Mid year report 2016

AgriProFocus Zambia

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Colophon Report compiled by: Claire van der Kleij; Nosiku Siuymbwa, Chali Nyirenda, Maumo Mubila, Wim Goris

Contact Information AgriProFocus Zambia

AgriProFocus Netherlands

Claire van der Kleij Network coordinator Zambia Visiting & Postal address SNV Office 7 Nkanchibaya Road, Rhodes Park P.O. Box 31171 Lusaka, Zambia T: +260 211 255174/5 E : cvanderkleij@agriprofocus.com Website www.agriprofocus.com/zambia

Wim Goris AgriProFocus network facilitator Visiting & Postal address AgriProFocus Jansbuitensingel 7 6811 AA Arnhem The Netherlands T: +31 (0) 6 1897 2352 E: wgoris@agriprofocus.com Website www.agriprofocus.com

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1. Introduction and Summary The Zambian highlights of the first half of 2016 include the following events

Date Place Event Title Participants Co-organisers

(Click title for report) Mal Fem Total

February 11th

Chipata Network Day Chipata – Evaluation Finance Fair 2015

12 2 14 Nutri Aid

February 15-17th

Lusaka Kick off Workshop Gender Track 3

4 2 6 Nutri Aid

February 23-24th

Lusaka Closing Workshop Gender Track 2

6 3 9 Musika, Nutri Aid

March 10th Monze

Regional Dairy Debate Platform 59 6 65

DAZ, SNV

March 14 -16th Monze

Dairy Learning Lab 1: Feeding & Water Harvesting 9 5 14

Monze Dairy Cooperative, DAZ, SNV, PUM

March 18-20th Mapepe

Dairy Learning Lab 2: Dairy Bookkeeping 16 8 24

Mapepe Dairy Cooperative, DAZ, SNV, PUM

March 22-23rd Luanshya

Dairy Learning Lab 3: Cow Health & Artificial Insemination 17 8 25

Luanshya Dairy Cooperative, DAZ, SNV, PUM

May 20th Lusaka

Validation Event on Uptake of Biogas & Bio slurry in Zambia 12 5 17 SNV

Details on all these events are found on http://agriprofocus.com/zambia. Together, these events reached 174 participants (78% male and 22% female). The attendance and the quality of these events are signs of a growing network of professionals and organisations. AgriProFocus Zambia is a valuable network for business brokering and partnership building. By end of May, the online community AgriProFocus Zambia counts about 875 professional members and 130 profiles of companies and organisations. The number of activities is lower than planned for two reasons. First, in April the Business & Partnership Coordinator left the coordination team. She was substituted in by end of June. Some activities were postponed to be able to train and settle in the new Business & Partnership Coordinator. Second, it was decided to reschedule all public events to after the Presidential Elections on August 11. AgriProFocus Zambia follows the security policy of the host organisation SNV. The risk is our network events could be used for purposes of campaigning. This affected the B2B events and finance fairs. As a consequence we will have more events in the remaining period. Find below the updated event schedule for second half of the year:

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Date Place Upcoming Events Co-organisers

July 17th-22nd Chipata Business planning & Business pitching trainings ZCSMBA, Profit+, SNV

August 3-4 Chipata Exchange Workshop Gender Track 3 COMACO, Nutri Aid

August 17th Namwala Regional Dairy Debate Platform DAZ, SNV

August 25-26th Chipata Finance Fair Agricomm, SNV,

September 1-2 Lusaka Youth in Agri-Business Event YEFI, BongoHive, Agricom

September 10th Lusaka Teaser workshop Gender Track 4 Musika, NutriAid

September 18-22nd

Choma Business planning trainings DAZ, SNV, Musika

September 23rd Lusaka National Dairy Debate Platform DAZ, SNV

Oct 1-18th

Kasisi, Ndola, Choma Poultry Learning Lab 1-3

Kasisi, Livestock Services, PAZ, PUM, EKN

October 13-14 Choma Finance Fair Agricomm, SNV, Musika

October 20th-21st

Lusaka Closing Workshop Gender Track 3 Nutri Aid, SNV

November 2nd Lusaka Gender Debate Platform Musika, SNV, Nutri Aid

November 15th Lusaka Horticulture B2B – preparation for Regional Event AgBIT, EKN, IDE

November 25th Lusaka Poultry B2B – preparation for Agritech Expo PAZ, EKN, Livestock Services

December 1st Lusaka Network Day Advisory Committee

2. First results 2016 Here we present and discuss the first results for each of the general priorities set for 2016.

2.1 Network Development and Coordination Annual Plan targets

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Mid-year update Network adherence of stakeholders Professional registration is at 875 members and we have overachieved our target of institutional registration which stands at 130 company profiles. Actions: Online platform trainings are scheduled during the Finance Fairs and B2B meetings to boost capacity of members to interact on the platform. The Communication Officer has started to implement the new communication strategy which will increase marketing of our events. By creating more exposure we aim to increase the professional registration to reach our target by the end of the year. Regional outreach in country We have increased the number of events this year held in Southern and Eastern province beyond the finance fairs. The Dairy Debate Platform and the Dairy Learning Labs have also taken place in these areas. Actions: Other activities have already been planned in the Southern and Eastern provinces including the Business planning & pitching trainings and the Poultry Learning Labs. Cooperation with partners and members in Zambia We have increased cooperation with committed members and also new members. We have established cooperation with AgriComm, Musika, AgBIT, NutriAid, DAZ, GIZ, COMACO, Amatheon Agri, and World Fish Centre. Actions: Partnerships have already been identified with members to collaborate on specific activities in the second half of the year. MoUs will be signed with members such as YEFI, Bongo Hive, PAZ, Livestock Services, and Kasisi Agriculture Training Centre. Partners and members in the Netherlands Our partnership with EKN has become more active this year in more value chains including poultry and horticulture. We have also been able to establish new collaborations with Agriterra and W&D/Incluvest. Collaboration with SNV has also been intensified this year to incorporate three of their programmes on the areas of Dairy, Energy for Agriculture and Integrated Land Management. Actions: Collaboration with PUM has been established with the Dairy Learning Labs and the activities have been completed. The Poultry Learning Labs, will take part with PUM the second part of the year. We are currently looking at the opportunities we can explore with PTC+ and Agriterra under the Poultry Learning Lab activity.

2.2 Business and partnership brokering Annual Plan targets

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Mid-year update Providing market intelligence on Food and Business The energy study and needs assessment have been completed. The energy study revealed that biogas uptake can be targeted to a wider audience in the agriculture sector. Initial discussions with the working group (SNV and DAZ) suggest to develop a marketing campaign together to promote uptake of biogas. The needs assessment for the Finance Fairs provided insight on how to make the model more relevant to the two different contexts in Chipata and Choma. The main suggestions included enhancing direct marketing of the event to the farmers, choosing central locations easily accessible for farmers, making preparations with members to organise transport for farmers, and providing information on other financial products more accessible to farmers. As a result, the model has been improved. The coordination team is working with producer organisations and women’s associations to mobilise the farmers, Agricomm has stationed a staff on the ground in Chipata to do the marketing, and centrally-located venues have been selected. AgriProFocus will provide several buses to pick up farmers from distant areas. Farmers will be asked to pay for the bus fee. Other members have committed through the MoUs to arrange transport for their farmers. At the fair, members will also promote alternative financing mechanisms such as cooperative development & lending (Agriterra, SNV) and we are currently engaging NATSAVE and AB Bank that provide different financial packages to other financial institutions. We have taken up 14 requests for network services. Many of these requests have been linked to our own services including the Gender Track & the Finance Fair. Through the network services we have established a new relationship between Incluvest, REES and CHOPPA to ensure continued investment into the organic producer group. Action: Discussion with the Energy Working Group is planned to look at follow up to the initial discussions. The Finance fairs will take place in August and October after which we will review the new model with the members. Network requests continue to come in on a daily basis and we will be able to meet our target of processing 30 requests which is tracked through our contact request sheet. All B2B events have been scheduled to take place in the second half of the year. Facilitation of partnership development Dutch Poultry companies have been identified that are interested to invest in Zambian businesses. As part of the RVO/Dutch consulate assignment, we have developed an investment promotional video to encourage investment to Zambia. The matchmaking between these companies will take place in April 2017 during the Agritech Expo. Since the Dutch companies will only come to Zambia April next year, the activity on proposal writing will only take place after these sessions, once it is established there is a potential partnership between two businesses. The activity on Artificial Insemination (AI) has taken a different course. The members chose to integrate this into the Dairy Learning Labs and provide more expertise on the link between cow health and AI. In addition, the issues of breeding and AI have been put on the lobby agenda by DAZ. Therefore DAZ will lobby government for the establishment of a nitrogen plant to ensure continuous supply of liquid nitrogen for inseminators.

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Action: The AgriProFocus Arnhem team will support us in identifying Dutch horticulture businesses that would be interested to invest in Zambia through a matchmaking session and the Regional Horticulture Event scheduled for January 2017. The identification of the Zambian businesses will be assessed in July as part of the EKN assignment. The AI issues will be presented at the National Dairy Platform in October. AgriProFocus, DAZ and SNV are working together to do research on the main lobby issues in the sector so that DAZ can develop position papers on these same issues. Agriterra also supports DAZ through governance and lobby trainings to effectively implement these activities.

2.3 Innovation Communities Annual Plan targets

Mid-year update Stakeholders jointly learn and develop solutions for specific issues or sectors Currently 8 organisations have participated in the gender in value chains mainstreaming, of which 3 have already completed the track. Three Dairy Learning Labs have been completed successfully and we have been able to expand our outreach into the Copperbelt region. Actions: The coordination team together with Musika and Nutri Aid is organising a Teaser workshop to promote more private sector companies to mainstream gender in their value chains. We aim to recruit 10 more organisations to start a new track. We learned that one Gender Coach is unable to provide support to two tracks at the same time. With the increasing popularity of the Gender Track we will require an additional Gender Coach who will need to be trained to take over the new track. We will continue to explore as part of the strategy for next year to expand our products and services to the Copperbelt region (for poultry, access to finance and dairy). The Youth in Agribusiness Event preparations are ongoing and the event will be held in September with new members including YEFI and Bongo Hive. Agriterra is also playing an active role in the organisation of this event. Cross Country Learning The AgriProFocus Arnhem team is still exploring the options in Zimbabwe to see if there are options to replicate the products and services from Zambia.

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2.4 Platform for Debate and Learning Annual plan targets

Mid-year update Promotion debate and learning on farmer entrepreneurship In preparation for the launch of the milk campaign, a consultant was hired to develop the milk campaign strategy together with DAZ and SNV. This strategy has been completed and the milk campaign will be launched first of August. The 3rd gender track will take place half way through the year and evidence is being collected from the ground. The evidence collected from all gender tracks will be used to host a gender policy platform in the third quarter of the year. Usage online platform The coordination team has sent out 3 bulk SMS’s reaching out to over 1,000 members for the dairy learning labs and finance fairs. The online platform trainings have been scheduled to take place during the finance fair, the youth event, and network day in the third and fourth quarter of the year. Facebook has proven to be the best media channel to promote events and information since this is widely used by all membership groups in Zambia. Currently we have 2,199 Facebook likes.

3. Management and Governance From July 1st, the coordination team for AgriProFocus Zambia consists of Claire van der Kleij (Country Coordinator), Chali Nyirenda (Business and Partnership Coordinator, replacing Nchimunya Kasongo), Maumo Mubila (Learning Coordinator), Nosiku Siyumbwa (Communication Officer) and Wim Goris (Network Facilitator based in Netherlands). With the additional staff coming on board, the Country Coordinator’s time on AgriProFocus activities has decreased from 100% to 65% to reduce on costs. The Country Coordinator will mainly focus on management of the team, managing Dutch members, and providing strategic direction. Maumo Mubila has been promoted to Learning Coordinator and has been selected to be part of the Young Expert Programme (YEP). If successful, then YEP will cover 50% of the salary cost of the Learning Coordinator which could further reduce the cost of coordination from APF funds. AgriProFocus Zambia established an Advisory Committee at the beginning of the year and they have had two meetings. The committee members actively participate in network activities and have provided strategic inputs into the new business planning process. We would like to thank the Chairperson and the committee members for taking on these roles in the network. In Annex see full list of Advisory Committee members.

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The working groups that have been established per theme function at different levels. Typically, 2-3 members are part of co-organising an event and meet based on concrete activities that have been planned with them based on a MoU with the member and AgriProFocus. The only time the whole membership meets is during the Network Day. The Advisory Committee has recommended that such network days should be held more frequently to generate more information on the needs and trends of the network.

4. Analysis and conclusions Relevance of the AgriProFocus activities The relevance of our work is measured by the continued growth of the network and members positive response in jointly implementing, monitoring and creating sustainability for the planned activities. Members and partners of activities in 2016 request us to continue and expand the same activities such as the Learning Labs, Gender Coaching Tracks, Finance Fairs, Investment research and replicate it in other sub-sectors and geographical areas in 2016. The joint results are important evidence that help us approach new partners. Efficiency AgriProFocus is continuously linking up and joining forces with other members, networks, and initiatives working towards similar priorities. We are working together with ZCSMBA who provide expertise in business planning, SNV and Profit+ that have bankable businesses to be presented to financial institutions, to develop business planning and pitching trainings to ensure farmers and businesses are well prepared for matchmaking at the finance fairs. The coordination team has had challenges in the first and second quarter to efficiently keep to the original planning due to limited capacity of the team and delays in commitments by members. With the new team, as per 1st of July, the coordination will be able to plan the activities more efficiently. It is therefore important that the team focuses on improving the quality of products and services being delivered. The online platform statistics have stagnated this year. From our analysis, members become more active when there are more events being posted. Even if a post or event is popular, members view it but do not automatically respond to this. There is a need to collect more information, write more cases and stories and spend one-on-one time with members to use the platform. Effectiveness AgriProFocus has achieved about 40% of its targets by mid-2016, the remaining 60% is currently under way to be implemented, with many of the plans already in the last preparation stages before implementation. One of the main reasons the coordination is lagging slightly behind on targets is due to public events being postponed until after the Zambian elections which was not taken into account at the beginning of planning. As of 1st of July we have mobilised 60,061 Euros for activities and 41,742 Euros for coordination costs from donors and members. Our current expenditures are at 156,006 Euros therefore we have currently surpassed our target and raised 65% of total expenditures from external funding. Additional funding has been committed by EKN to sponsor two activities: poultry learning lab and horticulture regional event starting July 1st.

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Contact AgriProFocus Zambia Postal Address P.O. Box 31171 Visiting address SNV Office 7 Nkanchibaya Road, Rhodes Park Lusaka, Zambia Website: www.agriprofocus.com/zambia

[AgriProFocus Zambia Mid Year Report 2016]