Kenyan small-scale farmer Naomi Waweru working in the field. The crop will eventually end up in Danish COOP stores in the SAVANNAH brand.

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1 Kenyan small-scale farmer Naomi Waweru working in the field. The crop will eventually end up in Danish COOP stores in the SAVANNAH brand. by John Spaull/ CARE

2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT OR BUST The NGO CARE and the retail chain COOP are involved in a partnership surrounding COOP s SAVANNAH brand a line of African vegetables and fruits that are sold in the Danish supermarket chain. CARE and COOP used the partnership to improve the conditions for the farmers in Africa and secure delivery and quality standards for the Danish consumers. Securing the local engagement has been critical to the entire setup. Back in 2011, the supermarket chain COOP launched a new initiative; SAVANNAH a line of food products from Africa for the Danish market. COOP contacted CARE Danmark and asked them to join in a partnership that would secure a more steady delivery and consistent product quality through capacity building among the local smallholder farmers and producers and at the same time make the whole process more transparent. COOP invited CARE to take a deep dive into the process and look at the existing supply chain, identify the areas where it could be improved CSR-wise and develop it in a way that would make it more socially and environmentally responsible and sustainable. Besides the obvious commercial issues of stable prices, delivery and quality issues, it is part of our foundation strategy to work for a more sustainable development in the society. For instance, we do that by working to decrease food waste, against chemicals in canned foods and Our experience shows that many of the things that the NGOs are focusing on actually works on many levels. The smallscale farmers improve their business and their livelihood and we get a better product at a reasonable price. by improving the livelihoods for local farmers through trade, says Head of CSR Projects at COOP Denmark, Jesper Frederiksen. In terms of doing the latter in Africa, we needed CARE s competencies, he says. Through the value chain When CARE entered the project, there was already a trade relation between COOP, their local supplier Sunripe in Kenya and a number of smaller farmer groups. The farmer groups were only very loosely organised with unresolved leadership issues and poor production data handling. - Jesper Frederiksen head of CSR Projects, COOP There were some issues with the relation between the farmers and Sunripe mainly due to lack of trust and unclear contractual obligations. Things like that was a problem. The first thing we did was to analyse the value chain seen from the different stakeholders perspectives and used that to identify the bottlenecks where all these commercial partners felt that their trading relations were failing, says programme coordinator Nanna Callisen Bang from CARE Danmark. If everyone was happy, there would have been a 9

3 better flow and higher quality through the production line, she says. Build trust by proving yourself Smallholder farmers in rural Kenya are often on the verge of being illiterate and building a trustful relationship takes time and local presence. It is not something that can be done in a single visit to the village with a quick questionnaire. Nanna Bang Callisen programme coordinator at CARE Danmark. 10 by Jakob Brodersen / access2innovation We have been in the East African countries for more than 25 years, says Nanna Bang Callisen. That means that we are familiar with the authorities, with the development dynamics and with typical challenges in the agricultural sector. We have a strong foundation and we know which questions to ask. CARE made a list of challenges and started prioritising, focusing on finding issues that related to as many stakeholders as possible in order to secure a high level

4 of interest. At the same time, the CSO chose to start out by working with issues that were relatively easy to solve and give positive results quickly in order to build trust and prove their worth to the local farmers. To private companies it is still unusual to work with development organisations and they tend to be rather sceptical as to whether it will have a positive impact on their business. So we start out by applying our proven methods in relation to issues like water conservation in farming. We know what works and that we will have positive results within a few months if we implement the things that we suggest. We know how to double or triple smallholder harvesting in one season, how to reduce waste and so on. The point is that it is extremely important that you can prove yourself in a partnership like this by producing positive results pretty quickly. That is a good way to secure local engagement. With the farmers, but also with the other stakeholders. You need to make it clear that they will be gaining from the partnership. That you are of commercial value to them. To private companies it is still unusual to work with development organisations and they tend to be rather sceptical as to whether it will have a positive impact on their business. [...] You need to make it clear that they will be gaining from the partnership. That you are of commercial value to them. - Nanna Callisen Bang programme coordinator, CARE Danmark Reaching the farmers One of the things that CARE has been working on in the SAVANNAH-project is to empower the smallholder farmers by improving their knowledge about negotiating with the buyers. They helped set up meetings between COOP, Sunripe and the farmers where the status of the project, current issues and decisions about future market demands were discussed and resolved. Involving the farmers at this level meant that they suddenly began to see themselves as part of something bigger and understand how important they are in they process. We helped them review their contracts and acted as a sort of mediator between the farmers, Sunripe and COOP, Nanna Callisen Bang says. CARE also helped organising the farmer groups, ensuring that the local leaders of the groups were strong enough in their leadership to represent the farmers. Something that was a huge benefit to both Sunripe, the farmers and to COOP. If we can build good relations and support the 11

5 Jesper Frederiksen Head of CSR Projects at COOP by Jakob Brodersen / access2innovation smallholder farmers develop their businesses, it means that we will get better products at a lower price. Part of doing that is also working with empowerment, engaging women in board work an so on, says Jesper Frederiksen. Our experience shows that many of the things that the CSOs are focusing on actually works on many levels. The smallscale farmers improve their business and their livelihood and we get a better product at a reasonable price. Field trip to Denmark As part of the project, CARE invited project managers and Sunripe representatives to Denmark to do a bit 12 of participatory anthropology. Visiting the fruit- and vegetable sections of COOP supermarkets undercover, the Kenyans got a first hand look at how Danes choose between the produce when they do their shopping. It was a case example of a market study turned upside down. They saw how Danes will examine two seemingly similar trays of tomatoes and discard one that looks only slightly less inviting. It seems pretty normal to us, but the Kenyan delegation were shocked and suddenly understood why COOP had very specific demands to the fruits and vegetables that they were producing. They realised that if they didn t produce

6 to those specifications, COOP wouldn t be able to sell their products. That was very important in order for the partners to understand each other. Everyone needs to understand that they are part of a value chain that only works if everyone plays the part that they have agreed upon and live up to the agreements, says Nanna Callisen Bang. Kenyan farmer Moses Mwangi attending his crop of green peas for Sunripe/COOP. by John Spaull/ CARE 13