kit working papers
2015-2
Planning the unplannable: designing value chain interventions for impact @ scale Peter Gildemacher, Mirjam Schoonhoven, Anna Laven, Wouter Kleijn, Marije Boomsma, Ellen Mangnus, Kati Oudendijk, Jacqueline Sluijs
Photo: Kati Oudendijk
Value chain development approaches seldom deliver large scale impact. Based on the examination of five cases where impact at scale was realised, recommendations are offered to increase the chances of value chain interventions contributing to impact at scale. It is recommended to make quick pre-intervention choices that delimit an intervention area with proven economic development potential, before conducting an in-depth opportunity analysis within these boundaries. The cases demonstrate that a mix of activities involving agricultural services, chain relations and institutional change is required for impact at scale. In addition, a balance between higher risk ‘experimentation’ activities and lower risk ‘bringing into routine use’ activities is recommended. In experimentation, over-protection should be avoided to allow room for failure. ‘Bringing into routine use’ aims to replicate proven success with new practices on a wider scale, by building on experiences from earlier experimentation. It is worth investing in building broad coalitions of actors to collaborate in ‘experimentation’ and to coordinate ‘bringing into routine use’. Most important, however, is to assure that implementers get and take the necessary room to react to emerging opportunities and experiences.
Drying and sorting of cocoa beans, Ghana