COURSE TITLE

Integrating Producers into Sustainable Value Chains

INSTRUCTORS’ NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Alejandro Escobar
1300 New York Av. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20577
e-mail: alejandroe@iadb.org

Prerequisite: “Making Markets Work for the Poor”

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Effective facilitators of market development programs plan their exit strategies from the
outset. Participants will learn about structures that promote viable value chains including
the formation of producer groups, leveraging of ‘middlemen’ and lead firm approaches.
The course will also introduce strategies for successful facilitation including the role of
the facilitator, developing win-win relationships, understanding cost-benefit issues, and
building viable exit strategies. The course will include:

• Selecting adequate products that can meet value chain integration objectives
• Outlining key strategies to achieve adequate integration of producers to
sustainable value chains
• Identifying market players or key stakeholders who can provide the services to
producers wishing to integrate more fully to value chains
• The importance of time and finances in selecting the type of interventions
• Defining the role of the facilitator and determining the exit options

COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• To understand the role of the facilitating agency in market development as it
pertains to producers and their linkage to value chains
• To equip participants with tools to assess value chain structure and opportunities
in development of linkages
• To equip participants with analytical tools for understanding the financial and
programmatic implications behind linkages with value chains.
• To equip participants with the skills to design and develop programs and projects
that link producers to sustainable value chains

1
COURSE TOPICS AND SESSIONS IN WHICH TOPICS WILL BE COVERED
Topic Activities
Day 1 Course introduction • Lecture / Interactive lecture
• Overview of Value Chains • Participant exercise
• Assessing the level of development • Focus group discussion
of the producers • Plenary discussion
• Differences between producer • Case study work
groups, middlemen and lead firms
• Terminology and definitions
• Overview of cases

Day 2 Value Chain / Product Selection and • Lecture / Interactive lecture

Analysis • Participant exercise
• Types of integration within the VC • Focus group discussion
• Defining the goals and objectives of • Plenary discussion
integration efforts • Case study work
• The Time Factor. How Time can
impact the type of intervention
• Understanding the level of
engagement from the facilitators
point of view
Day 3 Strategies to integrate producers to • Lecture / Interactive lecture
value chains • Plenary discussion
• Introducing the framework for • Brainstorming
intervention • Case Study work
• Key issues that support the • Tools for engagement
strategies
• Application to case studies
Day 4 Introducing the financial considerations • Case study work
of potential interventions • Plenary
• The big picture • Tools for financial considerations
• Costs and benefits of interventions • Quiz
• Determining key assumptions
• Financing schemes

Day 5 Selecting Interventions • Peer exchange

• Key elements in design
• Other programs and experiences
• Exit strategies
• Interactive activity
• Small groups review MR plan
• Plenary discussion
• Quiz
• Evaluation forms

2
RESOURCE MATERIALS

Web Sites

Some of the materials listed below can be found in the following websites:

www.microlinks.org

www.bdsknowledge.org

Core Reading

Review the following presentations made through the Breakfast Seminar Series found in
the USAID microlinks website:

• Breakfast #2: A Value Chain Framework for Economic Growth That Reduces Poverty.

• Breakfast #3: Trade, Micro- and Small Enterprises, and Global Value Chains.

• Breakfast #5: From Seed to Shelf: Value Chain Dynamics in Kenyan Horticulture.

• Breakfast #7: How USAID/Honduras and FINTRAC Helped Smallholders Upgrade and
Compete Sustainably in High Potential Value Chains

Also:

Barber, Ted and Goldmark, Lara. Trade, Micro and Small Enterprises, and Global Value
Chains. February 2005. Development Alternatives Inc. for USAID.

Dunn, Elizabeth and Lillian Villeda. Weaving Micro and Small Enterprises into Global
Value Chains: The Case of Guatemalan Textile Handicrafts. USAID. (2005).

Miehlbradt, Alexandra Overy and Mary McVay 2005 READER – From BDS to Making
Markets Work for the Poor, Annual BDS Seminar, 2005. Geneva: International Labour
Organization, Small Enterprise Development Program (2004). Chapters Two and Three.

Unauthored, Linking Small-scale Producers to Markets. Old and New Challenges. A

Workshop of the ARD Rural Infrastructure, Markets and Finance thematic Group. (2005)

Further Reading

Bear, Marshall Making Retail Markets Work for the Poor - Why and How Triple Trust
Organization Decided to Intervene in the Spaza Market. The Small Enterprise Education
and Promotion Network (2005).

Dawson, Jonathan Facilitating Small Producers Access to High Value Markets. APT
Enterprises UK. (2003).

Jones, Linda and Perveen Shaikh Middlemen as Agents of Change: the Case of MEDA
and ECDI in Pakistan.The Small Enterprise Education and Promotion Network (2004).

McVay, Mary and Steve Rannekleiv Production and Market Linkages: Towards a MEDA
Strategy for Business Development. MEDA (2005)