2. The VCA4D studies
Why Value Chain Analysis for Development (VCA4D)?
Value chains represent operational frameworks for engaging with small-holder farmers and businesses, while promoting agricultural growth in developing countries. The analyses of value chains is useful for market-oriented agricultural development and are strategic when investments and policy dialogue are foreseen, to understand to what extent a value chain promotes inclusive growth and is socially and environmentally sustainable.
Such analyses will increase the knowledge and understanding of the dynamics of a value chain, providing information that will on the one side support policy makers in better shaping policies and projects, and on the other side actors of the value chains to better understand the possibilities and constraints of the environment they are part of.
How are VCAs selected through our project?
A VCA4D study can be requested by partner countries and EU Delegations (EUDs) by submitting a request (in a form of an email) to INTPA Unit F3 (Sustainable Agri-food systems and fisheries). Unit F3 will validate the request and contact the Project Management Unit (PMU) of Agrinatura to launch the recruitment of the team and to tailor the Terms of Reference of the study to the necessities of the situation.
A VCA4D can be undertaken at any moment of the EU project cycle, as it will provide a baseline and appraisal of a situation at a given moment in time (before or after an investment/ a project/ a strategy). Once a first VCA has been completed, it is recommended to request updates regularly every few years, to become aware of trends and to be able to appreciate (and correctly interpret) changes over time.
What is the VCA4D process?
VCA4D studies will take a minimum of 6 months from the recruitment of the team until the finalisation of the final report. This timing is to be adapted as much as possible to the necessities of the partner countries and EUDs.
VCAs are performed by teams of 4 experts: three international experts coming from Agrinatura members (an agro-economist, an environmentalist and a social expert) and one national expert. As experts are often researchers of an Agrinatura member, EUDs and partner countries are suggested to plan a request well in advance to guarantee the availability of the most suitable researchers.
The team of experts will be briefed on the methodological framework and will then perform one or two missions in the country in an integrated way and with a collaborative participatory mind-set. The team will brief and debrief during each mission with the EUD in the country. It will then present a draft final report that will be discussed during a debriefing session, before the finalisation of the report. Each expert will provide an input comparable to around 45 working days.
The schema below summarises the VCA4D process:
