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Summary Annual Report 2008 16 Examples of our work tings, and held training for municipal representatives, the ASACO and technical experts. SNV also contributed to revising the legal health convention, so that health sector management could be mandated to the ASACO-municipality partnership. KIT followed the pilot program closely, sharing their observations on tools/approaches with SNV and the Ministry of Health. Koulikoro, to bolster multi-level cooperation, the President of the regional Council undertook research missions and discussions with local councils and the ASACO. As a result of these endeavours, he identified three priority health concerns which the council will address: diagnosis and evacuation of obstetric emergencies, essential medication and the regional health plan. After the successful fruition of the pilot, SNV has since replicated the program in different regions of Mali. In 2008, SNV ran the health-partnership program in six municipalities in the Koulikoro and Dioila region. The program helped create symbiotic partnerships between the municipalities and ASACO. Through frequent interactions, the actors defined their roles and responsibilities in health sector management. The program thus enabled an effective transfer of knowledge between the municipalities and ASACO. Added value: “This program helped the regional elects and ASACO understand the best practices of public service management, as many of them had been occupying their posts without having the necessary skills.” (Moussa Sissoko, President, Health Comission of the Koulikoro Regional Assembly). Results: To improve maternal health standards (one of the Millennium Development Goals) in the pilot programme regions, SNV guided the ASACO and municipalities on how to encourage pre-natal consultations. The efforts bore fruit, bettering the quality of health care for the 12,608 inhabitants of Wacoro, and the 1,516,486 residents of Koulikoro. Between 2005 and 2006 alone, the rates of prenatal consultations in Wacoro, Dioila and Koulikoro increased by 11%, 2% and 6% respectively. In another municipality, Banco, the municipality/ASACO partners discussed how to increase consultations with the community health centres (CSCOM) which were being abandoned in favour of traditional healers. Efforts to raise awareness and educate traditional healers on modern medical practices will be undertaken. In SNV West & Central Africa In Wacoro (Mali), SNV and local health authorities work to improve the rate of pre-natal consultations. In the near future, the Ministry of Health aims to institutionalise the pilot program on a national scale, with help from other national health bodies. SNV and KIT will provide technical and advisory assistance during the institutionalisation process. The transfer of regional funds to local municipalities will reinforce the multilevel partnership. Additional information: Author: Dr. Brahima Kone, bkone@snvworld.org Photographer: Dramane Dao
Summary Annual Report 2008 17 Examples of our work III Case Niger Finance for smallholders Ensuring access to micro-credits for Cow Pea and Sesame Seed Growers’ Unions in Zinder region. Context: Promoting smallholders’ access to formal finance is a crucial strategy in world wide programmes for poverty alleviation. The designation of 2005 as International Year of Microcredit and the issuing of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Mohammed Yunus confirm a growing awareness of the vital role that pro-poor financial systems can play in achieving the MDGs, especially halving the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015. Facilitating producers’ access to resources, including micro-credits, is a key objective of SNV’s value chain interventions. Microcredits allow producers to purchase agroinputs, to invest, to bulk crops for future sale (at higher prices) and to cope with the risks linked to farming. A major challenge is to turn rural finance into a sustainable and profitable system that matches the divergent interests of low-income farmers (namely urgent capital needs) and financial institutions (namely generating profit and reducing costs and risks). Since 2006, SNV has supported the cow pea value chain development in different regions of Niger. Cow pea is one of the principal cash crops in Niger, together with onions. Of total production (700,000 tons), 75% is exported to other countries in the region, in particular Nigeria, Togo, Benin and Ghana. Zinder region produces one quarter of national output. Nearly 90 % of its farmers (20% of whom are women) grow cow peas on a total area of 944,364 ha. The target group comprises about 800 cow pea farmers in two municipalities of the Magaria department. The farmers are organised into 29 groups and 3 unions. SNV supports them in managing these cooperatives, applying better production and postharvest techniques and establishing linkages with other value chain actors and partners. About 80 % of them are poor subsistence farmers who combine a system of mixed cropping and livestock rearing, using family labour, and cultivating small plots of land (less than 3 ha). Being unable to store their produce for later, more lucrative, sale they are trapped in a vicious cycle of poor investments (e.g. fertiliser use of 2.3 kg/ha, compared to a Sub Saharan average of 12 kg/ha), low productivity (gross yields: 200 kg/ha) and low incomes (50 % market their crops immediately after harvesting at extremely low prices). Micro finance provides a way out of this poverty trap. However, most micro finance institutes (MFIs) in the region are reluctant to grant loans to farmers due to a lack of collateral, high transaction costs, perceived loan repayment indiscipline, climate uncertainties, price fluctuations and other risks associated with agricultural lending. Fewer than 1 % of rural households benefit from rural finance services. Therefore farmers call upon the services of informal moneylenders for their financial needs. To reimburse these costly loans (in cash or kind), they are often forced to sell off their produce shortly after harvest when prices are at their lowest. The goal of the assignment: - To enhance income and food security of cow pea farmers in the Magaria department by facilitating their access to micro-credits. Such credits enable them to buy high quality inputs (e.g. seeds and fertilisers), to invest (e.g. income generating activities) and to store produce. - To enhance the performance of cow pea farmers’ groups with regard to: (i) connecting and collaborating with micro finance institutes and other stakeholders, in particular input suppliers and government services (ii) planning, implementing and monitoring the use of micro credits and purchase of inputs and (iii) applying effective cow pea production and conservation techniques. - To foster an enabling environment for agricultural financing by supporting MFIs in developing and promoting adequate financial services for small-scale producers. SNV West & Central Africa
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