Concepts and terminology used in the stories
Public-private partnership ( PPP ) or in short , partnership An arrangement ( supported by 2SCALE ) in which public and private actors agree to promote inclusive business in targeted value chains / commodities . 2SCALE operates through a portfolio of about 50 commodity-based PPPs . Some of the PPPs started with a business idea initiated by a local so-called “ champion ” ( who is often a producers ’ organisation [ PO ] 1 or small to medium enterprise - [ SME ]), to develop routes to the appropriate markets . Others were started by a larger-scale company seeking to source raw material from smallholder farmers . Each of the 15 stories relates to a specific partnership and one of these two types of PPPs .
Agribusiness cluster ( ABC ) or cluster A local ( grassroots ) network generally constructed around one or several group ( s ) of farmers , and interlinked enterprises , post-harvest managers , market agents , aggregators , processors and support services like input and credit providers , and transporters . In principle , each 2SCALE partnership groups several ( 5 to 18 ) ABCs . 2SCALE ’ s focus on ABCs aims for the sustainable integration of smallholder farmers in the value chains to get better access to markets .
Partnership facilitator Professional agents contracted full-time by the 2SCALE project to supervise all 2SCALE support within a specific partnership and to oversee the development and implementation of yearly partnership action plans .
Trainer-mentor Professional ICRA associates , contracted part-time to support the design , implementation and evaluation of capacity strengthening activities in 2SCALE , as part of the yearly partnership action plans .
Agribusiness coaches and Business support services ( BSS ) Agribusiness coaches are local intermediaries who facilitate interactive learning between the different actors within the ABCs , leading to joint innovation . In principle , each ABC of a given partnership has a coach , although some coaches service more than one ABC in practice . Coaches organise technical training on “ hard skills ”: for example , good agricultural practices , processing methods , etc .). They also coach in “ soft skills ” or “ functional capacities ” [ also see next point ], through brokering and building relationships , advising , developing networks , etc . The agribusiness coach can be an experienced
practitioner from a contracted BSS , such as an extension service , a research organisation , NGO , or consultancy ; then we refer to them as “ external ” coaches ( i . e . from outside the ABC actors themselves ). But to promote sustainability and to limit external costs , the coaches of about 70 % of the PPPs are staff members of the farmers ’ organisation or SME ( trader or processor ) that is part of the agribusiness cluster ; in this case , we refer to them as “ internal ” coaches .
Capacity strengthening ( CS ) and the CS model In the 2SCALE context , the trainer-mentor is a higher-level professional trainer who develops and implements a yearly CS plan for the ABCs who serve one value chain ; and who trains and mentors the associated agribusiness coaches . Typically , a CS plan includes several “ learning cycles ”, each consisting of a thematic workshop involving the coaches within a given partnership , related coaching by these coaches within the ABCs , and then reflection sessions to consolidate the lessons learned . As well as training the coaches in the workshops , the trainer-mentor supports the coaches once they are in the field and backs up some of their coaching sessions with ABCs . We also call these coaching sessions soft-skills coaching or functional capacity strengthening . A trainer-mentor supports on average 5 to 10 agribusiness coaches who can be in charge of 1 to 3 clusters – whom they regularly visit .
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1 Producers ’ organisation ( PO ) and farmers ’ organisation ( FO ) are interchangeable in this document .
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