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<strong>Samriddhi</strong> Project Document<br />

and outreach and selected 11 value chains for the next phase. The challenge will remain that<br />

partners will really become drivers for the value chains development, and that the latter could<br />

equally benefit the poor and extreme poor.<br />

Service provision<br />

The projects have mobilised around 5,300 local service providers (LSP) of which 76% are<br />

providing their services on a commercial basis. Most generally, the provision of services<br />

generated additional income for the service providers. In some cases, they became their main<br />

source of income. Their monthly income ranges from 400 to 3,000 Taka, depending on the<br />

domain of service. LSPs formed service provider associations (SPA) as platforms that promote<br />

and protect their professional interest. The concept of mobile manager, developed in 2008,<br />

proved to be promising. These service providers support MSEs in regard to business<br />

development.<br />

Key lessons learned:<br />

• Service provision is profitable when connected with rural MSEs through service<br />

contracts.<br />

• Training has less impact on the extreme poor since they often lack the means to utilise<br />

the information gained.<br />

• Organisational and management capacities of the SPAs are not yet strong enough to<br />

attract all the LSPs. Experiences show however that compared to individual LSPs, SPAs<br />

are in a better position to negotiate with input companies and line agencies.<br />

• The cooperation with line agencies has been shown to be strongly project driven and did<br />

not work well without external support.<br />

In the consolidation phase, the project will stop supporting training/service sessions for the<br />

extreme poor and focus on interventions like facilitation of the establishment of service contracts<br />

or contract farming. The concept of mobile managers, with the idea of supporting MSEs in their<br />

business, will have to be refined and scaled up.<br />

The quality of services and the sustainable access of LSPs to capacity building still remain a<br />

challenge that the project will have to address. The sustainability of the system, with producers<br />

buying services on a not subsidised basis is also another challenge.<br />

Gender mainstreaming<br />

In terms of participation of women the results were quite impressive: 39% of the CBOs are<br />

female only, 44% are mixed with a total of 80,000 women members. 83% of the CBOs<br />

implement 2 or more specific activities to address women inclusion in decision-making, control<br />

over resources, etc. Through income generating activities and employment in MSEs, women<br />

can earn their own money and increase their status in family and society. However, progress in<br />

control over resources by women and representation of women in decision making positions is<br />

still limited.<br />

Intercooperation Bangladesh Page 9

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