The initiative kicked off with a ‘write-shop’ in Kenya that brought together field teams from eight countries. The week-long exercise, led by KIT, involved intensive discussion and drafting sessions and peer review. It focused on 12 chapters: five case-studies of successful partnerships and seven chapters on cross-cutting areas:
- Grassroots innovation processes
- Role of producer organizations as local drivers of change
- Plant nutrition, new fertilizer technologies
- BoP marketing and distribution strategies
- Partnership governance
- Access to finance
- Attracting youth to agriculture
In each of these cross-cutting areas, 2SCALE partnerships have catalyzed major changes in agribusiness, leading to higher productivity, more inclusive trade, new products and much more. The analysis will examine a few partnerships relating to each theme, to understand the processes and the factors contributing to (or hindering) success. What worked, what didn’t, how partnerships were structured, how they evolved during the course of implementation, under what conditions a given partnership model will work…
The write-shop also included a session on the structure and characterization of partnerships, to capture the diversity within the 2SCALE portfolio. For example, who leads the partnership: a farmer group, a company or multiple actors? What types of supporting actors are involved? What are the implications for partnership structure and governance? What conditions must be met for a partnership with this structure to achieve impact at scale? This will provide a framework around which to build a detailed thematic analysis.
The team of writers has developed outlines for all 12 chapters. Drafts will be completed by July, and the final book will be hot off the press by November.