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Date Added: 09-21-2008
Date Modified: 03-31-2009
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Developing Practitioner Tools for Lead Firm Facilitation
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Photo: A woman picks produce in a field.FIELD Facilitation Working Group
Developing Practitioner Tools for Lead Firm Facilitation

The FIELD Facilitation Working Group brings together an array of FIELD Partners with extensive expertise in value chain development and facilitation including Action for Enterprise, ACDI/VOCA, CARE, MEDA, Save the Children, TechnoServe, and WOCCU in order to share experiences and identify best practices for facilitating value chain development programs – and more specifically how programs can best work with “lead firms” to accomplish their goals. 

Over the course of a one-year working period, the group will produce a brief on each of the following topics. In addition, the group will conduct periodic workshops and/or trainings to share and gather feedback on these documents. At the conclusion of the 6th "cycle" the full body of work will be reviewed, updated and disseminated as final. Working drafts of the briefs will be made available through hyperlinks below as they are completed. 

Cycle 1: Definitions and Terms (Working Paper)

  • Key principles of facilitation
  • Defining lead firms
  • Sustainability

Cycle 2: Lead Firm Selection Methods (Working Paper)

  • Identification of lead firms within a value chain context
  • Selection criteria / factors that lead to success
  • Deciding how many lead firms with which to work

Cycle 3: Structuring and Managing Collaboration (Working Paper)

  • Types of agreements / smart subsidies
  • Ensuring commitment
  • Establishing credibility and trust / balancing interests 

Cycle 4: Types of Interventions / Capacity-Building Activities

  • Outlining approaches to facilitation including links to financial institutions, staff training/TA, buyer visits, demo plots, QM initiatives, exploration/ learning visits, links to input supply companies, trade shows, etc.

Cycle 5: Addressing Weak and/or Nonexistent Functions in the Value Chain

  • Strategies for addressing weak/nonexistent functions in VC
  • Options/best practices (improve existing lead firms, create new, indigenous organizations, co-investments, etc.)

Cycle 6: Ensuring Sustainability and Pursuing Exit Strategies

  • Building exit strategies into program design
  • Factors/ principles for ensuring sustainability
  • What happens when project activities conclude