SSNUP stakeholder workshop 2024

The stakeholders of the ADA-coordinated Smallholder Safety Net Upscaling Programme (SSNUP) met in Luxembourg for a two-day workshop on 18 and 19 March to take stock of the first phase of the programme and to plan the next one.

Nine impact investors and three donors came together in Luxembourg to discuss the first findings and recommendations of the evaluation of the first phase of the programme, which comes to an end this year. The workshop also kicked off discussions on how to approach the second phase starting in 2025.

184 organisations supported to date

Since the programme was launched in 2020, SSNUP has helped improve food security and living standards of smallholder farmers and contributed to the development of sustainable agricultural value chains in Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

At the time of the workshop, 79 technical assistance projects had been approved in support of 184 beneficiary organisations in 29 countries. As a result, around 115,000 smallholder farmers had already benefited from these SSNUP-sponsored projects by June 2023.

While assessing the first phase of the programme, the stakeholders appreciated that SSNUP enables investors to strengthen beneficiaries in a pragmatic and responsive way by helping the investors to design projects tailored to the beneficiaries’ needs.  

Next programme phase to further develop SSNUP as knowledge hub

Looking forward, there was a consensus that the programme should remain a market-driven initiative aimed at supporting viable investments to strengthen and increase the sustainability of agricultural value chains. 

The stakeholders appreciate the opportunities for discussion and for sharing information with other impact investors and public funders offered by SSNUP. All workshop participants agreed that SSNUP has great potential to become a major source of knowledge and learning about agricultural value chain strengthening and investment in developing countries.

The next phase of the programme will start in 2025 with the same objectives of increasing the resilience of smallholder households, strengthening agricultural value chains and facilitating additional investments in the agricultural sector.

SSNUP supports private investments in the agricultural sector by channelling public funds to projects with the greatest possible impact for smallholder households in developing countries. Two workshop participants provided their feedback on the programme:

Bruce Campbell, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (public funder)

How does SSNUP contribute to the objectives of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)?

SSNUP is a market-driven and pro-poor assistance programme that lends support to smallholder farmers and by proxy to other actors across food systems where it is most needed. It is well connected to agroecological approaches. SDC sees the private sector engagement as a central pillar in the global effort to attain the Sustainable Development Goals , and SSNUP is a flagship programme that partners with the private sector in a market-driven effort that builds solutions for smallholders and promotes equitable and environmentally sensitive development in the food systems sector.

SSNUP is a programme that links the private sector with the public sector. How important is this dual approach for developing the agricultural sectors of developing economies?

The public and private sector realms are interlinked across agriculture and food systems almost everywhere in the world, and where there is one without the other, the results are generally dissatisfying. Also, the private sector does most of the “heavy lifting” when it comes to making food systems work. But the public sector also fulfils a critical role, be it as regulator, funder, arbitrator or a provider of infrastructure. But specifically, SSNUP and other programmes blend resources from the private and public sectors to produce good outcomes for consumers, the environment and the many people who contribute to putting food on the table.

What are you looking forward to most in Phase II? 

Building on the very good results of Phase I, applying the lessons we have learnt and increasing SSNUP’s footprint for the benefit of smallholders and the many others working across food systems who may otherwise be left behind.

Barbara Rademaker, Oikocredit (SSNUP impact investor)

What role has SSNUP played in helping Oikocredit achieve their objectives?

SSNUP has played a pivotal role in supporting our mission to improve the livelihoods of our end clients and in de-risking our investments. Thanks to SSNUP we have been able to support our investees in impacting the lives of our end clients.

What are you most proud of in Phase I?

That we have been able to implement pre-investing capacity building activities with a considerable number of smallholder cooperatives, some of whom we expect to become new investees of Oikocredit soon.

What are you looking forward to most in Phase II? 

Developing even more innovative and impactful capacity building projects that will impact the livelihoods of those most in need, the smallholder households.