Framing CLA: Relationships & Networks in Kenya

This blog post is part of USAID Learning Lab's Framing CLA blog series. Organized according to the subcomponents of the CLA Framework, the blog series features question and answer with development practitioners who submitted cases in the 2016 CLA Case Competition. This blog focuses on: relationships & networks.

USAID Learning Lab: What is your full name, title, and organization?

Joye: Jessica Joye, Communications Director, Fintrac Inc.

USAID Learning Lab: What was the development challenge you addressed in your CLA Case Competition submission?

Joye: Postharvest grain loss significantly constrains household food security across sub-Saharan Africa, with volume losses reaching 20 percent in some countries. Hermetic storage technologies present a safe and efficient way to store grain, however there were few suitable options available to many smallholder farmers (who stand to lose the most in terms of food security) and uptake had been limited. By collaborating across two Fintrac-implemented projects, we recognized an opportunity to link existing technologies to smallholder markets by building the capacity of a local distributor and providing on-the-ground training to smallholders frequently suffering postharvest grain losses.

USAID Learning Lab: Your case is a great example of one of the enabling conditions of CLA: Relationships & Networks. Can you tell us about how this aspect of CLA helped you address this development challenge?

Joye: With extensive experience in Kenya coupled with a direct link to hermetic bag manufacturers, we were well-positioned to bring the two parties together. USAID’s Collaborative Research Support Program and Purdue University first funded the PICS storage bags in Cameroon; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supported expansion to West and East Africa; and Fintrac’s Feed the Future Partnering for Innovation project linked these efforts in Kenya. Under a Partnering for Innovation grant, Purdue University provided license rights to Bell Industries (a Kenyan manufacturer) to lead production, marketing, and distribution in Kenya and enabled farmers in key markets to receive training and resources; meanwhile, Fintrac-led USAID Kenya Agricultural Value Chain Enterprises project stepped in to conduct field trials and provide training to smallholders to strengthen Bell Industries’ rural distribution networks. The learning across various initiatives, coupled with collaboration between our Fintrac projects, resulted in widespread distribution and uptake of PICS brand bags across Kenya.

USAID Learning Lab: What advice would you give to another team looking to be more intentional, systematic, and resourced in Relationships & Networks?

Joye: Select the right private sector partners! There are no quick wins. Provide private sector partners with technical, logistical, and financing support—especially to those committed to and capable of serving the smallholder farmer market—and eventually the private sector-led process of testing, learning, and adapting will pay off significantly. Selecting a partner early in the process provides time to develop a targeted marketing plan for commercialization.

USAID Learning Lab: Why did you choose to use a CLA approach?

Joye: Simply put, there was no other approach to take. The success of the PICS bags commercialization wouldn’t have been possible without collaboration among our projects and private sector partners. The CLA approach reflects our corporate values built off best practices learned from 26 years implementing collaborative projects, where we evolve our methodologies to improve productivity and increase smallholder incomes.

USAID Learning Lab: How did your holistic CLA approach influence your organization’s culture?

Joye: We have embraced a market systems approach to expanding the capacities of private sector partners, research institutions, and government agencies, and strive to remain flexible and responsive to their input and feedback. We teach farmers to view farming as a business to emphasize commercial viability and link them to business actors along the entire value chain. In this case, we were able to reap the benefits of multiple years of work and apply them to many different areas in our business model, allowing us to be a stronger partner to the private sector.

USAID Learning Lab: How did your holistic CLA approach influence your project’s development outcomes?

Joye: There had been limited commercial success of hermetic storage bags in the Kenyan market prior to support from Fintrac projects. Rapid commercialization of the technology is now evident through actual product sales and the evolution of the competitive landscape. The PICS brand bag established early momentum as the market share leader, but new providers and products are entering the market, creating competition that will ultimately benefit smallholders as the technologies become more efficient and less expensive. If Fintrac and its partners can help one million farmers access and use hermetic bags over the next three years (and we are well on our way!), an additional 450,000 tons of maize will be added to national production, largely in rural areas where it is most needed.

Read more about this case study: http://www.fintrac.com/sites/default/files/CLAcasestudyKenya.pdf