Strategizing on Value Chain Development

On 2 and 3 December 2009 a workshop was held on ICCO experiences with value chain development (VCD) programmes. The workshop addressed staff from the FSED (Fair and Sustainable Economic Development) department of ICCO/Kerkinactie in Utrecht, as well as some Value Chain facilitators from the field.

The first day was spent on reflection around the different strategies for Value Chain Development (VCD) and the different roles ICCO/Kerkinactie can play in this (4 roles of Capacity Building, Strategic Financing, Brokering and Lobby and Advocacy). From the discussions during the first day a number of key issues emerged.

The second day was used to systematically describe these issues: what is the issue, why is it important, what are factors for success & main challenges and what recommendations can be made to ICCO and its partners.

This process resulted in 11 wiki pages for the recently developed VCD wiki, which aims at becoming a digital platform for knowledge development of ICCO staff and ICCO partners. The wiki can be accessed via the compart toolbar -> flowers -> Sustainable and Fair Economic Development -> value chain development. The pages created by the participants can be viewed via the navigator (top right margin) or side bar (bottom right margin)

The workshop was held in a positive and dynamic atmosphere, and managed to take a bit of fear out of ‘working with wikis’. See the blip below from Rogier Verschoor to get an impression from one of the participants directly:



Read the wiki for the highlights of the workshops on the issues of: programmatic approach; business development services; ICCO/Kerkinactie role in participation in businesses & farmers as shareholders.



By Angelica Senders, André Vording and Rob Witte