USAID Yidgiri Quarter 2 FY20 Report

Officially launched on February 17, 2020, the activity is implemented by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) and consortium partners Association Nodde Nooto (A2N), Groupe de Recherche et d’Action pour le Developpment (GRAD), and CARE. The activity focuses on the cowpea, small ruminants, and poultry value chains, addressing barriers and constraints to progress across the broader food market system, while also integrating strategies to promote consumption of nutritious, safe foods. The activity aims to strengthen the resilience and improve the inclusivity of food market systems by building individual and institutional capacities among agricultural actors in Burkina Faso. To achieve this goal, Yidgiri will implement interventions across three mutually reinforcing intermediate results (IR) areas: IR1, Enhanced performance of commodity market systems; IR2, Increased utilization of quality inputs and services; and IR3, Increased local consumption of nutritious, safe foods. Additionally, the activity will address barriers to market participation for women and youth through functional literacy training and entrepreneurship training programs. During the reporting period (February 17, 2020 to March 31, 2020), the USAID Yidgiri team primarily focused on administrative, operational, and programmatic start-up activities. Key achievements include the mobilization of the Chief of Party to post, with all five Key Personnel beginning work full-time. A total of 19 staff were on board full-time by March 30, 2020, with 11 technical staff and 8 operations and administrative staff. The team also identified a new Ouagadougou office space, opened a USAID Yidgiri bank account, and held a post-award orientation meeting with USAID. Programmatic achievements include participation in USAID-organized RISE II partners’ meetings, review and drafting of standard and custom indicators, and development of a logical framework based on the USAID Yidgiri vision, technical approach, and theory of change. The team also began remote consultations with NewPath on possible partnership for the design/implementation of a multi-component digital platform for provision of technical assistance packages to target value chain actors. In terms of key achievements and potential impact on the target population, the activity has made significant progress in strengthening the capacity of unions to provide services for producer organizations. The Market Systems Development Director led the technical team in developing and validating a set of criteria to use for selection of business clusters across cowpea, small ruminants, and poultry value chains to participate in USAID Yidgiri interventions. Using this selection criteria, the team conducted a thorough assessment of potential beneficiaries, selecting clusters and farm-based organizations operating along target value chains as potential USAID Yidgiri beneficiaries. The activity has also made progress in addressing barriers to market participation for women and youth. The team held remote consultations with the General Direction of Plant Productions (DGPV) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Hydro-agricultural Development (MoAHD) on its agricultural input subsidy program, and published a press release announcing the award of the USAID Yidgiri activity on CNFA’s website, with the press release also being distributed by USAID on the U.S. Embassy to Burkina Faso’s Facebook page. Overall, the USAID Yidgiri Activity has made significant progress in its first quarter, laying the foundation for a successful implementation of the activity. The activity is well-positioned to strengthen food market systems, sustainably increase household incomes, and improve the nutritional status of women and children in the Centre-Nord, Sahel, and Est regions of Burkina Faso.