Workshop: Making value chains work for the poor, SDC, 2007

Description
The now traditional SDC Small Enterprise Development (SED) Workshop is a learning and networking event. It aims at presenting new trends and good practices in the field of small enterprise development as well as allowing the participants to exchange information and experiences.

Many programmes supported by SDC and other donors are increasingly working to develop value chains: following a chosen product from its conception to end use - and beyond. Value chains often reach deep into rural areas, involving for example natural products from agriculture and forestry; they can also span the full range of markets, from rural to urban and international consumers.

This approach has many advantages; for example, it can take as its starting point products for which there is clear potential for market-based growth - in ways that are likely to benefit people living in poverty. Also, the value chain approach can integrate many different disciplines, as it can include, for example, the development of clusters and local economies, of skills, and of financial services. In this way, it can avoid fragmented efforts and encourage agency coordination and cohesiveness.

Development agencies see value chains, therefore, as a way to create many sustainable opportunities for poor people. But the interests of agencies are not identical with the interests of all the stakeholders in the value chain, and the approach raises many challenges and issues too. This year's SED Workshop considered when the approach should be used, and the achievements and lessons learned to date; it will also provide a forum for the consideration of unresolved and emerging issues.

Summary of results
The documents and presentations from the Workshop can now be downloaded below, listed in the following order:

a) Pre-announcement
b) Programme
c) Overview, by Jim Tanburn
d) A pro-poor analysis of the competitiveness of the bamboo value chain in the Mekong region, by John Marsh, Oxfam Hong Kong
e) Insights gained during the SDC online debate on Value Chains in Rural Development, by Andreas Gerrits, SDC, and Daniel Roduner, Agridea
f) Experiences in the sheanut butter value chain in west Africa, by Lionel Giron, Intercooperation
g) Experiences in developing organic cotton in west Africa and central Asia, by Tobias Meier, Helvetas, and Rolf Heimann, Hess Naturtextilien
h) The experiences of seco, by Hans-Peter Egler
i) A systemic approach to value chain interventions, by Marshall Bear
j) Experiences in the vegetable value chain in the Honduras, by Michael Velten, Swisscontact
k) Experiences with fishery associations in Bangladesh, by Peter Roggekamp, Katalyst
l) Experiences in the banana, coffee and cashew value chains in Tanzania, by Tim Piper, Technoserve
m) Final report, by Jim Tanburn



Associated Activities and Documents
Market Assessment
»	The Prosperity Initiative (research), 2007-
Synthesis Documents
»	Eighth Annual Seminar on Developing Service Markets and Value Chains - Chiang Mai, September 2007 (Reader in English/French/Spanish)