Suchergebnisse

Over the past decade, many governmental, private or donor-funded programs have adopted value chain development (VCD) to address goals related to poverty reduction and economic development. Underlying the design of these programs is the assumption that smallholders will climb out of poverty when they organize into rural enterprises, when these enterprises link them to business partners committed to win-win relationships, and when the chain actors have access to the right mix of technical, business and financial services. However, despite considerable investments in VCD, we have a poor understanding of whether the underlying assumptions hold true. A major stumbling block to understanding has been the absence of sound metric systems to monitor progress and assess the impact of VCD initiatives. The 5Capitals tool, developed jointly by an alliance of research and development organizations, addresses this shortcoming by proposing an asset-based approach to assess the poverty impacts of VCD. The tool has been tested through 23 case studies carried out over two iterations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America. This chapter summarizes the process for development of the tool and the concepts that underpin its design, including the rationale for adopting an asset-based approach to pro-poor VCD. It introduces the five case studies selected for this volume to document the versatility of the tool for diverse value chains in various stages of development. It concludes with an overview of what the reader can expect in terms of insight from the case studies.

Over the past decade, many governmental, private or donor-funded programs have adopted value chain development (VCD) to address goals related to poverty reduction and economic development. Underlying the design of these programs is the assumption that smallholders will climb out of poverty when they organize into rural enterprises, when these enterprises link them to business partners committed to win-win relationships, and when the chain actors have access to the right mix of technical, business and financial services. However, despite considerable investments in VCD, we have a poor understanding of whether the underlying assumptions hold true. A major stumbling block to understanding has been the absence of sound metric systems to monitor progress and assess the impact of VCD initiatives. The 5Capitals tool, developed jointly by an alliance of research and development organizations, addresses this shortcoming by proposing an asset-based approach to assess the poverty impacts of VCD. The tool has been tested through 23 case studies carried out over two iterations in Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America. This chapter summarizes the process for development of the tool and the concepts that underpin its design, including the rationale for adopting an asset-based approach to pro-poor VCD. It introduces the five case studies selected for this volume to document the versatility of the tool for diverse value chains in various stages of development. It concludes with an overview of what the reader can expect in terms of insight from the case studies.

Since the early 2000s, value chain development (VCD) has figured prominently on the agendas of donors, governments, and NGOs in pursuit of market-based options to poverty reduction, food security, gender equity, and other goals. Researchers have shown interest in value chains as a theoretical construct for studying interactions between farmers and markets, while practitioners have focused their attention on approaches and tools for applying VCD in the field. Despite considerable investments in VCD, limited evidence exists on the extent to which different approaches to VCD have advanced diverse development goals. This knowledge gap sounds alarms, not least because of the complexities involved and the multitude of options for getting it right (or wrong). The 16 chapters in this book offer unique perspectives on VCD from both practitioners and researchers. They explore how VCD is implemented in the field, options for innovation in design, and the potential for VCD to achieve impact at scale. Altogether, the book provides a timely critique of current approaches, pointing at options for more reflexive learning, new collaborative frameworks, and faster innovation of VCD. Here we introduce the chapters and extract some of their principal lessons in terms of the promise, delivery, and opportunities for impact at scale.

Over the course of the pandemic, research on how COVID-19 has affected agricultural production and food value chains has evolved: as coronavirus infection rates rose and fell and governments instituted a range of responses, the research focus shifted from projecting what might happen to reflecting on what did happen. Early studies focused on the immediate effects of the lockdowns and other restrictions on food supplies. Later studies began to delve more deeply into the diverse private and public countervailing responses — as governments sought to offset the negative impacts of lockdowns — and their effectiveness in maintaining food supply and demand. The growing number of relatively high-quality studies on agriculture and food supply chains allows for some assessment of factors that appear to have diminished or aggravated the impacts of the pandemic. The analytical framework and the methodology used to develop our findings are summarized in Box 1. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI4; CRP4; CRP2 ; MTID; DGO; A4NH; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH); CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Chapter 2 (Stoian et al.) draws attention to the link between VCD and smallholder livelihood strategies that comprise a complex mix of subsistence and market-oriented activities and that are diversified to meet multiple livelihood goals and mitigate risks; and the authors address the related implications for the design and assessment of value-chain interventions. They question some of the underlying assumptions of NGOs, government agencies, and private-sector agents seeking to link smallholders to higher-value markets ; PR ; IFPRI1; CRP2; C Improving markets and trade ; MTID; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Los territorios indígenas bribri y cabécar de la Alta Talamanca en el sureste de Costa Rica, constituyen una región estratégica desde el punto de vista del uso y de la conservación de los recursos forestales y de la diversidad cultural. Los medios de vida de la población local se basan, en gran medida, en el capital natural que sostienen sus actividades agroforestales y en el capital social local reflejado en múltiples formas de organización local y relaciones con el mundo externo. Con el fin de identificar las barreras que limitan el mejoramiento de los medios de vida y proponer elementos para removerlas, se estudió el papel de la gobernanza forestal y los arreglos institucionales correspondientes entre indígenas y agentes externos en Alta Talamanca. Se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas (n=34) a informantes claves, tales como representantes de las organizaciones indígenas locales y de las instituciones de cooperación externa, en combinación con observación participante y análisis de información secundaria. Se identificaron cinco arreglos institucionales: 1) Consejo Directivo Indígena, plataforma donde convergen varias organizaciones locales, las cuales toman decisiones relacionadas con los recursos forestales e intervenciones externas; 2) Comité Local Forestal de Talamanca como foro para la coordinación entre organizaciones locales y gubernamentales que velan principalmente por el control de la tala y comercialización ilegal de madera; 3) pagos por servicios ambientales financiados por Fonafifo para la conservación de bosques y manejados por las Asociaciones de Desarrollo Integral de Alta Talamanca; 4) Comité Coordinador del Proyecto Captura de Carbono que acordó procedimientos y métodos de ejecución de este proyecto y 5) la Red Indígena de Turismo, la cual impulsa la formación de emprendedores indígenas como operadores de etnoturismo. Si bien varios de estos arreglos buscan controlar prácticas adversas e incentivar prácticas adecuadas para la gestión de los recursos forestales en Alta Talamanca, aun persiste el problema de la tala y comercialización ilegal de madera. Se concluye que se requiere mayor coordinación entre las organizaciones locales y los actores externos en los diferentes niveles de toma de decisión para que la gobernanza forestal en la Alta Talamanca sea más efectiva. ; The Bribri and Cabécar indigenous territories of Alta Talamanca in southeastern Costa Rica constitute a strategic region from the point of view of the use and conservation of forest resources and cultural diversity. The livelihoods of local people are largely based on the natural capital their agroforestry activities sustain and on the local social capital reflected in their many forms of local organization and relations with the outside world. In order to identify the barriers to improving their livelihoods and proposing actions for their removal, we studied the role of forest governance and appropriate institutional arrangements between indigenous people and external agents in Alta Talamanca. Semi-structured interviews were conducted (n = 34) with key informants, including representatives of local indigenous organizations and foreign cooperation agencies, combined with participant observation and analysis of secondhand information. We identified five institutional arrangements: 1) Indigenous Steering Council, a platform that convenes several local organizations for making decisions related to forest resources and external interventions; 2) Talamanca Local Forest Committee as a forum for coordination between local and governmental organizations that mainly monitor logging and the illegal timber trade; 3) payments for environmental services funded by FONAFIFO for forest conservation, managed by the Integral Development Associations of Alta Talamanca; 4) Carbon Capture Project Coordinating Committee that makes agreements regarding procedures and methods of implementation for this project; and 5) Indigenous Tourism Network, which promotes the training of indigenous entrepreneurs as ethno-tourism operators. While several of these arrangements seek to control harmful practices and encourage good practices for the management of forest resources in Alta Talamanca, there is still the problem of illegal timber logging and trafficking. We conclude that greater coordination is required between local organizations and external actors at different decision-making levels to make forest governance in Alta Talamanca more effective.

6 ilustraciones, 18 páginas, referencias pp. 97-98. ; En este artículo se resumen los principales hallazgos del libro "Manejo forestal comunitario en América tropical: experiencias, lecciones aprendidas y retos para el futuro", fruto de la colaboración entre un grupo de investigadores con amplia experiencia en el MFC en América Latina. En vista del avance de la frontera agrícola y de la degradación de bosques por usos inapropiados, el MFC se perfila como una de las opciones más promisorias para alcanzar la doble meta de mejorar el bienestar de las poblaciones locales y conservar los bosques.La evidente falta de compatibilidad del MFC con la realidad de las poblaciones locales muestra que una verdadera promoción del uso forestal por comunidades pasa por un cambio fuerte del paradigma: hay que abandonar los enfoques definidos externamente y adoptar estrategias que provean condiciones para que las comunidades desarrollen sus propias ideas. Así, en vez de que los actores locales se adapten al concepto del MFC, más bien se debieran evaluar las posibilidades de adaptar el MFC a los intereses y capacidades de los usuarios forestales. ; This paper summarizes the main findings of "Communitarian forest management in Tropical America: Experiences, lessons and challenges for the future", jointly produced by a group of researchers closely related to CFM in Latin America. Due to the advance of the agricultural frontier and forest degradation for inappropriate use, CFM is seen as a promising option to get a double goal: improve human welfare of local populations, and conserve forests.The evident lack of connection between CFM and the actual conditions of local populations proves that forest use by communities requires a strong change of paradigm: externally defined models are to be abandoned, and strategies to help communities to develop their own ideas are to be promoted. So, instead of local stakeholders adapting themselves to CFM, CFM should be adapted to local interests and capacities.

6 ilustraciones, 18 páginas, referencias pp. 97-98. ; En este artículo se resumen los principales hallazgos del libro "Manejo forestal comunitario en América tropical: experiencias, lecciones aprendidas y retos para el futuro", fruto de la colaboración entre un grupo de investigadores con amplia experiencia en el MFC en América Latina. En vista del avance de la frontera agrícola y de la degradación de bosques por usos inapropiados, el MFC se perfila como una de las opciones más promisorias para alcanzar la doble meta de mejorar el bienestar de las poblaciones locales y conservar los bosques.La evidente falta de compatibilidad del MFC con la realidad de las poblaciones locales muestra que una verdadera promoción del uso forestal por comunidades pasa por un cambio fuerte del paradigma: hay que abandonar los enfoques definidos externamente y adoptar estrategias que provean condiciones para que las comunidades desarrollen sus propias ideas. Así, en vez de que los actores locales se adapten al concepto del MFC, más bien se debieran evaluar las posibilidades de adaptar el MFC a los intereses y capacidades de los usuarios forestales. ; This paper summarizes the main findings of "Communitarian forest management in Tropical America: Experiences, lessons and challenges for the future", jointly produced by a group of researchers closely related to CFM in Latin America. Due to the advance of the agricultural frontier and forest degradation for inappropriate use, CFM is seen as a promising option to get a double goal: improve human welfare of local populations, and conserve forests.The evident lack of connection between CFM and the actual conditions of local populations proves that forest use by communities requires a strong change of paradigm: externally defined models are to be abandoned, and strategies to help communities to develop their own ideas are to be promoted. So, instead of local stakeholders adapting themselves to CFM, CFM should be adapted to local interests and capacities.

We are living in a time of crisis on planet Earth. Urgent calls for transformational change are getting louder. Technical solutions have an important role to play in addressing pressing global challenges, but alone they are not enough. After all, who decides what kind of transformation is needed, of what, and for whom? What principles guide those decisions, and how are decision-makers held accountable? This commentary article argues that these governance questions are central in any solution, in order to simultaneously address the planetary crises of forest and biodiversity loss and degradation and growing inequality. To this end, we examine governance in forests and around trees, in landscapes and on farms, through the lens of power and social justice. For applied research aimed at actionable solutions to these global problems, we propose a governance research agenda for the next decade that is both transformative and just.