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Testimonials

Measuring the Impact of Decentralised Electrification Projects (1/4). Cafés Lumière in Madagascar

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The distribution of electricity outside national grids, facilitated through mini-grids, a generic term encompassing various system sizes (pico, micro, mini, or small), stands as the main means of extending access to electricity for rural populations in Africa . In principle this approach should contribute significantly to achieving the MDG7 (Sustainable Development Goal 7: ensuring universal access to reliable, sustainable, and modern energy services at an affordable cost). However, the mini-grids sector faces significant challenges in making substantial progress. National, and at times international, decision-makers encounter difficulties in scaling up this approach due to a lack of compelling evidence regarding its impact, a void that economists and evaluators have so far struggled to fill.

In a series of four articles, we introduce the Cafés Lumière mini-grids project in Madagascar, highlight the limitations of the standard evaluation conducted for accountability purposes, which fails to offer substantive proof of impact, and explore alternative methods for assessing and documenting the socio-economic impacts of the project.

Cafés Lumière in Madagascar: a Shop, a Welcoming place, and a Mini-grid.

The Café Lumière solution, conceived and developed since 2019 by Electriciens sans frontières, provides, in 6 villages in the Vakinankaratra and Itasy regions of Madagascar, a shop with a photovoltaic solar power system, backed up by batteries and a generator.

The Cafés Lumière are unique in their dual role as a mini-grid and a multifunctional energy hub. In other words, the Café Lumière, usually located in the centre of the village, has a shop which offers services such as mobile phone and lamp charging, and supplies electricity to meet other local demands. Thes multi-service platforms deliver energy services and a welcoming space for productive activities which need electricity. The mini-grid supplies electricity from the Café Lumière via local connections to households, businesses, public lighting, and community services. A portion of the electricity consumption for the community services is funded by a contribution collected from sales to other users, households, and businesses.

Four fundamental principles guide the installation of Cafés Lumière :

Ensure a minimum access to a sustainable electricity service for all members of a rural community.
Enhance the quality of community services, particularly healthcare and education, by establishing long-term minimum access to electricity.
Promote the development of private productive activities.
Contribute to a political and regulatory framework that empowers local stakeholders to oversee and sustain Café Lumière facilities and services over the long term.

This solution is based on a public-private partnership which involves the operator, Anka, the Agence de Développement de l’Électrification Rurale (ADER), the Structures Collectives de Gestion Mixte (SCGM) at the village level, and the solution provider, Electriciens sans frontières.

With a presence established in each of the villages involved, the service provider operates in close proximity to isolated rural populations. This proximity allows for the sharing of relevant information and immediate actions (operation and maintenance of facilities, sale of services, etc.). Furthermore, a remote monitoring system for energy production has been implemented, enabling the tracking of Café Lumière activities, which plays a pivotal role in generating monitoring and evaluation data for the project by compiling monthly activity reports. These meticulously detailed data facilitate a comprehensive examination of the project’s impact.

The primary funding source for the project came from the French Development Agency through the Sectoral Innovation Facility for Non-Governmental Organisations (FISONG) and its replication under an NGO Initiative Note (NIONG).

In its approach, the Cafés Lumière project is an innovative solution. Based on multiparty funding, and in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the project demands consideration for expansion on a broader scale.

Standard Evaluation for Accountability Purposes

Aid agencies use a standard approach to assess the efficient allocation of funds, commissioning an independent firm to produce a report on project completion. This report serves as the final evaluation of the project, as long as it complies with principles of accountability.

This evaluation reports projected results, aligning more with expected rather than observed impacts. In the case of an infrastructure project, the assessment takes place shortly before the planned launch of the equipment, which is often too premature to gauge the expected medium- or long-term effects. While this evaluation fulfils administrative objectives, it may not necessarily enhance our knowledge on how projects contribute to sustainable development goals.

In the context of the Cafés Lumière initiative, the initial analysis conducted on behalf of the French Development Agency concluded that there has been a significant positive impact on the living conditions of the local populations, especially women, and on the enhancement of public services, including education, access to healthcare facilities, and public safety. The findings from focus groups underscore the substantial support provided by this project for fostering economic vitality and the growth of income-generating activities. These results are encouraging and provide an initial indication of the momentum generated by the Cafés Lumière.

However, it is important to note that the evaluation, completed in January 2021, occurred at a time when not all Cafés Lumière projects had reached their full completion. While the multiservice platforms had been launched for all 6 Cafés, only 3 mini-grids were operational, with just 1 having been in operation for over a year. Consequently, the information base collected was too limited in terms of both its timeframe and geographical coverage to draw robust conclusions.

From a methodological perspective, these standard evaluations suffer from several shortcomings. They are deficient not only due to their limited timeframe but also because they lack a counterfactual comparison. The standard evaluation conducted for the French Development Agency in the case of Cafés Lumière does not attempt to compare the treated localities with other similar localities that have not had the same intervention.

Electriciens sans frontière had foreseen this requirement by selecting the 6 treated localities at random from a larger pool of 12 localities. Baseline data on the socio-economic profile was collected in collaboration with FERDI for these 12 localities. However, the use of this survey framework, which is inherently costly, may not have been suitable for 2020, and we will delve into this matter in the fourth article of this series, noting that a second round of the survey in May 2023 is currently being processed. In the meantime, alternative investigative approaches have been explored, combining the utilization of remote sensing data and activity reports from Anka, the operator.

Further reading in the same serie of articles on “Measuring the Impact of Decentralised Electrification Projects”: Using Remote Sensing: Initial Results on the Impact of Cafés Lumière (2/4), Characterisation of the Impacts of Decentralised Electrification Projects on Access to Electricity Using Locality Data (3/4), Characterisation of the Impacts of Decentralised Electrification Projects on Access to Electricity Using Household Data (4/4).

By : Berthelemy Jean-Claude and Barès Serena

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Centre d'appui à l'initiative féminine

Perspectives Testimonials

Are universities in Africa excluding women?

Centre d'appui à l'initiative féminine

Abidjan, early 60’s, the young Dicoh Mariam Konan starts studying chemistry at the Technical High School. She soon became the first female chemist in the Ivory Coast. Her portrait on…

Abidjan, early 60’s, the young Dicoh Mariam Konan starts studying chemistry at the Technical High School. She soon became the first female chemist in the Ivory Coast. Her portrait on the 25fcfa coins, still in circulation today, illustrates the impact of her career. It symbolizes a West Africa in progress, with educated women, while the period of independence is in full swing. 60 years later, this progress is slowing down, only 8% of Ivorian women continue secondary studies. A figure that applies to the rest of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. How to explain this situation?

Over the years, sub-Saharan women have found many socio-economic barriers to pursuing higher education. These include gender stereotypes and women’s place in society, a clear preference for boys’ education over girls, and poverty. Indeed, the cost of higher education generally falls more heavily on poor households than on rich ones.

Yet, studies show that women play a key role in the continent’s economy. According to UNESCO, the impact of girls’ education on national economic growth is undeniable: a one percentage point increase in girls’ education increases the average gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.3 percentage points and increases the annual growth rate of GDP by 0.2 percentage points.

These figures raise many questions:

What mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure sustainable access to higher education for girls?
How can we influence deep-rooted societal practices?

A look at 3 mechanisms set up by I&P Education and Employment, aimed at increasing the number of young girls enrolled in higher education institutions to enable them to find their place in the job market.

Overcoming the socio-economic barrier

At ISM Ziguinchor, 11:00 a.m., Elise, originally from the Sédhiou region of Senegal, is taking a management course. After having interrupted her schooling due to pregnancy, she received a scholarship for excellence from ISM Ziguinchor. The first institution of higher education in the capital of Casamance, the establishment is a fine example of parity, in fact, girls represent 55% of the staff.

The policy is clear: “When awarding scholarships, 60% of girls and 40% of boys. For equal competence, the choice is made for girls,” says Georges Bernard Ndèye, director of the school. When asked why girls, the answer is simple: “The desire to get girls out of their vulnerable situation.

Higher education has an additional cost for families living in rural areas or without a university who have to go to capital or secondary cities. For families this means additional costs such as transportation, accommodation, and food[2]. In Ghana, for example, among the poorest households, sending a young person to a higher education institution increases their non-food expenses by 37%[3], an unthinkable sacrifice for many.

Sending a student to college increases a poor household’s non-food expenditures by 37 percent in Ghana

Students and their families analyze the benefits of higher education versus the income if the young person worked right after high school. For Priska Manga, a doctor at Cheikh Anta Diop University, the first obstacle for girls is the family. Social norms (role of men and women in the family, marriage, maternity, etc.) also play a role. A Wolof proverb says “Diangou Djiguène amoul ndieurigne”, a woman’s studies are of no use. Investing in the higher education of young girls can be seen as a waste of time and investment for the most vulnerable families.

Parental education is a critical factor in decision making. When the head of the household has completed secondary school, children are 10 times more likely to pursue higher education than a child in a household with a lower educational level of the head. Thus, convincing vulnerable families of the importance of higher education for girls is necessary. But it is essential to couple this societal change with financial support mechanisms. The granting of a scholarship may be a condition for a young girl from a disadvantaged background to pursue higher education.

Local and adapted infrastructures

In 2016, ISM Ziguinchor, wishing to respond to the accommodation problems of its students, decided to create a branch in Kolda, a city located 500km from Dakar. At the beginning of the school year, the administration realized that the majority of the students were married girls, whose families did not want them to move away for their studies. Families want to keep their daughters within a family circle, to protect them, but also to avoid any incidents that would damage their reputations (unwanted pregnancies, etc.). Bringing the institution closer to female students in rural areas increases their access to quality higher education when social norms prevent them from going to the city alone. For student mothers, the provision of childcare facilities at the place of learning helps them stay in school. To help female learners focus on their education, UNICEF has set up a daycare system as part of the “Girl Power” project in Côte d’Ivoire. The project aims to strengthen the entrepreneurial skills of young girls in the suburbs[4].

Dormitories: when school becomes home

Families also use tutoring systems. The student (girl or boy) is placed under the authority of a tutor, usually a family acquaintance. When necessary, or when there are difficulties within the host family, the girls drop out of school. Another solution is to make the school the place to live. The construction of dormitories in schools allows families to find a reliable solution to the issue of distance from the place of learning. This solution is being tested in ESSECT Poincaré schools. Located in the city of Bouaké in Côte d’Ivoire, the school welcomes students from all over the region – mainly agricultural – and beyond.

The importance of decent and adequate health facilities

In addition to having a decent toilet, it is also a question of equipment adapted to female physiology and available in the sanitary facilities.

Once they enter the school, students spend a large part of their day there. In addition to the availability of facilities, it is important that they feel comfortable. Both private and public, restrooms are places that must meet the requirements of safety, hygiene and privacy[5]. Since joining the IP2E program, Mr. Ndèye considers that decent sanitary facilities are fundamental for the development of young girls. During their menstruation, girls need to have access to toilets with water, soap and garbage garbage cans where they can dispose of their sanitary protection[6]. The availability of these pads is also necessary. In addition to having decent toilets, it is also a matter of having appropriate facilities available in these spaces. When interviewed, girls express an interest in separate toilets. They often emphasize the criteria of hygiene and the desire for privacy and safety.

Ensure the protection and well-being of students

Providing a safe learning environment goes beyond infrastructure. Gender-based and sexual violence affects girls more than boys. It is present during higher education, but goes unreported. It can include harassment between students, harassment between professors and students, and the exchange of good grades or job offers for sexual favors. Within the IP2E program, all supported companies develop a “student safeguarding” policy. This policy aims to prevent and respond to different types of incidents (sexual violence, physical safety, etc.) and to increase awareness of these issues among students and staff. Institutions are developing mechanisms for reporting and handling complaints. These mechanisms help build trust and improve the learning experience of young girls.

Inspiring Role Models

At the Institut Ivoirien de Technologie (IIT), along with business and computer courses, students receive leadership and personal development courses. Prisca and Grâce, two second-year students, explain that these courses help “to know oneself, to find one’s strengths to overcome one’s weaknesses. They often discuss the girls’ development with their male classmates. For Grace, one of the reasons for not pursuing higher education is the lack of self-confidence in girls. This lack of confidence stems from the “low esteem” that those around them place on the education of young women.

Gender stereotypes are also found in the orientation. The so-called promising fields, such as science, are often assigned to boys. Fabricia Devignes, a gender expert at UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning, explains that “the representation of women has an impact on girls’ education and learning outcomes.

In the companies of the I&P Education and Employment program, one institution makes the difference in the sciences: the USSD (Université des Sciences de la Santé de Dakar ). The Board of Directors of the USSD is chaired by a woman. In the university, 60% of the students are young women. When questioned, the female students explain that most of them come from families where their parents are already working in the health sector. To strengthen the resolve of these future doctors, USSD is also implementing a women’s leadership program. These are mentoring sessions during which women in the health sector will lead exchange sessions with the students. For Professor Ndir, it is by taking the example of female role models that there will be women leaders in the field.

Changing mindsets

In Tamale, northern Ghana, educational company Openlabs is bringing role models into the local community to change attitudes. To train girls in computer skills, Prince Charles, campus manager, and his team conduct outreach to girls as young as primary school, families, women’s groups, and religious leaders. To facilitate the exchange, some team members come from the targeted communities. Zeinab, a student from the Choggu community, spoke. She explains that it is possible to be a young woman, belong to the community and pursue higher education. Prince Charles went on to explain the financial benefits that the education of young women will have on these communities. He also explains the scholarships and discounts that Openlabs offers to young women.

In recent years, the historical gap in access to secondary education between girls and boys on the African continent has narrowed considerably and is now being reversed thanks to government efforts (in Senegal, in 2021: 52% of girls versus 48% of boys). This quasi-parity has highlighted a non-generic inequality, but rather a strong disparity according to the social and geographical origin of future students, and partly explains the low rate of continuation of higher education. Although few girls and boys pursue higher education in sub-Saharan Africa, girls from disadvantaged or rural backgrounds are at the bottom of the pyramid in terms of access to university.

Guaranteeing sustainable access to education for vulnerable girls requires providing mechanisms for financing higher education. For girls in rural areas, the multiplication of community-based higher education offers is also a lever to be implemented. The institutions must be safe places, where the well-being, safety and health of the students will be preserved. Finally, it is necessary to change mentalities, especially regarding the place of girls in scientific fields, in order to ensure that women fully participate in the development of the continent.

“The emancipation of women goes through education. If we manage to have more educated women, we will have women leaders everywhere.”

According to Dr. Priska Manga, “The emancipation of women is through education. If we can have more educated women, we will have women leaders everywhere. Disadvantaged girls need continued access to quality education in order to become self-sufficient and active in the development of their region[8]. Quality higher education develops and strengthens the skills needed to enter a highly competitive labor market, and enables them to claim a decent, adequate and equal income to improve their quality of life.

[1] https://www.globalpartnership.org/fr/blog/leducation-des-filles-releve-du-bon-sens-economique

[2] Darvas, Peter, Shang Gao, Yijun Shen et Bilal Bawany. 2017. Enseignement supérieur et équité en Afrique subsaharienne : Élargir l’opportunité au-delà de l’élite. Directions du développement. Washington, DC : Banque mondiale. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1266-8.

[3]Darvas & all

[4] UNICEF. Projet Girl Power. 2020. https://team.unicef.fr/projects/unicef-projet-girl-power

[5] Marion Simon-Rainaud. 2021. Mélanger les filles et les garçons a facilité l’accès aux toilettes », 7 mars 2021 ? https://usbeketrica.com/fr/melanger-les-filles-et-les-garcons-a-facilite-l-acces-aux-toilettes

[6] GPE. 2018. Comment les toilettes peuvent-elles contribuer à promouvoir l’éducation.

[7] BBC News Africa. 2019. ‘Sex for geades’: Undercover in West African universities. https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-49907376

[8] C. Manse. 2020. Education des filles, émancipation des femmes. https://www.entreprenanteafrique.com/education-des-filles-emancipation-des-femmes/

By : Manuela Boma-Atta

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©, copyright Mali Shi

Insights Perspectives Testimonials

In Mali, a company specializing in shea butter sets an example for the continent

©, copyright Mali Shi

Jérémie Malbrancke and Simbala Sylla look back at the story of Mali Shi, a Malian company founded in 2019 and the first industrial shea processor in the country. The story…

Jérémie Malbrancke and Simbala Sylla look back at the story of Mali Shi, a Malian company founded in 2019 and the first industrial shea processor in the country. The story of a committed and determined company, which allows the development of a sector creating thousands of jobs and enhancing local resources.

Mali is slowly regaining its commercial and financial standing in West Africa since the lifting of ECOWAS sanctions in July. Following the seizure of power by Assimi Goïta’s junta, the organization of West African states had imposed, along with its members, the closure of borders, the suspension of commercial and financial exchanges and the freezing of assets at the Central Bank.

In this favorable context, the Mali Shi factory, the first industrial shea nut processing unit in Mali, can resume its development trajectory. Before the installation of this plant, Mali, the world’s second largest producer of shea nuts with 250,000 tons per year, behind Nigeria, was in the absurd situation of having all of its production shipped in raw form to Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Ghana, which in turn export almonds and butter to Europe.

In total, the world market drains between 400,000 and 500,000 tons of butter per year, representing about twice as many raw nuts. More than 85% of shea butter is used in the food industry, mainly to replace part of the cheaper cocoa butter in the manufacture of chocolate. This is a growing market and a real boon for Mali for a number of reasons.

First, because this activity relies primarily on women. In southern Mali, they are the ones who harvest the shea nuts at the end of the rainy season. After two years of activity, Mali Shi is working with about sixty cooperatives and already 26,000 women in the regions of Kayes, Koulikoro, Ségou and Sikasso. The goal is to eventually work with 120,000 women at full capacity. The factory, which employs 97 people, has purchased 1,600 tons of nuts in 2020, and 7,700 tons in 2021, and is targeting 30,000 tons within two years.

A windfall also because Mali Shi’s activities have resulted in a large number of positive social impacts. The factory has financed the establishment of unions, in partnership with the World Bank, UN Women and the Global Shea Alliance. These bodies have made it possible to organize the constitutive assemblies of the cooperatives in the villages, to accompany the organizations in the procedures of legal formalization with the authorities, to disseminate good practices of collection, production and storage… but also to train leaders in accounting management, marketing and commercial negotiation. In some areas, this support has enabled a seven-fold increase in the volume of nuts harvested from one year to the next.

For Mali Shi, the challenge now is to ensure the continuity of supply in quantity and quality, in close cooperation with the communities. Mali Shi has a dedicated supply team, consisting of area managers and field agents who work closely with the women and their organizations. To secure the supply chain, contracts are signed with all partner production organizations, agreeing on fixed quantities and prices. This is often the only sustainable source of income for the women partners of the factory. Finally, Mali Shi maintains links with its suppliers even outside of purchasing campaigns, through training on good practices for collecting and preserving the nuts, for example, or awareness-raising activities on the maintenance of the shea tree park.

The positive effects are also due to the recycling of production waste. In the transformation process, the nuts are heated and pressed. On the one hand, vegetable oil – commonly known as shea butter because it is solid at room temperature – is obtained. On the other side, the residues of the nuts, the oil cakes, are obtained. This useful “waste” is reused in the factory’s boiler and distributed to the women as fuel for post-collection processing. Nothing is lost, everything is transformed!

The story of Mali Shi demonstrates the emergence of a new economic reality in Africa: determined local entrepreneurs can overcome huge obstacles to develop industries that contribute to creating thousands of jobs by valorizing locally available resources. The funding required, in the order of a few million euros – compared to the budget of certain programs run by international development institutions – proves that small amounts of money, well invested, can have a considerable impact over the long term.

There is no shortage of opportunities in Africa, including in landlocked countries with a reputation for instability like Mali. As everywhere else, to succeed it is necessary to be pragmatic in the approach and vision of the projects undertaken and to surround oneself with the right skills. Let’s hope that Mali Shi inspires other entrepreneurial success stories elsewhere on the continent!

By : Simballa Sylla and Jérémie Malbrancke

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Perspectives Testimonials

Tax legislation in question: the role of Mining Agreements in the African gold sector

Until the 1990s, the African continent, even though it is rich in mineral resources, attracted little mining investment.

By : LAPORTE Bertrand and DIALLO Mamadou Ciré

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Insights Perspectives Testimonials

Innovative Investments Empower Women

This article was co-written by Ksapa and Investisseurs & Partenaires, and is also published on their website. The gender question is at the heart of the international debate. The eradication…

This article was co-written by Ksapa and Investisseurs & Partenaires, and is also published on their website.

The gender question is at the heart of the international debate. The eradication of discrimination against women and girls, the women’s empowerment and the parity between women and men are considered as key factors of development, respect of human rights, peace and world security. The Sustainable Development Goals have reaffirmed the key role of women’s empowerment in the democratic process, in order to take the necessary decisions on all aspects of sustainable development.

As such, Ksapa approached Investisseurs & Partenaires, a specialist in impact investing across the African continent, to discuss the implications of gender empowerment for the private sector. Together, we examine key figures on the challenges of gender empowerment, demonstrating its prevalence in rural areas of the African continent. Under the current conditions, how they can businesses and investors embed a solid gender perspective as part of their impact strategies to better address the challenges of the gender empowerment. Based on different initiatives led by Ksapa and I&P, we infer practical recommendations for mobilizing capital in favor of gender empowerment.

1. Key Issues in Gender Empowerment

Gender empowerment implies, in essence, the equitable distribution of resources between men and women – as well as girls and boys. That is, in principle. In practice, gender empowerment may clash with deeply entrenched social attitudes – themselves translating into equally structural social, economic and cultural decisions.

Structural Disparities Between Men And Women

Men and women just like boys and girls are indeed not equal in the face of poverty and in their access to opportunities. Even less so in the context of interwoven climate, health and socioeconomic crises. Women account for less than a third of available human capital wealth in low and lower-middle-income countries. In South Asia, losses due to gender inequality are estimated at $9.1 trillion, compared to $6.7 trillion in Latin America and the Caribbean and $3.1 trillion in the Middle East and North Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, they amount to $2.5 trillion. As such, the OECD publishes the social institutions and gender equality index, designed to measure, discrimination against women in social institutions at the international level. For example, in 2019, this index was 37.0 in Senegal, 42.8 in Côte d’Ivoire and 34.5 in Ghana.

Socio-Economic Impacts of Gender Empowerment

Despite heavy stigma, women now control 32% of the world’s wealth and generate an additional $5 trillion each year – at a much faster rate than in the past. In addition, for every dollar of investment raised, women-owned startups generate $0.78 in revenue, compared to $0.31 for male-led companies. As a result, gender parity in the workforce could generate a 26% increase in annual global GDP by 2025.

Zeroing in on Women in the African Agricultural Sector

Agriculture accounts for nearly 25% of Africa’s gross domestic product. In sub-Saharan Africa in particular, women make up nearly half of the workforce in this sector.

Across the continent, agriculture is the largest employer of women, accounting for 62% of the female workforce. In certain countries like Rwanda, Malawi and Burkina Faso, more than 90% of women work the land.

Female farmers’ work in Africa as elsewhere is subject to critical disparities – notably in terms of the division of labor and prevalence of informal work. In African agriculture, women tend to opt for specific crops and techniques and their work is not equally rewarded. When their work is in fact subject to a formal contract, the latter does not necessarily bear their name, often in favor of their husbands. Similarly, female farmers tend to be involved in local markets and retail trade, where men are generally more involved in wholesale trade, with a region-wide scope.

2. Embedding a Strong Robust Gender Perspective in Impact Investment Strategies

Poverty alleviation and food security depend directly on the development of systematic solutions for gender empowerment. The African agricultural sector’s capacity to nurture stable livelihoods hinges on innovative measures designed to foster farmers’ access to land, capital and means of production – especially where women are concerned.

That is precisely why the World Bank developed a gender strategy for international project developers. The document lists 4 key levers to reduce gender gaps:

Awareness-Raising: Improve gender gaps by reducing access differentials in health, education and social protection (e.g. school/work transitions, gender stereotypes in the workplace, sexual and reproductive health rights…).
Opportunity: Remove barriers to further and better employment, boosting women’s participation, their opportunities to generate their own income and access to productive assets (keeping in mind key considerations of the burden of care, access to mobility and formal employment…).
Empowerment: Strengthen women’s voice and empower them by encouraging men and boys to share decision-making processes around delivering services, reducing gender-based violence and managing potentially conflictual situations.
Property: Remove barriers to women’s ownership and control of property, effectively improving their access to land, housing and technology.

Based on this strategy, investors – and development teams in particular – are encouraged to consider the means to engage with their potentially impacted stakeholders. That way, they may indeed better identify and assess concrete gender gaps; a series of efforts ultimately encompassed in a gender action plan.

3. Practical Examples of Capital Mobilization in Favour of Gender Empowerment

Introducing 3 Agricultural Businesses Supported By I&P

For the last two decades, Investisseurs & Partenaires has committed to financing and supporting the emergence of African entrepreneurship champions. As an impact investor, I&P seeks a positive social and/or environmental return in addition to a significant financial performance, the impact of which is measured through a continuous evaluation process.

This approach is applied both in selecting potential investees and in the support afforded to the selected companies. It is also characterized by the Group’s emphasis on measuring investees’ social and/or environmental impact, based on priority objectives and progress monitoring methods against the projected positive impacts.

As part of its gender strategy in particular, I&P actively seeks to develop a pipeline of small and medium enterprises, either managed by women or with a major impact for women. I&P therefore systematically includes gender-specific action plans in its portfolio companies’ ESG action plans (with increase targets on the number of female employees, access to management positions, specific training, etc.). As such, 33% of the companies supported by I&P are managed by women.

Similarly, 79% of I&P’s portfolio meets at least one of the criteria of the 2X Challenge, an initiative of development banks to define what would be considered a women-friendly investment.

Within the I&P portfolio, the three following companies illustrate how a gender perspective can be developed and adapted to the agriculture sector:

- Soafiary (Madagascar): Founded in 2006 by Malagasy promoter Malala Rabenoro, Soafiary specializes in the collection, processing and sale of cereals (corn, rice) and legumes (beans, cape peas, lentils, soybeans) on the local and international market.
- Citrine (Côte d’Ivoire): Citrine Corporation processes and transforms cassava into fresh attiéké (cassava semolina) and placali (cassava paste) in southern Côte d’Ivoire and more specifically in Grand-Bassam.
- Rose Eclat (Burkina Faso): Rose Eclat is a family business launched in 1999 by Rosemonde Touré. A fruit and vegetable processing company, the company markets nationally and internationally processed and/or dried fruits and vegetables. It produces mainly mango but also bananas, okra, strawberries and onions – which are certified organic and comply with the food safety management system (HACCP).

Commonalities and specificities of I&P Investees

Emblematic of I&P’s work on gender empowerment in the agriculture sector, all three companies are committed gender equality and empowerment. Soafiary in particular translated this policy into a roadmap that encapsulates its commitments to gender equality and empowerment. This written document indeed outlines the company’s gender policy, as a concrete tool to monitor– both internally and externally – progress made and measures implemented by the company to foster gender equality.

All three companies prioritize the recruitment of women for seasonal jobs and do not apply any form of gender discrimination in recruiting for permanent jobs. Women are also involved in the corporate decision-making processes and hold various positions of responsibility. As a result, men and women have equal opportunities for career advancement, either by tapping into permanent or seasonal employment – all of this with comparable pay. Women also benefit from on-the-job training. Rose Eclat additionally gives women the opportunity to train outside the company for career advancement or to become self-employed.

The three companies also emphasize women’s physical and moral integrity in and outside of the workplace, ensuring they can access healthcare and social protection. Soafiary also set up a financial inclusion and banking system specific to women. Access to financial products and services allows women to anticipate the financing of their long and medium-term goals or to face unexpected events. Moreover, savings begets credit and vice versa.

Shared Perspectives with Ksapa’s SUTTI Initiative

Echoing I&P’s focus on training, Ksapa launched the Scale-up Training, Traceability, Impact initiative (SUTTI) for the development of responsible agricultural supply chains. Through this new platform, smallholders can access technical and operational training and education. The goal is optimize their crop and agricultural economic production, improve the quality of their livelihoods by increasing their income, diversifying activities and reducing poverty. Not only does this foster gender parity, it is also key to retain young farmers in rural areas.

Through the development of our own digital application, we combine analysis and evaluation, coalition structuring and pilot calibration, program implementation and impact monitoring. That is indeed how Ksapa measures SUTTI impacts and its contributions to gender empowerment in particular, in the form of their inclusion into the program. Through training, SUTTI supports gender empowerment, opening up the conventional division of labor and women’s potential to sell and manage the product of their labor and operate diversified income activities.

Because women bear the brunt of lacking financial inclusion, literacy and digital literacy, the SUTTI solution targets optimal accessibility for women. The program indeed focuses on diversifying smallholders’ income, thereby developing additional leverage for gender empowerment in agricultural areas.

In short, this approach aims to unlock the following 4 key challenges:

CORE ISSUES	RELEVANT SOLUTIONS
Low productivity tied to lacking access to information and services as well as climate change, major weather variability and pest and disease outbreaks	Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) Awareness: Deliver face-to-face and digital sessions to support smallholders’ income generation through crop diversification, water efficiency and perhaps carbon credits. Through a digital application, videos and tutorials can indeed be shared that support practical tests and the direct implementation of GAPs across the farm. Decision support tools: digital apps can include a community chat feature that allows smallholders to share questions and decide how best to implement GAP. A marketplace function offers smallholders the opportunity to share price/volume information and decide just where and when to sell. Overcoming language and digital literacy barriers: Tailoring solutions to the needs of smallholders involves translating content into local languages and perhaps including a text-to-speech feature for the benefit of less literate farmers.
Lack of access to appropriate financial/insurance products	Develop financial solutions for smallholders, paid for example with tokens issued through a carbon offset system.
Women’s lacking access to digital services	Organize women-specific training groups (e.g., recruit 1 all-female cohort for every 3) to identify and meet the particular needs of female farmers. Adapt content accordingly (e.g., including gender perspectives, especially targeting on-farm health and safety training content).
Smallholders lacking access and ability to select markets and sales methods	Structure a supply of inputs to smallholders, paid for instance via carbon offsets and revenue from a gamification tool – encouraging them to regularly fill-out impact monitoring questionnaires. Boost market access by supporting year-round crop diversification outside the production cycle of farmers’ main crop. Strengthen decision support tools – allowing smallholders to identify new marketing channels, track their transactions and identify the best options for buying/selling their crops

Conclusion

At the helm of their respective impact programs, I&P and Ksapa outline the following commonalities in their integration of a robust strong gender perspective as part of the impact investment strategies:

Prioritize gender empowerment in designing agricultural development projects;
Identify the agricultural sector’s direct and indirect contributions to gender dynamics;
Clarify the roles and responsibilities in developing a robust gender perspective;
Allocate specific resources to empowering female farmers;
Develop stakeholder engagement and grievance mechanisms specific to female farmers.

By : Margaux Dillon and Tsiky Rahagalala

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Perspectives Testimonials

Youth employment: Africa should not train more, but train better

A couple of numbers are enough to understand how important the challenges related to the employability of young people on the African continent are. Currently, 15-24 year-olds represent 20% of…

A couple of numbers are enough to understand how important the challenges related to the employability of young people on the African continent are.

Currently, 15-24 year-olds represent 20% of the African population, but more than 40% of the unemployed [1]. By 2030, according to UNESCO projections, approximately 100 million young people will enter the African labor market due to the demographic structure of the continent.

Meanwhile, many companies and employers are looking for qualified [2] and therefore employable[3] individuals. There is a mismatch between available training programs and the specifics of the labor market, which is undergoing constant restructuring, in many sectors,.

Therefore, one could ask whether the great challenge today is not to train more, but to train better? Especially in the context of technical and vocational education and training, which obviously have a major role to play in promoting the integration of young people into the workplace.

In this article, we will explore three paths to improvement, based on the experience of an African SME in Côte d’Ivoire which specializes in professional training: the Institut de Management, de Gestion et d’Hôtellerie (IMGH), founded by Augustine Bro in 2009. Between December 2020 and July 2021, IMGH employees (managers, middle-managers, trainers) participated in capacity building training organized by GIZ Côte d’Ivoire.

Pathway 1: negotiate the shift to digitalization

Technical and vocational training courses are the first to have to adapt to globalization and the resulting technological changes, as they are oriented towards practice, learning, and the acquisition of work techniques. The transition to digital technology, which was supposed to be gradual, has been drastically accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis, which has had a major impact on the training sector and has redefined the demands of the labor market.

The prerequisites to successfully negotiate this shift are first of all material. In West Africa, household connectivity is not guaranteed in many rural or isolated areas. In addition to internet coverage issues, there are also the costs of the packages needed to consult the online tools necessary for learning[4]. Finally, the acquisition of computer equipment to access the content of online courses is an additional burden for students.

IMGH Focus:

To overcome these material difficulties, IMGH has put training capsules online which can be consulted via computer and mobile phone. This initiative solved both the impossibility of holding face-to-face classes at the height of the Covid crisis, and the connectivity of learners, insofar as most had at least access to the internet via their smartphones. Financial efforts will still be required to ensure that all students have access to online courses.

Since the start of the Covid crisis, IMGH has adopted a mixed approach, combining face-to-face and distance learning. This format offers many advantages: self-paced learning, customizable content, cost savings, etc. It is also a proven model that will be able to adapt to future crises, whether they are health, economic, or political.

Beyond concerns about equipment and connectivity, the greatest challenge of this transition to digital could be that of the competence of trainers and the transmission of knowledge (theoretical knowledge, but also and above all, know-how – techniques, professional gestures, practice, behaviour, quality, values).

Some of these elements, already difficult to transmit in a face-to-face environment, are even more so in distance or hybrid teaching and require much more involvement and pedagogy from the trainers. Hence the need to train trainers and any other person involved in the transmission process beforehand.

Pathway 2: Update trainers’ skills

The quality and relevance of any professional training is directly related to the professional competence of the trainers.

In the case of vocational training, most of the courses offered are taught by teaching teams from the trade. This situation responds to the logic of transmitting techniques specific to each profession, which would otherwise be difficult to share. Nevertheless, this empirical knowledge, acquired thanks to years of experience in the field, tends to become fixed in time. The risk being that once transposed onto the job market, the skills transmitted to students turn out to be obsolete. Consequently, it is essential to constantly renew the skills of trainers.

The training of managers and middle-managers is also an essential aspect to take into account. In the age of digital transformation. The success of a new development strategy depends on the ability of all employees to adopt it. They contribute fully to the internal transformation of the company and thus participate in the process of skills transfer.

IMGH Focus

The GIZ training, which the IMGH team attended, is based on the logic of alternating practice and theory, which allows the knowledge acquired to be updated and transferred directly to the workplace thanks to a point of view and experience from outside the organization.

According to Augustine Bro, founder of IMGH, this training has enabled her entire team to be more aware of the changes taking place in the professional market and to adapt their training offers in the long term.

Pathway 3: Capacity building through the co-development method

Finally, there can be a more collective approach to the new problems linked to the transformation of professions. Updating skills and knowledge to adapt to the demands of the job market is a necessity, and being in contact with other professionals would be an effective way to overcome one’s own shortcomings and acquire new knowledge.

A professional co-development group is a development approach for people who believe they can learn from each other to improve their practice. Individual and group reflection is facilitated through a structured consultation exercise that focuses on issues currently experienced by participant[5].

Thus the co-development method makes it possible to directly approach the practical side of a job, or of a task to be carried out, in a concerted manner. In contrast to a normative approach that only offers a single point of view, co-development, through the plurality of contributions, increases the development perspectives tenfold. This approach encourages everyone to consider a situation from a different and complementary angle, to think much deeper and to adapt new and more productive solutions.

IMGH Focus

“The adoption of the co-development method has brought new life to our organization. A new and very positive dynamic has taken hold and everyone is now voluntarily contributing to it, whether it be in terms of training, management, or governance. For example, those who are more comfortable with computers do not hesitate to give a helping hand to their colleagues in difficulty, and those who are struggling with other issues do not hesitate to ask for advice or help. So far, this method has been nothing but beneficial, both in terms of accounting and the work atmosphere” – Augustine Bro

In summary

The mismatch between existing training programs and the needs of an ever-changing labor market hinders the economic development of African countries. Opportunities exist and are being created, but the continent is still struggling to provide a skilled and employable workforce.

Vocational training actors, such as IMGH in Côte d’Ivoire, need to offer up-to-date and relevant content. We have mentioned here some of the practices implemented by IMGH since the Covid-19 crisis and the GIZ training (digitizing its training offer, strengthening the skills of trainers and teams…), but many other ideas can still be formulated to bring relevant and quality vocational training to African youth!

——————-

[1] http://www.iiep.unesco.org/fr/en-afrique-la-transformation-de-la-formation-professionnelle-est-en-marche-13763

[2] Jean-Michel SEVERINO, RFI 20/01/19 https://www.rfi.fr/fr/emission/20190121-afrique-manque-emplois-qualifies-investir-formation

[3] En se référant à la définition donnée par l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT), l’employabilité est « l’aptitude de chacun à trouver et conserver un emploi, à progresser au travail et à s’adapter au changement tout au long de la vie professionnelle »

[4] https://www.entreprenanteafrique.com/les-ecoles-africaines-au-temps-du-covid-19/#_ftn6

[5] Adrien PAYETTE, Claude CHAMPAGNE, PUQ, 1997 ( https://www.puq.ca/catalogue/livres/groupe-codeveloppement-professionnel-573.html )

By : Tsiky Rahagalala

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Testimonials

Acceleration programs: a miracle solution for early-stage companies? (2/2)

In recent years, “acceleration” programs have proliferated on the African continent. What lies behind this trendy concept? What does an acceleration program bring to a company? After having explored the…

In recent years, “acceleration” programs have proliferated on the African continent. What lies behind this trendy concept? What does an acceleration program bring to a company?

After having explored the different facets of acceleration programs currently deployed on the African continent in a first article (available here), we will focus here with a practical case study of a company benefiting from an acceleration program, with a joint-interview of Mohamed Diaby and Ybrahim Traoré, CEO and co-director, respectively, of Citrine.

Founded in 2014, Citrine Corporation is a company based in Grand-Bassam, southern Côte d’Ivoire, specializing in the production and marketing of Zatwa brand agricultural products in the sub-region, Europe and the United States.

Like many young African companies, Citrine has had great difficulty accessing “traditional” financing (bank loans, equity investments, etc.). However, since 2020, the company has benefited from the I&P Acceleration program in the Sahel (IPAS), which has provided financial resources (seed funding in the form of a repayable advance to meet operating expenses, pilot phases, market testing, research & development, equipment purchases), as well as technical support to strengthen the team’s skills in various areas.

What is your business plan ?

Mohamed Diaby : From the very beginning, our intention was to promote the local dishes and cultures from the southern region of Côte d’Ivoire, where we both come from.

Ybrahim Traoré : Our ambition was also to show young Africans that you don’t need to leave the country to succeed. Starting a business and creating jobs is a way to deal with the problem of clandestine migration, which is occurring in several African countries. This is why our business is not limited to import-export: we ensure not only the marketing phase but also the production phase of cereals, fruits and vegetables, such as placali and attiéké, which are produced in the Grand-Bassam region and widely consumed by Ivorians in Côte d’Ivoire and abroad. We have also created our own brand, Zatwa Impex.

How did you come up with this idea?

M. D. : We met at the university during our graduation cycle. To complete our degree, we needed to find a work-study program, but we chose to go directly into entrepreneurship.

We thus started this project based on the following observation: the entire distribution circuit of African products and foodstuffs (attiéké, smoked fish, etc.) was run by non-African communities. In France, for example, these grocery stores are owned by the Asian community. We thought this was a shame… and that’s how the journey started.

Y. T. : We didn’t intend to only produce and sell attiéké but also to guarantee the quality of the products put on the market. The company is doing well. When we started, we had about ten employees, 90% of whom were women. Today, we have about 60 permanent jobs and we employ up to 100 people during the production period.

Your company has been supported since 2020 by the I&P Acceleration in the Sahel program. What does this partnership bring you ?

M. D. : I would say many things! We had approached the Ivorian fund Comoé Capital a few years ago, but we were not quite ready yet. The opportunity for partnership arose thanks to the launch of the I&P Acceleration in the Sahel program, led by Investisseurs & Partenaires and financed by the European Union.

Today we owe a lot to the team that follows up and gives us very useful advice. I&P and Comoé Capital helped us to carry out our market study on cassava products (such as attiéké and placali mentioned previously) which allowed us to confirm their sales potential, in Côte d’Ivoire and with the African diaspora (from Congo, Niger, Ghana, Benin…), who also consume a lot of cassava. Then, the program allowed us to increase our production capacity with the help of production equipment (ovens, machines, packaging, a crusher, raw materials).

Y. T. : The program’s support also allows us to lighten the workload of our staff. Our employees work full time but produce much more. They can now produce two containers in a month, instead of one. The workload is less tiring but they earn a lot more because it gives us the opportunity to increase their wages. They rely heavily on us and on their job because it helps them support their family needs.

Thanks to the I&P Acceleration program, we have been able to expand our production capacity with a lighter, less tiring workload for our employees and a higher salary to boot.

What’s next ?

Y. T. : The program’s support will help us tackle environmental issues. For example, we are going to benefit from a technical assistance mission* for the recycling of waste. We will be able to recover and transform cassava skins and starch into bio-gas.

M. D. : In the medium term, we’d like to consolidate Citrine’s position on the local market. It is important for us to strengthen the sale of our products in markets and supermarkets and contribute to food security in Côte d’Ivoire.

L’appui du programme nous permet de nous attaquer aux questions environnementales. Nous bénéficions d’une mission d’assistance technique pour mesurer l’efficacité de toute notre chaîne de production.The program’s support allows us to address environmental issues. We have a technical assistance mission to measure the efficiency of our entire production chain.

Keywords

Acceleration: Mentoring, financing or networking services provided by private actors (investment funds, incubators, etc.) and financial backers to small businesses to support them in their start-up phase.

Seed: All the resources granted to a company to meet the expenses related to its start-up (working capital, operating expenses, research and development, purchase of equipment and technologies) and to prepare it for fund-raising.

Technical assistance: All non-financial resources granted to the managerial and/or operational teams of a company to strengthen their skills in several areas (strategy, financial and/or fiscal management, marketing, production, etc.). Generally, technical assistance takes the form of training (individual or collective) or support missions carried out by an expert

[1] I&P Acceleration in the Sahel, launched in 2020, is a program deployed by the Investisseurs & Partenaires group and funded by the European Union. The program targets 13 countries in the Sahel sub-region and provides start-ups with access to the financing and skills necessary to enable their development and thus promote the creation of decent jobs.

[2] HACCP (Hazard analysis Critical Control Point) is the main platform of international legislation concerning manufacturing for all actors of the food industry. The HACCP aims to validate the implementation of the food safety system.

By : Awu Morgane

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Testimonials

SOAFIARY: the case of a socially responsible company in Madagascar

A company can be much more than just an economic player. It can play a significant societal role, as demonstrated by the Malagasy company Soafiary. Since its creation in 2006,…

A company can be much more than just an economic player. It can play a significant societal role, as demonstrated by the Malagasy company Soafiary. Since its creation in 2006, this agrobusiness company has integrated its social commitment at the heart of its business model.

Founded in 2006 by the Malagasy promoter Malala Rabenoro, SOAFIARY is specialized in the sourcing, processing and commercialization of cereals and leguminous plants on local and international markets. The company begins to diversify its activities in 2017. The company sets up a feed mill unit and launches the SOADIO project, a contract farming project run in collaboration with the diocese of the Vakinankaratra region, located in the highlands of Madagascar. The company’s operating site is located in this rural area, known as “the farmer” of Madagascar.

The Vakinankaratra region is not spared by the precarious situation that prevails in the country, with an extremely low literacy rate, an infrastructure deficit and a high poverty rate. As an actor committed to the development of its region and its country, Soafiary aim to address these social and economic challenges.

Promoting employment among an underprivileged and undereducated population

The local population lives mainly from subsistence agriculture or livestock farming. They often find it difficult to produce enough to ensure self-sufficiency, let alone to develop their activity. Due to a lack of education, they are not eligible for qualified positions in the business world.

Soafiary is committed to facilitating the professional integration of this population. The company employs nearly 200 people, most of whom are locals. They are engaged in field work, manual sorting of legumes and packaging of products. The company has made the choice to do the sorting and packaging activities manually, even if automation is possible. This choice makes it possible to create more jobs.

Soafiary’s contribution also takes the form of financial assistance in the form of loans granted to employees, to help them develop another income-generating activity. Doing so, Soafiary provides the surrounding community with the opportunity to improve their economic condition through access to dual employment.

Soafiary is committed to facilitating the professional integration of a local population that lives mainly from subsistence agriculture or livestock farming.

Accompanying employees on literacy and hygiene issues

Soafiary’s employees include 21% who are illiterate, 46% who have completed primary school and 25% who have completed lower secondary education. Hiring poorly educated people from the rural world is a real commitment on the part of the company, which has put in place extensive support to enable them to assimilate key production techniques, learn hygiene measures and basic skills such as reading and writing.

Soafiary regularly conducts awareness sessions on hygiene issues for its employees, including the correct use of the sanitary block and water hygiene. Regarding literacy, the company focuses on teaching employees to read and write so that they can check their pay slips, by identifying and validating information concerning them, in particular their first and last names, and then signing it if the slip is satisfactory to them. This has created a climate of trust and exchange within the company.

These measures may seem basic but their implementation is not easy and can be time consuming. The production director, Ms. Agnès Randrianampizafy, plays a key role in their implementation thanks to her background as a teacher. As she explains, “It takes good teaching skills, patience, and discipline”.

Supporting and training small producers trough the Soadio project

The agribusiness sector is at the crossroads of several serious issues: the integration of small producers, environmental protection, product quality and price competitiveness, all this in a highly competitive international market.

Soafiary is trying to respond to these challenges through its Soadio project, a model of responsible contract farming that consists of training small producers and providing them with the agricultural equipment and inputs needed to farm the 4,100 Ha of land belonging to the Diocese of the Vakinankaratra region. Since the project launch in 2017, 380 Ha have been exploited and the entire production is purchased by Soafiary.

The project represents an important socio-economic driving force for the region. It aims at improving the living conditions of small producers in Morarano, a rural commune located 200 km from the Soafiary exploitation site, where the Diocese’s lands are located. It also allows for the inclusion of small producers in Soafiary’s value chain, who now ensure the company’s supply.

This inclusive partnership between Soafiary and the Diocese is a step towards greater social and humanitarian cohesion. This is a prerequisite for launching various projects: setting up an irrigation system, strengthening the fields to combat erosion, strengthening the basic health center by providing medical equipment, improving the village’s only school by extending classrooms, supporting agricultural training centers, to name but a few.

Soafiary demonstrates that integrating social commitments at the heart of its business model can be beneficial for the company. This approach has generated greater commitment from its employees, but also enabled the company to build a sustainable model of contract farming that secures its supply volume while meeting the challenges of product quality and traceability.

By : Era Andriambololona

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