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BUREAU FOR DEVELOPMENT, DEMOCRACY, AND INNOVATION
LOCAL, FAITH, AND TRANSFORMATIVE PARTNERSHIPS HUB
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Locally Led Development Initiatives
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MAY 2022
LOCAL WORKS PHOTO CONTEST WINNER: FLAVIO BORGES, USAID/TIMOR-LESTE "LOCAL WORKS TEAM INTERVIEWING YOUTH ON THE STREET IN THE LIQUICA MUNICIPALITY."
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MEXICO: CROP DIVERSIFICATION TOWARDS FOOD SOVEREIGNTY
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PHOTO CREDIT: EQUAL EXCHANGE. MEMBERS OF CESMACH PARTICIPATE IN AN EXCHANGE CISIT TO LEARN FROM FELLOW FARMERS.
According to research by the University of Vermont (UVM), smallholder coffee producers in Mesoamerica experience food insecurity from 2.5 to 8 months of the year. Usually during the rainy season, landslides and blocked roads reduce access to food markets, coffee profits decrease, and households consume their food reserves. UVM’s findings ultimately showed that coffee farmers who also produce staple crops or engage in additional activities like beekeeping to develop supplementary sources of income may be more food secure and economically resilient.
As a result, Café Ecológico de la Sierra Madre de Chiapas S.C. (CESMACH), one Mexican coffee cooperative that participated in the study, began implementing crop diversification projects in 2021 to increase members' food security and incomes. With support from Equal Exchange and USAID's Cooperative Development Program, members have started to grow avocados; raise and breed pigs, poultry, and tilapia; and keep bees. Diversifying into these products allows members to have greater access to food and add more protein to their diets during periods of scarcity. It also allows members, whose incomes are subject to inflation and fluctuating coffee prices, to provide for their families' basic needs.
For members of CESMACH, these projects also help them work towards food sovereignty: "the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems." The cooperative held food sovereignty and security workshops for members and their families to communicate the risks of consuming processed foods and promote foods that they can grow naturally on their farms. Members of CESMACH were also trained on how to use their homegrown products for raising animals, and how to utilize local resources to develop affordable, organic feed for chickens, pigs, and fish.
As these projects near completion, farmers are now more aware of the economic and health benefits of producing food themselves, and have formed relationships through the projects’ trainings and exchange visits. Through gradual mindset change, farmers of CESMACH are shifting the way they think about and interact with their own local food systems.
USAID supports this project through the Cooperative Development Program.
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MALAWI: PETITIONING FOR SEED
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PHOTO CREDIT: USAID/MALAWI. MALAWIAN FARMERS OUTSIDE OF PARLIAMENT PRESENT A PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE SEED BILL.
Agriculture is a key driver of Malawi’s economic growth with 80 percent of Malawians working in the sector, the majority being youth and women. Climate shocks, unreliable markets, and stalled implementation of agriculture-related policies or strategies, among other challenges, put Malawian farmers and their communities at risk. Through USAID’s Local Works program, the Farmer’s Union of Malawi (FUM) leads a consortium of three other Malawian organizations working to strengthen existing policy and mobilize Malawian farmers to advocate for better access to services. Among the policies the FUM consortium targets, the Seed Bill, aimed at decreasing fake seed sold to unknowing Malawian farmers, finally became law on April 4, 2022 after being stalled since its validation in January 2019.
Ahead of the coming farming season, FUM’s consortium delivered a petition to parliament to revisit the Seed Bill. FUM president Frighton Njolomole explained to the local press the gravity of the proliferation of fake seed, calling “on the legislators to not only hear and nod heads, but to move to action because the solution to this challenge is within reach.” Studies show that 60 percent of seed traders sell is actually grain, slashing the possible harvest – and income – farmers could make if they planted only genuine, certified seed. The passing of the Seed Bill promises to mark a new milestone in protecting farmers across Malawi.
The recent advocacy win is only part of the consortium’s Local Works project that uses locally led approaches in seven districts to strengthen inclusive agriculture sector growth and sustainable natural resource governance. Over the past years, the consortium has partnered with smallholder farmers and civil society organizations (CSOs) to understand, strategize, and advocate for better agricultural outcomes while collaborating with government entities to strengthen services and policies. The consortium has supported farmers and CSOs to form community-led cooperatives and associations that improve access to markets and diversify crop production. From rice to cotton to soy, farmers in these cooperatives are using new farming and marketing strategies to increase their customer base and revenue. Ultimately, the objectives of the consortium’s work intertwine by both increasing farmer-led advocacy and services and promoting more sustainable farming practices to tackle food insecurity and spur economic growth from the grassroots level.
USAID supports the "Strengthening Inclusive Agriculture Sector Growth and Sustainable Natural Resources Governance in Malawi" activity through the Local Works program.
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TANZANIA: COMMUNITY-BASED FOOD SECURITY
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PHOTO CREDIT: PEACE CORPS/TANZANIA. COMMUNITY MEMBERS LEARN ABOUT AVOCADO PESTS AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT DURING AN AVOCADO FARMING TRAINING.
Despite significant economic and agricultural growth over the past decade in Tanzania, household poverty and nutrition rates have not substantially improved. In partnership with the Peace Corps, local government authorities conducted needs assessments to better understand how to work with farmers across Tanzania’s various geographic areas to increase the quantity and diversity of food produced. Based on these assessments, local government-certified facilitators and Peace Corps staff carried out regional trainings to share knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to improve food security, livelihoods, and promote gender equality in agriculture through food security initiatives. Tanzania’s diverse ecosystems drove the topics of each training: for example, they focused on avocado farming in the Southern Highlands while they centered around beekeeping in the Central region. Those trained went back home to lead trainings in their communities. “I can use locally available resources to improve my agricultural practices and increase productivity,” one trainee told the Peace Corps. Members in each community, regardless of region, immediately put their learning into action by improving agricultural practices in their own farms and establishing working groups and nurseries.
USAID supports this activity through the Small Project Assistance (SPA) Program, a long-standing partnership with the Peace Corps.
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KENYA: GRADUATES, ENTREPRENEURS, CHANGE-MAKERS
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PHOTO CREDIT: NORTHERN RANGELANDS TRUST. UJUZI MANYATTANI GRADUATES DISPLAY THEIR CERTIFICATES AFTER THE GRADUATION.
“When we started Ujuzi Manyattani… the youth proposed to have vocational skills, and those youth who proposed are those who had never been to school,” Ture Boru, Chief Programs Officer of the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) Trading, shared at the program’s third graduation ceremony. On April 6, 2022, the free Ujuzi Manyattani vocational training program in northern Kenya – funded through the USAID Local Works program along with other donors – celebrated its 337 graduates. One hundred thirty nine of the graduates were women – an exponential increase from six women of the 2021 graduating class. Through the Ujuzi Manyattani program, young students from indigenous communities take hands-on courses, gaining skills that enable them to seek out alternative livelihoods to pastoralism, threatened by climate change effects, and ultimately escape cycles of poverty and nature-based conflict. “For the past eight months, my [own mobile phone repair business’] earnings have met my family’s needs,'' explained one graduate. USAID/Kenya and East Africa Environment Office Director Aurelia Micko, Dutch Ambassador to Kenya Ole Thonke, and other high-level officials celebrated the graduation with the program. “You are the change agents,” Director Micko commended the graduates. “You’re no longer the leaders of tomorrow, you’re the leaders of today.”
This activity is supported in part through USAID's Local Works program.
Locally Led Development Champions–Local Works Mission staff nominated by the Local Works DC team–embody the spirit of locally led development through commitment, dedication, innovation, advocacy, and exemplary initiative in advancing its work. In this and future LLDI newsletters, we’ll be celebrating the Locally Led Development Champions who advance and operationalize USAID’s localization agenda every day.
PHOTO CREDIT: USAID/NORTH MACEDONIA. LELA, ETA, KRISTINA, IVICA, AND NATASHA STAND TOGETHER BY A MAP OF NORTH MACEDONIA.
Eta, Lela, Kristina, Ivica, and Natasha anticipated resistance as they began to build the USAID/North Macedonia Local Works portfolio, but their dedication to advancing locally led development enabled them to achieve their now “fully blown portfolio of seven wonderful and promising activities.” The team persevered, inspired by “the vision that local development is not merely possible, but that it is the only true and viable option… to take charge of their own livelihoods and take on the everyday challenges in their communities.” Never assuming to know what was needed, the team traveled “across the country to speak to countless communities, numerous grassroot initiatives, and the common people,” meeting proactive changemakers and facilitating new connections. Through co-creation in the field across different regions, the team ensured local ownership and leadership in their programming every step of the way.
Their advice?
“Trust your local partners - they best understand the dynamics in their own communities.” - Eta
“Put yourself in the shoes of ordinary citizens who know and care for their community. Would you like to be told by an outsider what to do and how?” - Lela
“Local champions (individuals and organizations) are the crucial nexus for locally led development.” - Kristina
“Listen, be patient, be imaginative!” - Ivica
“Learn from the local organizations by letting them take charge. Amazing things will happen.” - Natasha
The USAID/North Macedonia Local Works program advances community-led development by strengthening relationships, networks, and collaboration among local actors; enabling resource mobilization for development; and supporting local leadership and community ownership of the entire development process. The team “cannot wait to see the first break-throughs, learn from mistakes, and celebrate successes together with the local communities.”
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FUNDING OPPORTUNTIES
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REPORTS AND ARTICLES
- The USAID/Zimbabwe Local Works Youth Program recently released its quarterly newsletter. The Zimbabwean youth civil society organization, the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust (YETT), provides the program with backbone support, from conducting listening tours with youth to co-creating a Youth Advisory Board. Youth organizations like YETT are demonstrating how powerful young people can be in driving sustainable local development. Read their newsletter now to learn more!
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Philippine Cooperatives Can Play a Key Role in Development: Cooperative Development Program implementing partner, ACDI/VOCA, recently hosted a launch event for its new activity in the Philippines. More than 125 people, including government officials, private sector actors, program staff, and representatives from 32 local cooperatives and federations participated virtually and in-person to advance cooperative development knowledge. Learn more.
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USAID POLICY UPDATES
- USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning, and Learning (PPL) recently announced the launch of the 2022-2026 USAID Agency Learning Agenda, including nine agency learning questions focused on the Administration's highest priorities. To share learning related to the Agency Learning Agenda questions, please email ALA@usaid.gov.
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TOOLS, RESOURCES, AND CASE STUDIES
- Do you use collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approaches in your locally led development work? Heads up: the 2022 CLA Case Competition opens on May 23! In 11 days, individuals and organizations working with USAID can help move the needle on strategic, continuous CLA management by submitting cases that showcase lessons learned while implementing CLA. The submission period closes June 6 at 5:00 pm EST or after the first 80 submissions are received, whichever comes first. Browse all the cases or watch the submission webinar.
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JOB OPPORTUNITIES
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Locally Led Development Initiatives are part of the Local, Faith, and Transformative Partnerships (LFT) Hub.
The LFT Hub focuses on strengthening USAID’s ability to partner with non-traditional and diverse actors including local, faith-based, and community organizations; schools and hospitals; minority-serving institutions; foundations; diaspora communities; cooperatives; and volunteer organizations. Learn more about how LFT is harnessing the power of partnerships through the following:
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