USAID C4CP News Flash Vol. 00 Nov. 18, Country-four Cotton Partnership Project (USAID C4CP) : USAID C4CP Performance and Successes in FY 2015

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1 USAID C4CP News Flash Vol. 00 Nov. 18, 2015 Country-four Cotton Partnership Project (USAID C4CP) : Message of the Chief of Project Dear Colleagues and partners of USAID C4CP Project, I am delighted to present this USAID C4CP NEWS FLASH (Vol. 00 Nov. 18, 2015) highlighting the work done by the West and Central African Four Country Cotton Partnership (C4CP) during the 2015 fiscal year and attached fact sheet of the project. C4CP, follows the West Africa Cotton Improvement Program (WACIP), which operated from in the C-4 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali). Together, these projects represent a decade of United States Government investments in the cotton sector. WACIP has built a solid foundation upon which C4CP is capitalizing upon to achieve the three primary objectives of the project: (i) improving agricultural production; (ii) creating strategic regional partnerships to facilitate sustainability of efforts; and (iii) improving the social and economic status of women all along the cotton and rotational crop value chains. This fact sheet (and infographic) highlights various activities and results achieved over the course of the past year. Dr. Michael SIMSIK Chief of USAID C4CP Project C4CP Projet de Partenariat pour le Coton dans les Pays du C-4 1

2 Work done during the year was achieved in partnership with the International Centre for development oriented Research in Agriculture (ICRA), a Dutch-based organization with affiliates world-wide that focus on improving agricultural production, and Cultural Practice, LLC, a U.S.-based organization that focuses on analysis on gender relations leading to positive social change and development. Overall project coordination is provided by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC). All of our work is generously supported through a Cooperative Agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The project funds ($14.8 million over 4 years, ) come from two sources: half from the West African Mission of USAID while the other half come from the Bureau of Food Security. We thank both of these entities for their assistance. For the past decade IFDC has been engaged in activities designed to improve the production and quality of cotton and its rotational crops in the C-4 countries. During that time IFDC and its partners have implemented actions in the C-4 that have also emphasized the capacity-building of actors within the sector. Looking ahead to 2016, project implementation will continue to involve networking with current as well as potential partners and project stakeholders to capitalize on already-existing information and experiences, leverage resources to enable and scale-up the work that we do, while also making it sustainable beyond the life of the project. In 2016 the project will be putting an emphasis on the building and strengthening of regional partnerships that, to the greatest extent possible, lead to measurable results in support of project goals as well as assisting in the achievement of goals of our partners working in the cotton sector. Over the next year we also aim to improve our communications and outreach efforts to raise the profile of the project, not only throughout the C-4 countries but to other countries where regional actors are present, while educating stakeholders about our collective work toward sustainable agricultural production and improving the quality of life of African farmers. The USAID C4CP Project is a joint effort of partners working in the C-4 countries, and beyond. It is this commitment and effort that has led to the progress that you will see summarized in this fact sheet (infographic). I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate everyone who has been involved and wish us all the strength and determination to meet our objectives in the year to come. Project Summary Cotton and its associated rotational crops (maize, cowpea, soybeans) are grown in the most favorable agro-ecological zones in the Central and West African, providing an important economic foundation for an estimated 10 to 15 million smallholders. Cotton production is a particularly important commodity for households in four West and Central African countries, collectively referred to as the C-4 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali). However, the decline in soil fertility, lack of access to agricultural inputs and agricultural credit, combined with low household income, poor access to advisory and support services related to inefficient privatization politics and poor decentralization systems seem to be the primary factors limiting the ability of agricultural producers to gain and apply technical skills that can improve production, household income and food security. The goal of the USAID C4CP project is to increase food security in targeted areas of the C-4 countries, with the following three Intermediate Results (IRs): IR1 - Improved support for increased agricultural productivity provided through regional and national institutions; IR2 - Strengthened partnerships that support cotton sector development; and, IR3 - Increased social and economic benefits for women. 2

3 FY15 Performance With respect to project performance in FY15, key actions and results included: 1. Designed and upgraded innovative tool kits for Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Post- Harvest Technologies in conventional and organic cotton and rotational crops. A key result included the production of 49 technical data sheets (32 in GAP and 17 in PH) on cotton and its rotational crops; 2. Kicked-off a three-year soil health study with the organization of a forum in January 2015 attended by 30 experts (including 3 women). Results of the forum included a consolidated technical report including proceedings, recommendations on fertilizer dosage, mechanisms to access fertilizers, socio-economic aspects, and recommendations for conducting the study; 3. Organized and delivered two regional Training-of-trainers (ToT) workshops during the latter half of April 2015 in Burkina Faso and Benin. These workshops brought together 87 senior trainers (including 16 women) from agricultural extension and advisory services from activity implementing partners (AIPs) in the C-4 countries. This activity served as an important step In Chad, pictures of women producer members of Tarina group in Djoli village. They received trainings around the demonstration farms: here (left picture) in their cotton plot and (in the right side picture) during a training session with agents from the National Rural Development Office (ONDR), one of USAID C4CP project grants recipient. These producers testify: we grow cotton for the first time thanks to USAID C4CP project and with ONDR support in strengthening AIP knowledge of GAP and how to teach the GAP modules to other extension workers; 4. Organized and facilitated a validation workshop in Cotonou from March 9-11, 2014 attended by 11 participants from the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) of the C-4 countries and other partners. The results of the workshop were the development and validation of research protocols for the project s soil health study as well as developing and validating thematic protocols on soil fertility management, improving access to inputs (fertilizers) and cross-cutting issues such as gender and climate change; 3

4 5. Organized and facilitated the first meeting of the Regional Advisory Committee (RAC) in March 2015 in Benin. The result was the creation of an important linage between national and regional stakeholders in the cotton sector of C-4 countries; 6. The USAID C4CP Gender Specialist took the lead in conducting gendered value chain analysis (GVC) in the 4 countries. The analyses covered conventional, organic cotton and 2 rotational crops in each of the C-4 countries. The immediate results of these analyses were 15 reports, these will be further finalized as training tools, advocacy materials, research publications as well as online resource materials for purposes of sharing with partners and stakeholders at regional and national levels; Commented visit in an organic cotton demonstration farm of Burkina National Cotton Producers Union (UNPCB), by a woman-led group in Yé village, Nayala Province (Burkina). 95 participants including 84 women and 11 men. Theme: bio pesticides preparation, application techniques and manipulation/maintenance of the treatment device. 7. An inventory of women entrepreneurs and women-owned firms capable of supporting cotton farming households and women processors in the C-4 countries is in process. The first stage of this activity resulted in the establishment of an extensive database of women entrepreneurs in the C-4 countries. The second and final phase of this activity (to be done in FY16) will consist in detailed profiling of 10 women entrepreneurs per C-4 country. The results of this inventory will serve as a resource for the knowledge brokering and management efforts of the project in FY16, which include assisting regional and national partners by providing them with a resource they can consult to identify women to serve as potential trainers and role models in the field of agribusiness; small grant agreements were developed and signed with AIPs for GAP/ PH activities after a rigorous selection process. Also, 4 grant agreements were also established with the NARS in the C-4 countries for their collaboration on the project soil health study. A total of $544,330 in project funds were provided for these 18 small grants. In addition to this amount, the AIPs collectively provided the equivalent of $207,198 (28% of the combined 4 Commented visit of a rotational crops maize and cowpea demonstration farm led by a woman producer from Agricultural Services Providing Cooperative (COPSAC): 55 participating producers including 43 women and 8 men, sponsored by Koti department prefect in Bonza Pougli village, Tuy Province (in Burkina Faso).

5 $751,528 value of the grants) in cost share as an indication of their engagement in this collaboration. The results of the provision of these small grants was the training and dissemination of GAP and PH modules to other extension and advisory services staff, who in turn disseminated this information to farmers; 9. After developing the Indicators Performance Tracking Table, the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) team worked on disaggregating the project s performance indicators targets per country and by implementing partner. This resulted in the determination of targets for each of the indicators as well as the deliverables of each AIP. In addition, the development of on online multi-user database for capitalizing USAID C4CP results is ongoing with a regionallybased database management firm. The direct beneficiaries of the aforementioned activities are staff from the AIPs with whom agricultural technological packages were shared. In turn, indirect beneficiaries of this effort includes women and men in cotton-producing households. Hand-over of individual protection equipment purchased by ANaF thanks to USAID C4CP to Mrs. AGBETOU (2 nd from the right), woman producer from the woman cooperative KALOFE, owner of the demonstration farm on maize and soya GAP in Atinkpaye village, Dassa-Zoumé commune un Benin. Mister SABI Pathé Océni, Plant Production Counsellor at DICAF in Banikoara in Benin in a cotton farm holding the posters made by the USAID C4CP project for producers training on GAP. Successes Project successes and outcomes during the year included: 1. Under project IR 1 (Sustainable Agriculture: 1. Nine innovative, gender sensitive agricultural technology modules/packages were developed and then promoted as a result of USG assistance; and, individuals (including 96 women, or 15% of the total) received USG-supported short-term agricultural sector productivity and food security training. This training was delivered by the 18 AIPs engaged by the project through sub-grants. Nearly half of those trained (43%) were from government agencies or offices, slightly less than a third (31%) were from civil society entities, and the remaining 26% were with private sector firms. 5

6 These successes of IR 1 helped to disseminate good agricultural practices and post-harvest technologies to agricultural extension service providers/advisors, thus building their organizational capacity to provide quality technical services to their clients. Ultimately, making this technology available to farmers will improve production as well as household income and food security. 2. Under project IR 2 (Partnerships): 1. Eleven organizations working in the cotton sector, including 7 producer s organizations, 3 trade and business associations and 1 women s group, received USG assistance via the project. This assistance was in the form of sub-grants to assist in the testing and dissemination of technical modules developed by the project; and, 2. The project organized 20 events (e.g., conferences, workshops, trainings or forums) contributing to greater harmonization and alignment of cotton sector stakeholder actions within each of the C-4 countries. A total of 414 individuals (including 66 women, 16% of the total) participated in national and regional conferences and workshops on issues of relevance to the cotton sector. These individuals included representatives from public and private institutions, CSOs, and CBOs. These successes of IR 2 helped to lay the groundwork for creating strategic and sustainable partnerships by facilitating linkages between national level and regional stakeholders engaged in the production of cotton and its rotational food crops. Ultimately, the creation of sustainable partnerships will help to capitalize on U.S. government investments in the sector and provide benefits to stakeholders beyond the life of the current (USAID C4CP) project. 3. Under project IR 3 (Increased social and economic benefits to women): organizational partners are using gender responsive modules as the result of USG assistance. These organizations are a subset of the 18 AIPs that received sub-grants in the first year of the project; organizational partners have adopted gender-responsive delivery mechanisms, including public and private sector and NGO extension systems; 3. Five gender sensitive approaches (represented by each of the 5 GAP modules) have been implemented by partners; 4. Fifteen gender and value chain studies completed. These successes of IR 3 have helped to make actors in the cotton sector aware of the important role played by women in the sector, and to consider how different activities affect women, and how activities can be designed and implemented in ways that improve the social and economic status of women. This also involves inviting greater engagement of women in management-level decisions 6

7 concerning the production of cotton and its rotational crops. Ultimately, by playing a greater role in decision-making, women are more likely to reap greater social and economic benefits from the cotton sector. Group picture of Woman Group «Benkadi» women from Diguina, 70 members leading demonstration farms (cotton, maize and peanuts) in Dioila sector, Malian Textiles Development Company (CMDT) Fana Centre branch, during USAID C4CP Mali National Coordinator visit Mrs. Siradjé FOMBA, member of Gouana cooperative, Fana Sector (in Mali), CMDT-Centre branch taking a picture near her demonstration farm sign post 7