ISSUE 7

PURCHASE FOR PROGRESS

JULY UPDATE

ISSUE 46

JULY 2012

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MONTH

Two convenings organised by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) during July stimulated increased

interaction between BMGF grantees and made good progress in improving productive collaboration at the country level

and understanding the range of monitoring, learning, and evaluation activities underway across the grants.

The Structured Demand Convening in Seattle from 10-12 July brought together the Alliance

for the Green Revolution (AGRA), United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Partnership for

Child Development (PCD), SNV and WFP (Centre of Excellence, School Feeding and P4P) - working from

different perspectives on issues related to structured demand. The WFP delegation included P4P Country

Coordinators from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

The following week, P4P Zambia participated in BMGF’s Agriculture Development’s Measurement

Learning and Evaluation (MLE) community of practice meeting in Arusha, Tanzania for major

grantees working in east Africa. This included AGRA, the Ethiopia Agricultural Transformation Agency

ATA, East Africa Diary Development (EADD) and P4P. Key areas discussed related to the most effective

methods and tools to be used in M&E, the most cost effective way of doing M&E, how to plan and conduct

for meaningful impact evaluation and effective ways of building a learning culture in an organization.

P4P Burkina Faso organized an exchange visit to P4P Rwanda from 10 to 15 June 2012 for 7 Senior

Government officials, four WFP staff, two partners and three farmer organisation representatives. The purpose of the

visit was to learn from Rwanda’s P4P experience. (see page 4)

Under the South-South knowledge-sharing, the Government of Brazil (CGFome and MDS), WFP Centre of Excellence

and FAO Brazil organized the Purchase from Africans for Africa (PAA) Programme Inception Workshop

that took place in Brasília and Alagoas State (Northeastern region). The event brought together officials from Ethiopia,

Niger, Mozambique, and Senegal, Brazilian consultants and representatives of FAO and WFP country offices (including

P4P) to discuss potential ways forward for the implementation of the Programme. Country cases on existing local food

purchase initiatives were presented, followed by working group sessions in order to promote debate between

stakeholders involved in country initiatives and international consultants, during these sessions participants discussed

the opportunities to implement the PAA Africa pilot projects and to support scale-up strategies. PAA Africa draws on

the expertise accumulated by Brazil from its own food purchasing programme. Supported by FAO and WFP the project

extends financing for food purchases to be linked to home-grown school feeding projects, aiming to benefit smallholder

farmers and vulnerable populations.

P4P El Salvador arranged for 5 farmer organizations (IZALCALU, GARUCHOS, ACOPASAM, ACALESE and the

TABUDOS) to participate in a study tour to Costa Rica, in coordination with IICA, where they visited 3 cooperatives

producing and marketing basic grains and exchanged experiences.

New Containerised High-Energy Biscuit Factory en-route to Afghanistan. WFP’s food technologists from

Kabul and Rome and representatives of a Jalalabad-based Afghan supplier of High-Energy Biscuits for WFP’s school

feeding programme spent several days in Verona, visiting an Italian engineering company. V-Bake was tasked by WFP to

build a self-standing and mobile biscuit factory, to comprise as few shipping containers as possible and have the

maximum capacity to produce biscuits. Together with the machine technicians, the delegation examined every step of

the production process, from tasting the dough to the steadiness of the packing process to ensure quality specifications

were met (see page 3).

On the operational front, a major milestone has been reached by P4P Ethiopia, with the signing of multiple Forward

Delivery Contracts (FDC) for the purchase of 28,200 tonnes of maize from 16 Cooperative Unions (CUs). A group

of partners in the Ethiopian maize sector have agreed to implement an integrated approach that links maize producing

smallholder farmers with secure markets and are supporting the 16 P4P targeted CUs to increase their production and

deliver food to WFP. WFP serves as the client, providing forward delivery contracts to the CUs. Partners such as

ACDI/VOCI, ATA, TechnoServe, Sasakawa Afrika Association and the Center for Development Initiatives (CDI) will

extend the required capacity building activities to enable the unions execute their contracts successfully. Food deliveries

are expected from February to May 2013 depending on the quantity awarded.

21 P4P pilot countries

Asia: Afghanistan, Laos

Africa: DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique,

Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

Central America: El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua

Page 2 ISSUE 46

PROCUREMENT GOVERNANCE: LINKING FARMER ORGANIZATIONS WITH

GOVERNMENT SCHOOL FEEDING

By Dick Commandeur, Senior Technical Advisor of SNV USA

At the end of 2011 SNV Netherlands Development Organization started a project in Kenya, Ghana and Mali on

“Procurement Governance for Home Grown School Feeding”, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The aim

of the project is to give access in a direct or indirect way for 104,000 smallholder farmers to government led school

feeding programs and in that way increasing their income and contribute to poverty reduction.

The project is implemented in 50 districts over the 3 countries. Together with public, private, farmers and civil society

stakeholders, the challenges for farmer access to the procurement process and the supply chains will be addressed, as

well as the implementation of social accountability mechanisms.

Our main focus will be on the procurement side, to analyse and improve government procurement practices, making it

farmer friendlier, improving ration diversity based on local production, linking it with economic development objectives

and improving transparency toward society. This must be aligned with the strengthening of farmer organizations to

respond to new opportunities created. Here SNV will connect with the P4P experience in building the capacities of

those organizations to supply to high quality school feeding requirements, either directly or by way of business

arrangements with other private sector suppliers. The P4P methods and instruments for selection, organizational

strengthening, quality assurance, storage enhancement, etc. will be very useful to see how we can apply them to the

additional challenges of working with government entities, most at a decentralized level.

SNV is already coordinating activities with different P4P offices:

In Kenya, SNV is working actively with P4P in Keiyo County, where joint multi stakeholder platforms were

organized aimed at linking farmers to school feeding markets. Both P4P and SNV belong to a regional team that is

charged with driving this agenda. The experience will be replicated to other regions. SNV will also use P4Ps

extended data base to inform its planning and to which additional data collection will be added.

In Ghana, a national Home Grown School Feeding Steering Committee will be constituted this year with

participation of WFP/P4P and SNV, among others. The Tamale Metro and Tolon Kumbumgu districts in the

Northern Region are covered by both organizations and exchange and learning meetings are held periodically.

In Mali, conversations have started to promote farmer organizations supported by P4P to supply to government

school feeding and link those organizations with specialized partners on improving the quality of their grain

production.

At corporate project level, we are exchanging research and learning agendas and in the framework of the Structured

Demand program of the BMGF we are exploring how we best can use each other’s monitoring and research data and

respond to similar and complementary learning questions. Also here, SNV’s main focus will be on procurement, supply

chain and social accountability issues.

SNV will actively coordinate and invite P4P representatives and beneficiary farmer organizations to its activities. For the

next months, these will be related with identifying and organising the different farmer organizations and private sector

actors, studying existing procurement practice and

regulations, defining district level action plans for

improving procurement, supply chains and

social accountability and strengthening the nation-

al school feeding programs with emphasis on

home grown. Please, approach our country coor-

dinators for further information and plan joint

actions:

Kenya: Tito Arunga, tarunga@snvworld.org

Ghana: Fati Seidu, fseidu@snvworld.org

Mali: Simbo Keita, skeita@snvworld.org

Children queuing at a rural school in Ghana, one of the first to implement the HGSF, © SNV

Page 3 ISSUE 46

Afghanistan — mobile factories on their way From the outside they look like seven ordinary white shipping containers, the ones WFP uses to transport food consignments, trucks or satellite gear. But step inside, and you discover a miniature biscuit factory that can be taken apart. The containers will be shipped to Afghanistan, and then reassembled to produce high energy biscuits for Afghan school children. It is already steamy at the industrial park near the Italian city of Verona and the temperature is set to rise further. It’s final testing time for one of WFP’s latest innovations, a mobile “factory in a box” that will soon be producing the High Energy Biscuits used in school feeding and other programmes. Aimed at processing various basic humanitarian commodities like High Energy Biscuits directly in the countries where they will be distributed, using locally available resources, they promote local development and capacity building.

The factory’s generator is humming, providing the independent power for the machines mixing the nutritious biscuit dough before it is cut into perfect round discs for baking. Just three short steps from the mixing machines, you are already at the ovens in the central container, where a sophisticated air circulation system keeps the temperatures bearable. WFP’s food technologists and the machine technicians examine every step, from tasting the dough to the steadiness of the packing process, along with the representatives of the Afghan company that will run the factory in Jalalabad. Biscuits in the first batch vary from pale yellow to gold in colour. “We need some tweaks to ensure the temperature throughout that oven is equal,” notes Henri Chouvel, WFP’s Kabul-based P4P food technologist. A few steps further down, at the packaging line, another team assesses how fast they can run the machine without damaging the biscuits which are fortified with micronutrients vital for children’s growth.

The creation of a mobile miniature biscuit factory has been developed under WFP’s Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative, which in Afghanistan is focused on bolstering the food processing industry to provide secure markets for farmers. P4P in Afghanistan is funded by Canada, which also supports the implementation of P4P in Ghana and Guatemala. So far, WFP has been able to buy over 900 tons of locally produced high energy biscuits from Afghani manufacturers that receive support through P4P. V-Bake, an Italian engineering company, was tasked with making the plans a reality; the factory had to be free-standing and mobile, to comprise as few shipping containers as possible and have the maximum capacity to produce biscuits. “The biggest challenge was the dimensions. We normally create machinery for big industrial plants with heaps of space. Here we had to shrink everything and make it fit into seven containers each measuring 6 x 2.5 metres,” explains V-Bake director Paolo Andreis. It also has to take into account Afghanistan’s climate, intense summer heat and sub zero winters. Under the agreement, which is part grant, part credit, the Afghan partner company will have a secure market selling High Energy Biscuits to WFP. “We will start with just one shift, employing around 25 local men and women, and once that is working well, we will double it,” says Haider Baig from the Omar Farooq Group. “We are very excited because we get to sell products to WFP to help Afghan children, but we can also sell to other clients and in the process we pay back the investment.” In 2013, WFP plans to distribute 8,700 tons of High Energy Biscuits in the school meals programme in Afghanistan, representing a total value of roughly US$ 12 million. Over 900 schools have been targeted, with almost half a million school girls and boys receiving High Energy Biscuits. WFP plans to buy at least 95% of the biscuits required locally from three factories in Herat and Kabul (learn more about P4P purchases from the-se factories here: http://www.wfp.org/purchase-progress/blog/afghanistan-first-purchase-under-p4p) and from two containerized factories in Jalalabad and Fayzabad. A containerized factory will be able to provide 1 ,400 tons o f H igh Energy B i scu i t s per yea r . Tahir Aslam, a consultant for the Omar Farooq Group, is enthusiastic about having high quality machinery. “We already produce cake, but learning from this will also help our other production processes.” The company will be using many local ingredients, thereby boost farmers’ incomes as well. In the next few weeks the factory will be dismantled and each of the seven containers will be transported to Jalalabad to be reassembled. Options include an adventurous road and rail journey from Italy to Iran and Uzbekistan into Afghanistan, or a sea voyage to Pakistan’s main port and then by road up and across the Afghan border.

The containers just before shipping to Afghanistan. © WFP

Containers leaving the factory in Verona, beginning their journey to Afghanistan, © WFP

Page 4 ISSUE 46

Burkina Faso — Rwanda: A P4P Exchange Visit

“Look there, the government really is in the driver seat in Rwanda”,

remarks a government delegate from Burkina Faso as she sees Rwanda’s

President Paul Kagame driving himself in the presidential motorcade,

“Even the President is driving himself!”

A total of 15 visitors (three farmer organization representatives, seven

government officials, five WFP/FAO staff) had come from Burkina Faso to

Rwanda for a week of visits and learning. Initiated by the respective P4P

Coordinators, the purpose of the mission was to learn about P4P

implementation in Rwanda, specifically the role of the government being

in the driver’s seat of the “Common P4P”. The Burkina Faso visitors

wanted to better understand how Government ownership of the P4P

programme could ensure the sustainability of the programme beyond the

pilot phase.

WFP Rwanda organized the mission jointly with the Ministry of

Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) so as to enable the

visitors to understand the partnership and complementarity of WFP and

MINAGRI in the implementation of P4P. The mission met with the

Permanent Secretary of MINAGRI who gave a general picture of

Rwandan Agricultural policies and how P4P is embedded in the policies.

The team also met with the members of the post-harvest handling and

storage taskforce, which manages the Common P4P. Further the

delegates met with representatives of the private sector and the P4P

Steering Committee to learn about the services offered in support of

P4P. Finally a field trip to multiple farmer organizations was organized,

sparking many interesting discussions on best agricultural practices.

At the end of the mission, the team from Burkina was impressed by the level of involvement and ownership from the

government at all levels and concluded that such partnership is

important for the success of P4P. The government

representatives were especially impressed with the procurement

systems, that even rural government officials knew about

Common P4P and had key deliverables in their performance

contracts and the coordinated support that P4P, the government

and the private sector were giving to the farmer organizations.

They committed to recommend the same to their government.

The delegation at the Ministry of Agriculture, Kigali, Rwanda. © WFP

Visitors from Burkina Faso at the new Rwanda Strategic Grain Reserve © WFP

New Food Price Database in the making

A working group comprising WFP’s ODXF (VAM), P4P, ODP (Procurement), ODL (Logistic) and ODXC (Cash and Voucher)

Units has been set up to refine corporate price information needs for operational use. The specific goals of this inter-divisional

working group are to:

· Identify and discuss the key gaps in price information to be addressed for operational use

· Identify potential collaboration areas in terms of internal information sources

· Identify what specific initiatives other divisions are investing in and opportunities for

integration.

The expected outcome of this work is to establish an integrated price database, which is built on the existing VAM Food and

Commodity Prices Data Store. The VAM price database currently covers more than 1,000 markets across 68 countries in

which WFP operates. Alongside other internal users, P4P is supporting VAM to increase the market coverage of the database

at the national and subnational levels (including P4P operational areas), expand the list of the commodities monitored and

the price types (including farm-gate prices) of relevance to operational divisions.

P4P countries will be approached to provide information on in-country definitions of farm-gate prices, sources of such data

and opportunities for collating/collecting farm-gate prices with support from VAM or partners.

For more information, please contact Alessia Decaterina alessia.decaterina@wfp.org or Issa Sanogo issa.sanogo@wfp.org

“Common P4P” is a joint programme between P4P and the government of Rwanda to support the governments effort in reducing post-harvest losses, strengthen its agricultural sector and develop smallholder friendly public procurement systems for the new Rwanda Strategic Grain Reserve. It builds on the experience WFP gained by piloting P4P and aims to extend the programme to cooperatives nationwide.

Page 5 ISSUE 46

Meet Irene Del-Rio and Phillip Hovmand, two new members of the P4P Malawi team

Irene Del-Rio, P4P Coordinator

Irene is a Spanish NationaI and joined WFP in 2007 after working as an

economic advisor for the Spanish Embassy in Rome. For two years in

Guatemala, Irene also participated in projects similar to P4P before the

pilot was established, besides working on resource mobilization,

reporting and localized emergencies. In 2009 Irene moved to WFP

Algeria - Tindouf Sub-Office - for some three years, coordinating most

of the programme and M&E during a refugee operation, and had the

opportunity to work for three months in the North Africa Emergency

operation, on the Tunisian/Libyan border.

“There are many many projects that work in the production and

processing side, but very few which provide the actual demand for the

products. I think P4P can complete the chain and really offer the

producers the opportunity to improve their lives using the market,

instead of leaving them with increased yield and no tools to make money out of it”, Irene says.

I like to think we're promoting a change that will last in the lives of the participants in the project, while, at the same t ime,

we contribute to usual WFP business of bringing food where it's needed immediately. Working in development can be very

frustrating, because it normally relates to process which take much longer than our personal stay in a country, so you only

deal with the negative part and never see concrete results. But in this case, when discussing with farmers, you can see how

they are changing their mind-set very fast, and where a couple of years ago they thought WFP was just offering a price out

of the blue, now they are able to come up with their own pricing and are in position of making sensible offers and have a

much fairer revenue for their hard work.”

Irene graduated in Law and Economics, with a Masters in International Commerce (by Spanish International Commerce

Institute) and Development Project Cycle (by Open University of Catalonia). She is currently following courses of the Rural

Development masters at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London - whenever she have a free minute,

which is not as often as she would like.

Meet Phillip Hovmand, P4P Procurement Officer

Phillip is a Danish National and has worked for WFP since 2003, first

joining the logistics team at the Regional Bureau in Johannesburg,

South Africa, working mainly on emergency operations. Following

positions as a Logistics Officer in Malawi and Uganda, Phillip is now

very happy to join WFP Malawi again, this time as Procurement

Officer. Before WFP he worked in commercial logistics.

Phillip has a degree in logistics and shipping, and a Masters in Political

Science. During his post-graduate course his focus was on Africa &

development issues, with special research on environmental policies

in an African context.

“When meeting with the small scale farmers in the villages, and presenting them with the various market opportunities,

whether it be selling to WFP through direct purchase, soft tender or through a warehouse receipt system with linkage to a

commodity exchange, there is real sense of optimism on their part, of the fact, that their hard work of aggregation, can

actually pay off and make a decent profit. It gives them opportunities of making real and improved changes to their lives and

conditions of living. It could be paying for school fees or a much needed new thatch roof or additional seeds and fertilisers

for the coming growing season. In the latter case, they even have the opportunity of expanding their production the

following year, with larger yields and higher profits for the following year and so and so forth.” Phillip says.

“Furthermore, the people of Malawi are very friendly and it is no coincidence that the country has been named the 'warm

heart of Africa'. When you live here you feel that 'warmth' every day. Coupled with the stunning sceneries that Malawi

offers and the intricate cultures that exist here, it makes it a very fulfilling experience living here”.

Phillip and Chikonde Dzoole, Procurement Assistant, negotiating...

Irene Del-Rio, the new P4P Coordinator for Malawi

Page 6 ISSUE 46

P4P Country Coordinators/Focal Points

Asia

Afghanistan: Djordje Vdovic <Djordje.Vdovic@wfp.org>

Laos: Ina Schlachta <Ina.Schlachta@wfp.org>

Regional Bureau Focal Point: Francois Buratto

<Francois.Buratto@wfp.org>

Eastern, Southern & Central Africa

Democratic Republic of Congo: Francis Bere <Francis.Bere@wfp.org>

Ethiopia: Enrico Pausilli <Enrico.Pausilli@wfp.org>

Kenya: Martin Kabaluapa <Martin.Kabaluapa@wfp.org>

Malawi: Irene Del Rio <Irene.Del-Rio@wfp,org>

Mozambique: Billy Mwiinga <Billy.Mwiinga@wfp.org>

Rwanda: Emmanuela Mashayo <Emmanuela.Mashayo@wfp.org>

South Sudan: Marc Sauveur <Marc.Sauveur@wfp.org>

Tanzania: Dominique Leclercq <Dominique.Leclercq@wfp.org>

Uganda: Vincent Kiwanuka <Vincent.Kiwanuka@wfp.org>

Zambia: Aurore Rusiga <Aurore.Rusiga@wfp.org>

Regional Bureau Focal Point: Simon Denhere

<Simon.Denhere@wfp.org>

WFP’s secondee to ACTESA: Simon Dradri <Simon.Dradri@wfp.org>

West Africa

Burkina Faso: Veronique Sainte-Luce <Veronique.Sainte-Luce@wfp.org>

Ghana: Hassan Abdelrazig <Hassan.Abdelrazig@wfp.org>

Liberia: James Legg <James.Legg@wfp.org>

Mali: Isabelle Mballa <Isabelle.Mballa@wfp.org>

Sierra Leone: Miyuki Yamashita <Miyuki.Yamashita@wfp.org>

Regional Bureau Focal Point: <Isabelle.Mballa@wfp.org>

Latin American & Caribbean

El Salvador: Hebert Lopez <Hebert.Lopez@wfp.org>

Guatemala: Sheryl Schneider <Sheryl.Schneider@wfp.org>

Honduras: Ana Touza <Ana.Touza@wfp.org>

Nicaragua: Francisco Alvarado <Francisco.Alvarado@wfp.org>

Regional Bureau Focal Point: Laura Melo <Laura.Melo@wfp.org>

KEY P4P CONTACTS IN ROME

P4P COORDINATION UNIT

Ken Davies, P4P Coordinator: Ken.Davies@wfp.org

Catherine Feeney, Snr Programme Adviser, Partnerships:

Catherine.Feeney@wfp.org

Jorge Fanlo, Snr Programme Adviser for Afghanistan, Burkina

Faso, DRC, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Sierra Leone & South Sudan:

Jorge.Fanlo@wfp.org

Clare Mbizule, Programme Adviser, M&E:

Clare.Mbizule@wfp.org

Alessia De Caterina, M&E Officer:

Alessia.Decaterina@wfp.org

Damien Fontaine, M&E Officer::

Damien.Fontaine@wfp.org

Tobias Bauer, Communications and Advocacy Officer:

Tobias.Bauer@wfp.org

Bhai Thapa, Finance Officer:

Bhai.Thapa@wfp.org

Batamaka Some, Gender Consultant:

Batamaka.Some@wfp.org

Raphael Grojnowski, Reports Officer:

Raphael.Grojnowski@wfp.org

Ester Rapuano, Snr Finance Assistant:

Ester.Rapuano@wfp.org

Gianluca Guerini, Admin Assistant:

Gianluca.Guerini@wfp.org

Alessia Rossi, Admin Assistant:

Alessia.Rossi@wfp.org

PROCUREMENT DIVISION

Bertrand Salvignol, Food Technologist: Bertrand.Salvignol@wfp.org

Van Hoan Nguyen, Food Technologist:

VanHoan.Nguyen@wfp.org

Jeffrey Marzilli, P4P liaison: Jeffrey.Marzilli@wfp.org

Laila Ahadi, Procurement Officer: Laila.Ahadi@wfp.org

Brigitte Labbe, Procurement Officer:

Brigitte.Labbe@wfp.org

The update is published by the P4P Coordination Unit in Rome, Italy. Contact us at wfp.p4p@wfp.org

External: www.wfp.org/p4p Internal: http://go.wfp.org/web/purchaseforprogress

CALENDAR

29-31 August: External validation of AERC’s work, Lusaka, Zambia

27–29 September: African Green Revolution Forum 2012, Tanzania http://agrforum.com/

15-20 October: 38th Session of the Committee on Food Security, Rome

15 October: Rural Women’s Day

16 October: World Food Day: “Agricultural cooperatives – key to feeding the world"

17-19 October: World Food Prize, Des Moines, Iowa

New on the P4P website:

The “P4P corporate video” introduces the different approaches employed in the 21

countries, and highlights achievements and challenges three years into the five-year pilot:

http://www.wfp.org/videos/purchase-progress-0

“Malawi — Helping Farmers build the Future they want” showcases the experience of

smallholder farmers in Malawi participating in the P4P Initiative:

http://www.wfp.org/videos/malawi-helping-farmers-build-future-they-want