weaknesses of this approach became very visible in 2011 and became a source of potential conflict, and hence common learning and new patterns of collaboration within the project. The MOs play a very key role as they are more close to the farming community. They were and they felt by-passed in the project. This led to a long process 2 years of common reflection, action, development, structuring and re-distribution of roles and responsibilities within the project between SATNET, NOHAMU and OD. This process was concluded during 2013, where it became clear and where everybody involved in the process confirmed that the FFLGs were part of the MOs, and therefore monitoring and support of the FFLGs were responsibilities of the respective MOs, and not of SATNET. The MOs who are the key promoters of the FFLGs, their leaders are now well acquainted with the FFLG approach and have replicated the same in other groups outside the project support. Most of them have taken up the FFLG as their extension approach in their strategic plans. MOs have also learnt alot through exchange visits which has been a more practical learning of new ideas for them. This has created a strong collaboration among, between and within the network hence stronger institutions. Nevertheless, as also stated elsewhere in this application, SATNET still remains the expected source of capacity building, systems building and fundraising related to the FFLGs. Management and staff of SATNET is skilled and experienced in the FFLG approach. This they did well with a supplementary support of the facilitators (both external and internal), who were close to the FFLGs on a weekly basis. The FFLG approach has been also embedded in other SATNET projects that are being funded by other development partners. It is important to note that the MOs are at different levels of development and have different strengths and THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 7

9 weaknesses. Whereas there those MOs which have reliable funding, there are those who do not have external funding. Those with external funding have vibrant FFLGs where as those without external funding have less vibrant and more vulnerable FFLGs. It is also important to note that both types of MOs and their FFLGs will benefit from joining MAs. C) Summary of and reflections on the evaluation report The Evaluation Report of the SATNET-NIOGAMU-OD project highlights a number of strengths and challenges, which lead to recommendations. In this small summary, we - There is still general lack of technical knowledge about organic farming. Both SATNET and NOGAMU offer training on this, and this should be addressed no matter whether a future project is initiated or not, - A number of challenges are related to the follow-up, monitoring and mentoring structures of the FFLGs and facilitators, as well as the network structures between MOs and SATNET. This is relevant to address in a future project in terms of capacity building in management and monitoring. - Especially internal facilitators should be trained better. A future project should address this in order to make FFLGs work as a basic structure. - A major outcome of the evaluation was that the structures in the FFLGs, the MOs and SATNET enabling marketing initiatives, were still very weak. It was summarized that mistrust and individualism existed among group members when it came to joint initiatives, and there were practical constraints like lack of store in individual homes and central collection centers, theft problems, and lacking support from MOs and no guidance in the region on how to do. Farm planning and record keeping was still not in place despite efforts, and most MOs did not engage in helping farmers in finding markets. Apart from this, farmers should adjust to external factors such as price fluctuations and climate change related challenges. Based on our common reflection, we find this a very relevant area for future focus for improving the livelihoods and food security of the rural and urban population in the region. D) Summary and reflection on the weak business structures of the MOs and the FFLGs. The evaluation report stresses the fact that the ambitions of developing strong marketing initiatives and associations were not reached. At the end of the project evaluation, key project participants such as smallholder farmers, local council leaders, Facilitators, MO leaders and staff of different partner organizations brought to light a number of challenges which need attention or can be used as learning points and points of departure in this new project. The external evaluation brings out the key bottlenecks for FFLGs to carry on meaningful business to the weak business structures, inadequate postharvest handling and value addition skills and inadequate market linkages as key areas that require attention for the FFLGs to get better benefits from the value chains they promote. These points came up several times in several of the preparation processes to this project application and based on our reflection on the complexity of these issues, they point to the great need for formation of sustainable marketing associations. B.2 In what context is the project placed? The recent development in the Rwenzori Region The Rwenzori region is comprised of seven districts namely Kabarole, Kasese, Bundibugyo, Kyenjojo, Ntoroko, Kyegegwa and Kamwenge. Ethnic groups that live in the region are mainly Batooro, Bakonzo, Bamba, Bakiga, Basongora, and Banyabindi who have lived together for quite a very long time in harmony. Although each community has its own cultural values and norms, there is respect and appreciation of each other s culture which has contributed a lot to the development in the region. Majority of the population depends on small holder subsistence agriculture that is heavily depended on women led production and men led market chains. Some crops commonly grown are staple family food, fruit and vegetables, and some grown purely as cash crops (e.g. vanilla and coffee). Many farmers were unaware about the potentials of the local market and did not view the local food crops as potential cash crop for the local and regional market. The region has a fragile eco-system as a result of a tropical bi modal climate with the greatest part being mountainous or hilly and smallest area being semi-arid. This predisposes most of the agricultural land to several forms of soil erosion ranging from sheet to gully erosion. In addition there have been noticeable changes in reduction of water volumes in rivers and swamps, reduction of a snow cap on Mount Rwenzori which until now works as water catchments for most of the rivers in the region. The mountainous nature of the region renders market access quite difficult yet the nearest town in the region (Fort Portal) to the capital city Kampala is itself 300 kilometres away by road. THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 8

10 SATNETs role in relation to agricultural development in the Rwenzori Region This project focuses on organic farming and marketing development, which is within the agricultural sector. Agriculture differs widely between different regions of Uganda, and the Western Region (WR) is the first focus area for development of participatory FFLGs. In this area, the families primarily grow food for the families and local consumption, and some cash crops, mainly coffee, cocoa, maize, beans, tea, vanilla and some fruits. Many farmers have been trained in organic methods. SATNET is involved in training of organic farmers in the area, and in the case of export production, farmers are specifically trained in producing cash crops for the international markets. There has been an increase production and productivity as result of the using organic production methods like inter-cropping, crop-rotation and emphasising a diverse production lead to significant improvement compared to the traditional methods. Furthermore, many of them are uneducated and do not see farming as business, however, a number of FFLGs are trying to jointly market together and others individually. This is still at a low pace looking at the high increased production and productivity in the farming community. SATNETs connection to stakeholders, partners and organisations in Rwenzori Region In the region, there is a number of international partners. Broederljk Delen funds research, information documentation, agronomic animal husbandry and demonstration centre, GEF/UNDP funds environment conservation, The French Embassy funds domestication of rare plant species and documentation of indigenous knowledge, Concern World Wide is funding HIV/AIDS mainstreaming, EU/VSO is funding Institutional capacity development. At the national level, Oxfam Uganda (advocacy on trade issues ie EPAS, SNV (partner in capacity building of farming communities especially agribusiness), Mountains of the Moon University (partner on research issues) PELUM (Networking on Agriculture & Natural resource management), KRC (Partner in capacity development programmes), RANNET (Umbrella network of all regional civil society organizations in the region, SATNET is a member of national networks like National NGO forum & DENIVA B.3 Problem analysis Improved agricultural production, food security and potentials for strengthened agribusiness value chain development in the FFLGs The FFLGs have been developed and widespread within the MOs over the last 5 years. The organisation of farmer families into FFLGs has improved their production per unit of land due to improved farming practices and communal farm planning and operations. They have improved the social capital within families and local communities. The increase in production has improved at house hold level leading to need for collective marketing of the surplus. Over 40 FFLGs have started bulking and collectively selling together though at different stages of development (some formerly and others informally). The common enterprises that are being marketed jointly are coffee, cocoa, maize, beans, and Pineapples among others. However, the FFLGs (MAs) are still at various levels of market access development in the different value chains they are promoting. FFLGs have limited capacity to undertake market development in the different value chains stated. The capacity to make these marketing initiatives sustainable is still very low in many of the FFLGs. As a result of the previous project, some Marketing Associations (MAs) have emerged. These MAs are still very vulnerable and immature and need to strengthen their skills and capacities, even when there seem to be a market for their produce and the FFLG(s) involved seem strong and goal directed. These FFLGs and MAs present a huge potential but if they are left on their own at this stage, efforts that have been made to make them reach this level will have been rendered ineffective. Weak business structures The established marketing structures promote joint marketing but are not strong enough to stand on their own without profound strengthening of particularly technical skills. Similarly, the marketing structures in place need their institutional capacity strengthened in the following areas; governance, financial management practices, business investment planning, record keeping, business financing, savings and credit. This greatly makes many farmers sell their produce prematurely, especially if this is not explicitly addressed in the FFLGs. Inadequate postharvest handling and value addition skills Most FFLGs and MAs have limited capacity to handle value addition at the various levels of the different chains promoted to market standards. This makes a given product less competitive (because of poor quality) on the market hence attracting low market value. This is exacerbated by inability to put produce in a form with a long shelf life hence forcing the farmer to sell it off at giveaway prices before market prices hike as result of forces of demand. THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 9

11 Inadequate market linkages The current means of selling farmers produce is mostly through the middlemen who have a free choice to determine when and where they come to buy and have the sole prerogative of determining the price. Farmers have acquired some skills on how to bargain for better markets, however, this is still limited, given that most of the farmers still sell individually. Therefore, capacity to collectively bargain for bulked produce to attract a competitive price remains paramount. Advocacy, documentation and communication There is still limited capacity to undertake advocacy in MOs. This is compounded by having no clear strategies for advocacy, documentation and communication. We operate under an ever envolving policy frame work with several bills being newly passed..majority of the farmers are not aware of their rights to basic resources for production such as land, water and natural resources, and as important: the right for natural resources to be protected against exploitation from other players. In addition, the agricultural policies are still lacking i many aspects such as the biotechnology bill, intellectual property rights bill, food safety bill and several others with majority duplications. The farmers remain mostly unaware and are completely left out in the policy formulation process. This calls for a continued and well structured awareness creation and enhancement of skills to lobby for supportive policies. Gender issues extremely important and need to be addressed in business and marketing developments Women, men and children participate equitably in the FFLGs at household and community levels. At house hold level, the entire family participates in the production of the enterprise that is promoted. When local communities and farmer groups enter business and marketing development, it will often be the household heads, whom are often men, will take the major decisions and form the structures within and around the business initiatives. The great potential in relation to the FFLGs is the fact that whole families are involved in agricultural development, social capital building and initiatives to market products, especially on local levels. There is a great challenge to continue and strengthen this development and ensure that women and whole families are involved in the governance structures and the value chain development, when the business and marketing initiatives becomes increasingly professionalized. Similarly children despite the fact that they spent most of their time in school, but in holidays they need to participate in marketing of the households enterprises. This will build a skill that they will grow up and gradually take over agribusiness initiatives instead of selling off their parents farms due to a general devaluation of agriculture as a profession in many societies. B.4 Stakeholder analysis Describe the various interests that may influence project implementation: This project addresses a number of target groups as well as stakeholders not directly participating in the project but interacting with the project participants at some level. The poor households participating in the FFLGs form the most direct and primary target group in the project with strong interests in and influence on the project. They are surrounded by other households in the local community, which we expect will learn about this approach to learning and communication and eventually be attracted to form similar groups and / or interact with the groups and MOs in different ways. They are individual households as well as other CSOs / CBOs / NGOs which can have certain interests, e.g. non FFLG members selling their produce to a well organized FFLG jointly marketing members produce and or it can be other traders dealing in a given value chain which the FFLGs are promoting. Based on the previous experience in the projects on FFLG development, we can see that business initiatives and joint marketing are taken in different ways and on different levels. We therefore see the need to distinguish clearly between FFLGs, MOs and a third emerging entity: Marketing Associations, which will be explained in the following. A Marketing Association (MA) is the company or association, which form business and do joint marketing. A MA can bulk agricultural products for the local, regional or international market, and they can do some type of value addition as part of the process from farmer to their sale of the products. This can be e.g. fermenting cocoa, or it can be milling of maize or other crops, or it can be drying of fruit or baking muffins or any other processing of their produce. A MA can be formed in at least three different ways: 1) One FFLG can go through a transition process where they will start marketing together on top of the collaboration and activities which they have had in their daily practice, 2) Two or more FFLGs can go together and form a MA where they perform their joint marketing and business activities, or 3) A MO can take the lead in forming a MA, THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 10

12 which can serve as a framework for joint marketing from FFLGs and individual farmers. SATNET member organisations (MOs) form the organisational structure around the activities and are quite different in nature, as explained elsewhere. They will therefore be able to stimulate the FFLGs in different ways, but also have different weaknesses and need capacity building and support. The FFLG facilitators, who all come from the member organisations and are links between the MOs and the FFLGs, will need and want continuous update on education and can potentially initiate new groups and have great influence on the local development through their stimulation of the farmer communities. The involved organisation SATNET forms the coordinating platform for the member organisations and has the responsibility to facilitate capacity building among the MOs, FFLGs and MAs. They form a learning forum and capacity building centre and have a strong interest in penetrating the development of the project and understand the conditions of each member organisation as well as the different types of farmer groups. To competitively serve the marketing groups effectively and efficiently, the trading company will also require support to make her capacity stable. Local authorities: A third target group are important local (and in some cases national) players like bureaucrats, politicians, social leaders, policy makers and local government members. This group is very important in two ways. 1) They are key to instituting better policies and means to development in the area in terms of e.g. infrastructure, transport systems, support to water access, a favourable trading environment and many other key elements of good farming and food production prospects, 2) They are also the key influencers at the local level who could take these changes forward to implementation. Existing extension systems NAADS: The existing extension system in Uganda has expertise in many agricultural enterprises as well as specific problem areas connected to local farming and food systems, and efforts will be made within all participating organisations to link up with existing structures and promote the approaches developed in this project. In the previous project, a number of FFLGs benefitted by donations from NAADS in terms of animals fx pigs, goats or chicken, or new crop varieties. Access to such donations will be explored, exploited and stimulated through the contacts, although not a main focus of the project since the donor-culture also has highly negative influence on empowerment and the sense of ownership among farmers. Practices aiming at securing equal distribution of donations as well as accessing sufficient education related to the newly acquired donations will be further strengthened, as this is not always a part of these donations. One overall stakeholder which potentially could influence and interact with the actors in this project is the greater civil society, including national level NGOs (other than NOGAMU), Donor Agencies, training institutions, academia and media who also have a key role in bringing in the entitlement issues of the citizens, and which can be attracted to support positive developments already initiated by SATNET and its MO s. The dialogue with these players is a key component of this project, in which the immediate goal number 3 focuses on advocacy and raising voices to local authorities and governments. In Uganda several companies are trading and exporting organic products like coffee, cocoa, vanilla and fruits. These export possibilities is of course relevant and will be part of business activities. Certified organic commodities will be a good possibility for some farmers but the largest amount of products, ordinary food crops, will target the local or national market or even the regional market as all neighboring countries do not produce enough food. There will be high level engagement and collaboration with private sector since it offers an immediate market to farmers. In terms of crop finance, the private sector is well established where some times farmers are compelled to borrow from them or sale to them before actual or immediately after harvesting. Bringing the private sector closer will create a harmonious way of collaborating with the MAs and the participating partners.satnet trading company is already established and it will help the FFLGs (marketing groups) to access bigger markets for the major food crops like maize, coffee, cocoa, pineapples, cassava, beans, millet. Details on the SATNET Trading Company are as follows: a. SATNET has 55% shares in the Trading Company that was registered in Currently 10 MOs have bought shares in the company and selling of shares is still ongoing. A share costs UGX 20,000. MOs are buying shares primarily for making the FFLGs/MAs as means to link them to better markets b. The trading company is fully registered as a legal entity, has acquired land where it operates from, has a maize milling machine offering milling services to the FFLGs/MAs and the general public. However, the business volume is still low though steadily increasing as the company was launched in December THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 11

13 c. The sole aim of the company is to provide market linkages for FFLGs/MAs and MOs who are promoting different value chains. Though the company has started with milling and marketing of maize which later will scale out to other major grown enterprises in the region e.g. coffee, cocoa, beans and rice. The key value chains that SATNET is promoting among the FFLGs are mainly but not limited to coffee, cocoa, maize, fruits and food crops which sometimes double as food security crops as well as cash crops (examples are beans & Irish potatoes). The main challenges that farmers face in growing and marketing these crops are inadequate postharvest handling and value addition skills, inadequate market linkages skills, limited crop finance for paying up front farmers produce, inadequate in put supplies which affect farmers to produce sometimes poor quality products coupled with the low business skills among FFLGs. Community Agribusiness Capacity Services (CABCS) is an environmentally sensitive local NGO/Company in the Rwenzori region. They are cooperating with SATNET in business issues to build capacity of small scale farmers in marginal areas to enable them link to growth markets, and develop methods and approaches that effectively integrate research, market access and development of community agribusiness entities. The involved organisation NOGAMU is interacting and the project draws on the expertise from NOGAMU. NOGAMU has a great interest in the project because they continuously learn and transfer their learning to co-develop new ways of using the FFLG approach in very different parts of Uganda, under many circumstances and in many contexts, and with organisations different from SATNET and its MOs. NOGAMU will have a specific consultative role to play. One of NOGAMU s objectives is to promote local and export marketing of organic products from Uganda, and to ensure local markets. To achieve this objective, a number of services have been developed. NOGAMU has established an Organic Trade Point (OTP) to serve as a one stop center for organic market information and related enquiries to local farmers and exporters as well as importers looking for organic products from Uganda. NOGAMU will also look into how some FFLGs get certified under the participatory guarantee systems (PGS), and they collaborate on this with other organisations (NGOs and companies). Stakeholder Strengths Weaknesses Poor households participating FFLGs rural in Community households not yet participating in FFLGs Most households are well organised into FFLGs which have wishes to be strengthened in agri-business skills and thereby forming an MA. Parallel to this, they may still wish to continue with their normal FFLG activities, such as working together on their farms or in a common garden, or improve their learning about farming, food, or any other issue. Non FFLG members copying good agricultural practices from FFLG member farms. Some non-fflg members start forming FFLGs and /or can join MAs. The majority of farmers are currently not utilizing the potentials of joint marketing possibilities. Weak structures seem exist with regard to marketing in the FFLGs, and they have not gone through a process of developing a good MA parallel to their FFLG activities. The capacity to do recordings usable for joint marketing is weak. Families are often vaguely aware of the local governance processes, their rights and possibilities. Farmer Family Learning Groups Marketing Associations (MAs) FFLGs have empowered whole families to work and plan together as families and in their local communities. This enables the FFLGs which want to develop business on top of their collaboration, which they have already established. This project will build on the strength of whole family participation and support the business development with equal participation from men and women. Many FFLGs and MOs have taken steps to joint marketing and business development. This project will strengthen them in forming Marketing Associations, By the end of the SATNET project, about 44 FFLGs had entered into some kind of business, in other words, formed some kind of MA. Most of these are relatively fragile and vulnerable. In addition, a number of FFLGs still want to start marketing together and take initiatives on business. They need support, education and mentoring to transform into a MA. Most MAs are still weak and have not formed any structural or institutional frameworks, and severely lack resilience. THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 12

14 SATNET member organisations (MOs) Facilitators in the SATNET member organisations which can consist of individual FFLGs or more FFLGs which are going together. A MA can also be developed by a MO, which form a company as a unit which is connected to the MO. Some MAs have developed well into business and much can be learned from them, The SATNET member organisations cover most of the Region, so the outreach of the project is potentially great. All MOs are engaged in various service delivery in local areas and well recognised by the local communities. There is a huge diversity of different MOs and thereby a huge potential to learn from each other. A number of external facilitators are educated in agro ecological methods and the FFLG approach with potential to enhance their agribusiness skills. When FFLGs form MAs, the group still lack skills of developing business plans. Many member organisations in SATNET have a very weak understanding of how to influence local governance processes. Limited MO capacity to educate, mentor & coach new facilitators to take charge of the ever increasing number of FFLGs The focus of SATNET MO s have not so far been to raise a voice to local authorities, and hence their capability in advocacy is weak All facilitators need to have their knowledge and experience in marketing developed. SATNET SATNET is widely recognised and respected in the area. SATNET has a very well organised structure and all formal documents and systems e.g. of accounting completely up-to-date. Immense knowledge on many issues related to food and farming exists within SATNET. SATNET has largely relied on support from the donor organisations with limited investment on sustainability. SATNET commodities Ltd is still young and it needs nurturing to settle and stabilize in business NOGAMU Local authorities and government Local extension services outside SATNET member organisations Donor agencies and large CSOs For sustainability SATNET formed a business arm SATNET commodities Ltd NOGAMU is widely recognised and respected and has many activities and networks on national and international levels. NOGAMU is very well organised and structured and capable of sustaining the organisation from the organisation s own funds. Control major funds, have power to make new policies, e.g. regarding nature conservation, land rights and infrastructure development. Major departments for extension in agriculture, livestock keeping, nature preservation etc. are present in the area to provide technical support to the farmers. They are engaged and/or are partners to major sector interventions and can NOGAMU is drawn from so many member organisations that it is a challenge for the organisation to meet all expectations. High levels of corruption in government, which leads to inadequate service delivery and make them an unreliable partner in all ways. Local extension services are highly under staffed with limited resources to reach out to the local small holder farmers. In addition, majority of the Government extension staff are deliberately skilled in conventional agriculture which is unadoptable by the small holder farmers The approach of many of these organisations and some of the so-called THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 13

15 actively become supporters and partners of the activities in this project. donors often are that of mainstream institutions and policies, and our experience is that the interest for non-input and sustainable farming method is not big compared to direct financial interests in agro-chemical companies among many decision makers. C. PROJECT DESCRIPTION C.1 Target group and participants SATNET is an umbrella organisation of 40 member organisations (MOs), which are different in structure, aims and working methods, and which are all working in different parts of the region. All participating farmer communities are connected to the Ugandan partner organisation through their membership of these MOs, The projects target group is farmer communities in the Western Region in Uganda. The current 140 FFLGs have about 3500 households. Many of these FFLGs have formed Marketing Associations (MAs), and the target is to have at least 45 FFLGs engaged in a MA, doing joint marketing, and actively participating jointly with their MO in advocacy efforts and collective action. On average each house hold has 7 members. The beneficiaries therefore will be around people in total including men, women (about 65%) and children. Target groups and participants Rural households who take part in FFLGs Local community general ; Marketing Associations Member Organisations (MOs) SATNET Organisations External stakeholders (secondary) in of In Western Region: Who does the project target? At least 45 groups of farmer families (husbands, wives, children in FFLGs who participate in the project The local communities, who benefit from the improved capacity building to do target directed advocacy and the organic produce which is marketed locally and improve availability of healthy food 20 MAs who benefit from context relevant capacity building. The MOs of SATNET, which will improve their institutional and organisational capacity of educating internal facilitators and support their FFLGs to target their advocacy efforts and join forces as well as networks. SATNET, which will focus on building up capacity to coordinate social enterprise development activities as well as target directed advocacy activities, and gain experience within participatory guarantee systems (PGS). Local stakeholders (local government, local resource persons and civil society actors) which already have linkages with SATNET and MOs, will learn from the marketing activities and the target directed advocacy efforts. In Uganda: who does the project benefit outside the project? Rural households in other regions to where the experiences will be exchanged, and the concepts will be introduced, analysed and adjusted to the specific context of their area. Other local communities, e.g. in the ECOSAF project, which learn from the project and transform the experiences into their realities, and may benefit from food available. Other joint marketing groups throughout the country, which can learn and be inspired from what happens in this project. Many stakeholders can potentially benefit from the actual effort which is done by the MOs in terms of target directed advocacy. NOGAMU which gain experience and learnings which can be rethought into other of their member organisations. Organisations, local governments, and civil society actors which will participate in networks with SATNET, MOs, MAs and/or NOGAMU. C.2 The project s objectives and success criteria (indicators) The overall development objective towards which the project sets out to contribute THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 14

16 To establish sustainable Marketing Associations (MAs) for organic production on basis of Farmer Family Learning Groups in the Rwenzori Region, including advocating for an enabling environment for their activities The project s immediate objectives: 1) To enable FFLGs to become efficient and reliable partners in MAs in joint marketing initiatives, and to do target directed advocacy efforts in partnerships with other organisations. 2) To strengthen marketing capacities of MAs for marketing of organic produce, and their linkages to the private sector in the organic key value chains they are promoting. 3) To strengthen the institutional and organisational capacity of SATNET s MOs, specifically in relation to continuous support of external and internal facilitators and for target directed advocacy in accordance with a joint strategy The success criteria/indicators to measure the achievement of each immediate objective Objective 1: To enable FFLGs to become efficient and reliable partners in MAs in joint marketing initiatives, and to do target directed advocacy efforts in partnerships with other organisations 1a). At least 45 FFLGs have clear governance and management structures, which enable them to become partners in MAs 1b). At least 45 FFLGs have functional record keeping management systems on farm and FFLG level, 1c) At least 45 FFLGs have participated in advocacy efforts targeted at regional infrastructure and/or policies for organic agriculture in accordance with the joint advocacy strategy. Objective 2: To strengthen marketing capacities of MAs for marketing of organic produce, and their linkages to the private sector in the organic key value chains they are promoting 2a) A trust fund is well established and have carried through its intended role as part of the project, which means that it has supported capacity building education and organisational strengthening of MAs, which among others support them in applying for and accessing funds for storage facilities and other equipment which will support their marketing initiatives. This trust fund is based on well described criteria for applications, and based on transparent and inclusive processes for giving or lending financial support (see description in Annex XXX). 2b) At least 20 MAs are profitably engaged and jointly selling in one or two organic value chains 2c) At least 20 MAs are managing/controlling the quality of their organic produce in regard to market requirements through value addition and accessing quality in puts 2d). At least 3 MAs have developed and tested Participatory Guarantee System for their organic produce to access better markets on a pilot level. This happens under guidance from SATNET and NOGAMU, and with contact to other marketing groups which have a PGS running. 2e). At least 20 MAs have a system to access and utilise market information 2f) At least 20 MAs have established a well-working savings and credit component in their business entities 2g) At least 20 MAs have developed a governance and management structure, where gender balance and involvement of all age groups are actively implemented. Objective 3: To strengthen the institutional and organisational capacity of SATNET s MOs, specifically in relation to continuous support of external and internal facilitators and for target directed advocacy in accordance with a joint strategy 3a) At least 30 MOs have strengthened their capacity in supporting their facilitators, through participatory processes and trainings, to an extent so that they have a mentoring plan in place which the connected external and internal facilitators can support. 3b) A target directed advocacy strategy is agreed on between SATNET and MOs is focusing on regional infrastructure and policies promoting organic agriculture in smallholder family farms. THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 15

17 3c) 40 MOs and the FFLGs which are linked to these MOs have engaged in the agreed strategy and implementing advocacy efforts on regional infrastructure and policies promoting organic agriculture in smallholder family farms. enhanced through trainings, mentoring and coaching. Means of verification information regarding the indicators will be collected. Objective 1: To enable FFLGs to become efficient and reliable partners in MAs in joint marketing initiatives, and to do target directed advocacy efforts in partnerships with other organisations. 1a) Training reports on governance and management practices 1b) The constitutions of each FFLG approved by the MO, 1c) External monitoring reports by SATNET staff members in collaboration with NOGAMU and OD team. 1e) Registration certificates of MAs showing their legal status Objective 2: To strengthen marketing capacities of MAs for marketing of organic produce, and their linkages to the private sector in the organic key value chains they are promoting. 2a) Biannual reports from the trustfund 2b) Business and investment plans kept at MA level 2c) MAs governance and management plans 2d) Signed contract documents between the MAs and buyers 2e) MAs records of purchases & sales. 2f) Monitoring reports by SATNET staff members together with NOGAMU and OD team 2g) Audio/visual recorded testimonies of individual farmers in MAs on incomes earned. Objective 3: To strengthen the institutional and organisational capacity of SATNET s MOs, specifically in relation to continuous support of external and internal facilitators and for target directed advocacy in accordance with a joint strategy. 3a) SATNET reports on training of MO staff on mentoring FFLG facilitators 3b) Reports from MOs on their practices and actual conducts of mentoring activities regarding FFLG facilitators. 3c) Description and report on SATNET and MOs joint and agreed advocacy strategy. 3d) Record of communications made in e.g. Newsletters, Policy briefs, number of radio programmes conducted, debates and dialogue meetings conducted 3e) Monitoring reports by SATNET staff members, NOGAMU and OD teams 3f) Activity reports 3g) Audio/visual recordings of lobby and advocacy engagements C.3 Outputs and activities Expected outputs Activities Objective 1: To enable FFLGs to become efficient and reliable partners in MAs in joint marketing initiatives, and to do target directed advocacy efforts in partnerships with other organisations. 1.1). At least 45 FFLGs have 1.1.1). Carry out capacity assessment of 130 FFLGs to identify gaps developed gender balanced clear in record keeping, market information sharing / dissemination governance, management strategies, governance and management structures which they will structures and record keeping, which enable them to become partners in MAs need to become good business partners in an MA with focus on equal participation on men and women when entering into business and when keeping records and participating in trainings ). Conduct local capacity building training sessions in response to identified capacity needs with focus on record keeping, governance and management structures in FFLGs with whole family participation ).Support trained CPFs to engage FFLGs in good governance, record keeping, market information sharing, MA registration and collective marketing initiatives, to facilitate the FFLGs to enter or initiate a MA ). Conduct follow up visits of groups to assess progress in application of the training packages ) Conduct a marketing survey to support the choices of FFLGs in their strategies (NOGAMU; selecting 2 products for international export, 2 dry food products and 2 vegetable products) THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 16

18 1.2 Strengthening FFLGs to become skilled in advocacy with focus on regional infrastructure and policies promoting organic agriculture Conduct workshops where FFLGs analyse their context and develop inputs to their MOs for development of a joint advocacy strategy across the SATNET MOs. Objective 2: To strengthen marketing capacities of MAs for marketing of organic produce, and their linkages to the private sector in the organic key value chains they are promoting 2.1) A trust fund is set up and 2.1.1) A board is set up for the trust fund on basis of the draft carry through processes which regulations in Annex XX. enables well selected MAs to 2.1.2) A biannual process for application from MAs to send their build capacity, strengthen their members on capacity building courses, strengthen their organisation organisation and apply for cofinancing funds for necessary 2.1.3) Support is given to MAs to apply for co-funding for needed etc., is established. facilities and equipment structures e.g. storage facilities and equipment to be able to market 2.2). 20 MAs will be registered as legal business entities (cooperatives or companies) their produce ) Develop, document and share information regarding registration requirements within the group of MAs 2.2.2) SATNET will facilitate linking MAs to resourceful persons in charge of registration and legalization of business entities 2.3). Record keeping system developed in at least 20 MAs 2.3.1). Conduct trainings for 20 MAs in record keeping for business management (in the recognised financial management systems) with equal participation of men and women and involvement of youth Conduct training in managing/controlling the quality of their produce in regard to market requirements through value addition and accessing quality inputs with help from outside expert. 2.4). MAs involving at least 45 FFLGs and SATNET Commodities Company business engagements streamlined ). Tailor made (MA requested) follow up trainings in business records will be organised by SATNET, targeting MAs and aiming at equal participation from men and women, and all age groups ). Assess/review status of involved MAs business and investment plans 2.4.2) Support MAs develop viable and relevant business and investment plans in their contexts 2.5). MA capacity in participatory M&E developed 2.6) 20 MAs skilled in post harvest handling management practices. 2.7) A Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) developed on pilot level and tested in 5 MAs Share with MAs the M&E system of the project design 2.5.2) Train MAs in managing M&E system to track information 2.5.3) Quarterly collection of information from MAs 2.5.4) Conduct a midterm evaluation of the project implementation 2.5.5) conduct end of project evaluation 2.6.1) Carry out ongoing MA mentoring and coaching in quality management standards ) Conduct Exchange learning visits for MAs collectively marketing jointly, ensuring gender balanced participation and as far as possible involving youth ) A project team from SATNET and NOGAMU describes selection criteria for MAs which relevantly can be considered as pilot organisations for PGS, based on survey among well-established PGS systems ) Selection of 5 relevant MAs in an inclusive process where the MAs select to enter into PGS and the project steering group select the most relevant MAs for this, based on the criteria (2.8.1) 2.7.3) Participatory implementation, development and reporting of the process and experiences from implementing PGS in 3 MAs on pilot THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 17

19 2.8). 20 MAs accessing and sharing market information through private sector involvement level. NOGAMU is the primary responsible partner in this. This involves development of internal organic standards, training, designing PGS in MAs, conduct mentoring, support PGS certification process and register members in each MA, applying for certification and payment fee, and monitoring ) Conduct business platforms between MAs and the private sector 2.8.2). Conduct radio programmes to share and disseminate market information. Linkages are established to XX local radio channel ). Organised and conduct 5 relevant exchange visits in and out of the country for technical MA staff to marketing and value adding development. Objective 3: To strengthen the institutional and organisational capacity of SATNET s MOs, specifically in relation to continuous support of external and internal facilitators and for target directed advocacy in accordance with a joint strategy 3.1.) A joint strategy for advocacy 3.1.1) A process where relevant focus areas for advocacy is targeting infrastructure and discussed 1) in FFLGs, 2) between MO board members and FFLG organic policies agreed between SATNET and 40 MOs internal facilitators, and 3) SATNET with MO leaders in 2 rounds will be conducted 3.1.2) Follow-up on advocacy efforts is done bi-annually by a 3.2 MOs are skilled in mentoring FFLG facilitators for continuous development SATNET staff member in relation to relevant MOs The need for mentoring in different situations is identified on a workshop for internal and external facilitators and based on that a course curriculum is set up ) MOs are grouped according to structure and 3 participatory courses are organised (1 for each group), where the needs of facilitators to be mentored C.4 Strategy: how does the project cohere? Describe which methods and modus operandi will be employed, including whether the project is divided into certain sequences or stages. This project is built on experience from a previous project (external evaluation report refers), although this has changed focus from improved livelihood Trough FFLG and to strengthen institutional business capacities of FFLGs strengthening joint marketing and quality control/management and strengthen advocacy efforts in the agribusiness sector. However, this project owes its strong base on the FFLG approach of participatory and involving methodology, which has led to increased production and productivity at house hold level. This has stimulated selling of the surplus through joint marketing in FFLGs or individually. In this project, focus will be on strengthening institutional structures of MAs, joint marketing capacity enhancement and tackling advocacy issues that affect the efforts of the small holder farmers at production and jointly market levels. The MAs will conduct business in their own right. In this project SATNET commodities Ltd working capital base will be boosted to help it trade with more MAs to avoid farmers selling prematurely their crops. MAs capacities in savings and credit will be enhanced to create a fund that will be used to advance farmers not to sell prematurely. SATNET will closely work with NOGAMU to train MAs in the Participatory Guarantee System. MAs will be taken through this for purposes being certified under the PGS arrangement as a marketing tool to increase the sales potential of their products targeting the EAC market. SATNET will also closely work with Organic Denmark in the implementation the project at all levels; especially giving technical advise and monitoring of the project. In addition to agricultural improvement, co-development of strategies and initiatives to market farm products are developed by the means of the group approach. The mutual bonds between members need to be expounded and used in ways which stimulate trust and sense of collaboration especially producing of quality products that will attract better markets. THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 18

20 Phase 1: Initiation Phase 2: Establishment Imm.obj. 1 Capacity Strengthening and assessment consolidating FFLG of FFLGs structures in to identify marketing gaps Imm.obj. 2 Analysis Business and development plan for each MAs establish company Imm.obj. 3 Advocacy Planning strategies strategy development & analysis made Phase 3: consolidation Strengthening and consolidating FFLG structures in marketing All groups consolidate themselves in a selfsustaining approach Entering market Phase 4: Sustainability focus and exit Consolidating FFLG strength to ably conduct business without a lot of external support Self-sustaining groups established; webpage & tools developed Evaluation Entering into dialogue with authorities and evaluate along the way How does the project benefit the poor or marginalized groups and how their ownership of the project is promoted Being a holistic approach, the poor and the marginalized are members of the FFLGs in across the region. Non the less all the poor and marginalized are not members of the FFLGs. Those that are not members will benefit through MAs buying their produce at fair prices, where MAs sell to Fair Trade and Organic certified companies they may benfit getting premium prices, encouraging them to join the FFLGs marketing together, through advocacy campaigns their rights will be taken care of, where FFLGs work to say repair a road they will use it without being asked to contribute. Describe how men s and women s equal participation and gain from the project will be secured. In the structures of MAs, the women are privileged in the way that they are at the fore front of the Marketing association (MA) implying that they have an upper hand in the marketing of the produce and planning for the use of the income generated. This situation is an advantage to women in MAs, since every one (Husband and Wife) each buys his or her own shares. Women are intentionally represented on the committees that manage the MA businesses by an affirmative action in most MAs constitutions which emphasises gender balance representation on those committees. Traditionally, in Africa and Uganda in particular, in most groups people who are always selected as treasurers are women, though some men can equally be selected for this position. Since the approach is based on the households being members of the FFLG this brings on board men and women to actively become members of the MAs. This also gives them equal opportunities to participate. Records kept at farmer level will be a form of accountability of both men to women and women to men regarding their benefits from the project. In most cases expenditures (e.g. school fees, medical bills, buying more assets like land, animals) at the house are done in consent of men and women. Equipment used in the FFLGs (Hoes and pangas) favours both sexes. Other equipment like the wheel barrows to transport crops harvested from the farm can be operated by both men and women. The piloted FFLGs have operated in respect to the positive cultural norms such as women not constructing houses but collecting materials like water for mud and wattle while the men assemble the materials together and bind up the structure hence equitable and gender sensitive participation. The weak such as children and elderly are given less laborious tasks but still participate through activities which allow them to learn about farming and food cultures. The external evaluation report also highlights how the FFLG approach enables a holistic approach to group work and promotes working together at households or group level. Describe how capacity building and advocacy form part of the project strategy. The prime targets are the small holder famers who are grouped in organised FFLGs which are at different stages of conducting joint business/marketing. As the business structures and marketing systems will be strengthened, advocacy for a good working business policy environment forms a greater part of this project. From the external evaluation, despite the absence of a proper advocacy strategy, there was a positive result like strong relationship between MOS/FFLGs with the Local Government officials, NAADS and the private sector/business organizations out of the advocacy work that was conducted. THE CIVIL SOCIETY FUND Major development project (DKK 500,000 to 5 million) 19