Global – Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project—Business Development Services Knowledge and Practice II (AMAP BDS K&P II)
Enhancing Performance and Competitiveness of SMEs
Knowledge and Practice II built on the successes of ACDI/VOCA’s first Knowledge and Practicetask order issued under the USAID-funded Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project–Business Development Services contract. The goal of AMAP BDS was to increase incomes in poor communities and promote economic growth by enhancing the performance and competitiveness of micro and small enterprises (MSEs). Under K&P I, ACDI/VOCA led research on factors and strategies that create wealth in poor communities and promote growth by linking small firms to profitable markets. This research centered on the development and articulation of a value chain approach to economic growth with poverty reduction. ACDI/VOCA published 18 papers, made 11 presentations and conducted trainings and workshops for over 450 USAID staff and program implementers. K&P II built on the research conducted under K&P I, focusing on three areas of activity: generating knowledge, codifying emerging best practices and improving practice.
Generating Knowledge
ACDI/VOCA generated knowledge through primary research activities, which included extensive value chain studies in Guatemala and Tanzania, along with an impact assessment of ACDI/VOCA’s Growth-Oriented Microenterprise Development project in India and collaboration on a similar impact assessment of CLUSA’s Production, Finance and Improved Technologies(PROFIT) project in Zambia. In support of USAID’s Global Food Security Response, ACDI/VOCA led a multi-country study of the rice value chain in West Africa. Desk and field research in Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Senegal were integrated into a regional report, and findings were reviewed by 30 experts on West African rice. Similarly, end market analyses in Kenya and Ethiopia were conducted to inform donor and government strategies.
K&P II assisted USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation in planning ways to rigorously evaluate complex, dynamic programs, balancing internal and external validity, and technical feasibility. ACDI/VOCA brought together evaluation experts to identify indicators that move beyond project-bound outcomes to measure changes in relationships, attitudes and behavior.
Codifying Best Practices
ACDI/VOCA developed guidelines and materials with action-oriented recommendations for improved practice. Along with donors and practitioners, ACDI/VOCA developed a set of 17 briefing papers that draw from both field experience and research to identify best practices in the application of the value chain approach. ACDI/VOCA also published a series of 10 case studies from value chain development projects. The organization developed the Value Chain End-Market Research Toolkit, which educates implementers on the process of end-market research for value chain development and provides a portfolio of tools grounded in case studies that demonstrate their practical application. In addition, a three-day value chain workshop curriculum distills much of the learning to date about good practice in value chain development and identifies remaining challenges.
In November 2011, ACDI/VOCA issued a competitive call for case studies to examine interventions and approaches to create pathways out of poverty that either “push” the very poor towards productive engagement in markets and/or “pull” the poor into markets. Drawing from key themes in these case studies, ACDI/VOCA held an E-Consultation in January 2012 to generate discussion and share best practices in reaching the very poor through value chain development.
K&P II also conducted research into the principal financial challenges facing the agricultural and rural sectors and compiled a stocktaking of many innovations in financial services that have been tested over the last five years to address these challenges. The paper, “Rural and Agricultural Finance: Taking Stock of Five Years of Innovations,” uses a framework from the perspective of the demand for finance as it relates to investments and expenses for the household, the value chain, and non-farm enterprises.
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Improving Practice
Under K&P II, ACDI/VOCA developed tools to improve implementation of the value chain approach. In the spring of 2009, ACDI/VOCA helped USAID launch its Value Chain Development Wiki (www.microlinks.kdid.org/vcwiki), which grew to over 200 pages that cover every aspect of the value chain approach and link to hundreds of resources and tools. The wiki includes pages relating the value chain approach to cross-cutting topics like conflict-affected environments, vulnerable populations and food security. ACDI/VOCA developed the wiki in collaboration with 50 practitioners, donors and academics, as both a resource for learning about best practices and a space for sharing information and experiences from the field.
ACDI/VOCA and its AMAP partners also developed various tools to assist practitioners in using a facilitation approach to value chain development. These include tools on the roles and capacities needed for market facilitation, strategies for bringing about behavior change, and tips to using a portfolio approach for private sector development.
ACDI/VOCA also disseminated learning through value chain development workshops, at which USAID missions and their implementing partners shared approaches, best practices and lessons learned in project implementation. Over the course of K&P II, ACDI/VOCA conducted 30 presentations, trainings and workshops related to the value chain approach for USAID staff and implementing partners. Through K&P II, ACDI/VOCA developed three online training modules--“Learning Value Chain Basics,” “Managing a Value Chain Project” and “Monitoring and Evaluating a Value Chain Project.”
In total, ACDI/VOCA produced over 70 tools, reports and case studies, under for USAID under K&P II. These and other resources can be found online at www.acdivoca.org/valuechains and http://microlinks.kdid.org.
For more information contact Emily Stiles at estiles@acdivoca.org.
Updated: 4/12
