Monday, March 22, 2010 – Friday, March 26, 2010
In early March ALINe – a partnership between the Institute of Development Studies and Keystone Accountability – gave out its Farmer Voice Awards to the nine organizations it felt best represented ALINe’s goal of advocating for ‘people-centred performance’ metrics in agricultural development. Last week on “Twitter Social Enterprise of the Day” we featured five ALINe award winners dedicated to giving small-scale farmers a vocal platform in the aid community.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Social Enterprise of the Day – Farm Radio International
Sub-Saharan Africa; Non-profit
The difficulties of farming in sub-Saharan Africa are often exacerbated by the relative lack of up-to-date information on effective low-cost farming techniques and market movements. Since 1979 this Canadian-based non-profit has been working to utilize the power of the radio – still the most accessible means of mass communication in Africa – to fight poverty and food insecurity. Working in direct partnership with local farmers and its network of broadcasters – comprised of 330 stations in 39 countries –Farm Radio International produces weekly radio scripts that respond to the needs of small-scale agricultural workers and rural communities, while also building the communication skills of partner broadcasters. Among other successes, Farm Radio campaigns have led to a four-fold increase in farmers using improved composting methods in Mali and to collective demand among Ugandan farmers for more government advisory services.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Social Enterprise of the Day – ACDI/VOCA
International; Non-profit
ACDI/VOCA –an established NGO working around the globe on rural development – won the Farmer Voice award for its work with cocoa, coconut and rice farmers in the Philippines . Specifically, their Participatory Farmers Adoption and Results Monitoring (Par FARM) program measures the effectiveness of their services by quantifying feedback from farmers themselves. Through regular survey sessions, ACDI/VOCA is able to mark successes, examine weaknesses and respond to specific problems, like poor seedling quality, by listening to those closest to the issues at hand – Filipino farmers.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Social Enterprise of the Day – Story Workshop
Malawi; Non-profit
Story Workshop first came on the air in Malawi in 1998, with a soap opera about family health that quickly became the most popular radio program in the country. Today, the organization continues to broadcast messages for social change in a lively radio format. In its weekly radio magazine, Mwana Alirenji (roughly translated as “food self-sufficiency” in Chichewa, the local language), peer-to-peer farming solutions and new agricultural or aid issues are addressed each week. Story Workshop bases its suggestions on observed farmer successes. Field reporters regularly visit Malawian farmers and farming associations to find out which low-cost methods, like crop rotation and rainwater harvesting, are most effective in building food security and then broadcast these success stories to others in the country.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Social Enterprise of the Day – Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC)
Nepal; Non-profit
About three-quarters of all Nepali citizens depend on agriculture, yet a semi-feudalistic system still exists and thousands remain landless or land-poor. The Community Self-Reliance Centre CSRC has emerged as a prominent local force in the fight for land rights reform in Nepal, where a highly centralized land management system has hampered conflict resolution in remote areas. Through its various advocacy, education and reform campaigns the CSRC has expanded its reach throughout the country. As of 2009, more than 13,400 petitions have been settled in favour of the landless and more than 200,000 families have benefited from education programs. Meanwhile, intensive lobbying efforts by the CSRC and other groups have resulted in the inclusion of a land reform agenda in the government’s Interim Constitution (2007) and the Interim Plan (2007-10).
Friday, March 26, 2010
Social Enterprise of the Day – World Vision
International; Non-profit
World Vision, a Christian relief and development organisation focused on aiding children, which is active throughout the developing world has won the Farmer’s Voice award for its food security work and its Humanitarian Accountability Program (HAP) in Zimbabwe . In providing assistance to smallholder farmers throughout the country, World Vision continually reworks its strategy according to farmer complaints and criticisms. The HAP utilizes various techniques including mobile help desks and farmer feedback committees, which have also provided a structure for greater community organization and women’s empowerment.
