Mendez England & Associates, 2012, Final Performance Evaluation of USAID’s “Cambodia Micro, Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises Ii/Business Enabling Environment” Project

2.1 ENABLING ENVIRONMENT

2.1.9 Value Chains and adding value to value chain components

Recommendation: 3. When designing projects with women (and men) in home-based or other informal economy activities, include focus on the value chain. Incomes and working conditions can be improved when consideration is made of the means to strengthen informal economy products in the value chain.

Reference: Mendez England & Associates, 2012, Final Performance Evaluation of USAID’s “Cambodia Micro, Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises Ii/Business Enabling Environment” Project, Final evaluation, USAID, Washington DC.

Evidence sample: before MSME’s intervention, most honey was sold in a raw, unprocessed state along the roadside in buckets. With the technical assistance of MSME, the communities now filter the honey and sell it at higher prices to buyers in Phnom Penh and the respective provinces including Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Koh Kong, Preah Vihear and Steung Treng.

MSME produced the “Honey Profiles/Book” that provided information to potential buyers about how much honey was available in different communities, when it was available, and who could be contacted.

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2.3 DIRECT ACTIONS IN COMMUNITIES

2.3.2 Entrepreneurship: Capacity strengthening on economic activities

Recommendation: 13. Consider a wide range of livelihoods opportunities for people dependent on the IE outside of standard types of IE activities. Examples may include establishment of sales agent networks for diverse products, latrine installation, mobile hairdressing services, etc.

Reference: Mendez England & Associates, 2012, Final Performance Evaluation of USAID’s “Cambodia Micro, Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises Ii/Business Enabling Environment” Project, Final evaluation, USAID, Washington DC.

Evidence sample: The evaluation determined that the project promoted the concept of sanitation as an excellent business opportunity that has spread far beyond IDE-trained entrepreneurs through production innovation, which has in turn stimulated both supply and demand. Copycat enterprises adopted sales and marketing strategies that IDE-trained entrepreneurs are using, such as displays and sales agent networks (new latrine installations upwards of 40-50% are coming from latrine competitors other than those trained by IDE). Due to the project, a widespread and fully functioning sales agent network now exists in communes and villages in the areas mentioned above, which is generating wide-spread sales. Many latrine producers now employ commission-based sales agents who actively market latrines in their areas of influence.