Testing value chain assessment tools with farmers in Uganda

The project on ‘assessing the impact of African Swine Fever in smallholder pig systems and the feasibility of potential interventions‘ recently began field work in Gulu district (Uganda). To characterize the smallholder pig systems and animal health constraints, project staff used some components of the value chain assessment toolkit developed by the Smallholder Pig Value Chains Development in Uganda (SPVCD) project. PhD student Erika Chenais worked closely with Emily Ouma, Michel Dione and Danilo Pezo to adapt the tools.

Initially the intention was to request facilitators trained by the SPVCD project to apply the tools in Gulu, however none of them is proficient in the local language (Luo). Instead, value chain facilitators of the SPVCD project (Peter Lule Mulindwa and Peter Ssentumbwe) trained new facilitators in Gulu.

The training was held in early September and was attended by eight people – including Tony Aliro (District Veterinary Officer) and Erika Chenais (SLU). The training included topics such as: What skills a good facilitator requires, how to organize and conduct Focus Group Discussions with farmers, as well as practical sessions with farmers to test and validate the tools and train the new facilitators on the tools.

Erika Chenais reported: “Thank you for choosing such excellent trainers, we had a very good training session today and I’m really, really happy with their work!” .

Working together across projects and value chain components is proving to be a good way to develop local capacities and multiply existing investments of the SPVCD project in Uganda.

Story contributed by Danilo Pezo