Managing participant expectations at the Value Chain Workshop

WorldFish recently hosted a workshop on value chains, which aimed to provide a common understanding of what value chains are, and develop a cohesive approach to working with them.

Spanning two days, the workshop brought together experts from across the WorldFish research divisions and country offices, and was a great opportunity to assess the type of value chain research being conducted at WorldFish.

Value chains are described in many ways, but it was generally agreed by the participants that it is, “the full range of activities that are required to bring a product or service from its conception through the different phases of production, to delivery, to final consumers, and disposal after use,” (reference: Kaplinsky & Morris, 2001).

Froukje Kruijssen, Postdoctoral fellow, Markets and Trade, led the workshop and emphasized the importance of ensuring we are all on the same page when it comes to working on value chains.

“Markets and value chains are increasingly featuring in our work in the CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) we are involved in… There was a need for information sharing on ongoing and planned work and the development of a common approach that fits with WorldFish’s strategic objectives of poverty reduction and sustainably increased food security, and that can encourage learning across CRPs,” Froukje said.

The workshop provided a space for discussion of how value chains feature in the Center’s Medium Term Plan and the CRPs, and the synergies between these.

Representatives from research areas including gender, poverty, nutrition, innovation and the environment presented their thinking on how these elements can be integrated into value chain research, and contributed towards the production of an issues paper and a toolkit of methods to conduct value chain analysis.

“As a result of the workshop we have started to create a common vision of an overarching WorldFish approach to value chain research in development. We have established ourselves as a “community of practice” and are setting up ways to improve exchange of information internally. We have also started working on an ‘issues paper’ to lay out this vision and our added value to work on value chains which should guide our work in the CRPs on this topic as we move forward,” Froukje said.

Value chains touch many of WorldFish’s research programs, and are becoming an increasingly important part of our work.

The results of the workshop will contribute to ensuring there is a cohesive research agenda for value chains across the research programs that the WorldFish Center is engaged in.