ANKA: Connecting African artisans to the global market

May 20, 2022

By Sabra Ayres

4 min read

An African start-up that created an online marketplace for mostly women-led small businesses and artisans to sell worldwide recently raised $6.1 million for expansion, thanks to an initial $1.5 million investment from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) aimed at leveraging outside funding.

ANKA is an online marketplace platform working with 2,000 African micro-, small- and medium enterprises. Sellers use the digital export platform to sell their apparel, jewelry, decorative arts and designer fabrics to customers around the world.

Nearly 80 percent of the sellers on ANKA are women engaged in apparel and accessories making, many of them from small workshops or working in their homes. Historically, selling on Afrikrea, ANKA’s original name, raised businesses’ income by 50 percent year-over-year, according to Charles Polet, a Public-Private Partnership Manager at the Trade Hub.

The $6.1 million in new investment supports a potential job creation of 27,000 based on ANKA’s goal to onboard 3,000 new merchants to its platform within the next three years. More than 50 percent will be women.  

The Trade Hub manages a pipeline of more than $1.2 billion in transactions and has engaged with more than 700 private companies, as well as business associations, development finance institutions and government agencies. It is actively working in 14 countries across 23 value chains.

During its first two and a half years, the project awarded $70 million in grants to 75 public and private sector co-investment partners, including CrossBoundary and Cordaid Investment Management. Collectively, these co-investments are expected to generate $560 million in private investment, create 59,000 sustainable jobs and facilitate more than $456 million in exports in agriculture, manufactured goods, energy and services by the end of the program. The private investment generated is so significant that it represents eight times the value of the Trade Hub funds.

CrossBoundary entered a $1.5 million co-investment partnership with the Trade Hub in February 2021. Under the pay-for-results partnership, CrossBoundary identifies potential investments, such as it did with Afrikrea in 2021. The firm then leverages its USAID-backed $1.5 million investment to encourage outside investors to help finance the potential in other African small and medium enterprises. While the Trade Hub put up the initial $1.5 million, CrossBoundary is committed to raising an additional $14 million in outside investments for at least five small- and medium-sized enterprises.

As of November, CrossBoundary is facilitating $50 million of private capital for 12 small and medium enterprises in agricultural processing, light manufacturing and commerce within eight West African countries, including Cameroon, Liberia, Togo, Ghana, Nigeria and Mali. The investments will promote regional trade, U.S. exports, the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative, women’s entrepreneurship, and market-driven supply chains in post-conflict and near-conflict areas.

ANKA’s focus on women-led businesses caught the attention of CrossBoundary, an investment firm that seeks to raise capital for small- and medium enterprises typically underserved by the financing products available, for example, women-led agriculture or handicraft businesses in West Africa. Such enterprises often face prohibitive transaction costs associated with raising funds for expansion and growth.

Originally conceived as Afrikrea, ANKA’s online market lets small artisans and sellers tap into the global market to increase opportunities and profit, and get paid faster, all on one platform.

“At ANKA, our mission is to ‘Bridge Africa and The World,’” said Janis Kouassi, who has been with ANKA since its start in 2019, in a recent blog post. “As an Ivorian woman, that speaks volume to me. Being a part of something that has never been done before, i.e., export Africans’ know-how rather than sell things to Africans, was extremely attractive to me. Being in alignment with your company’s mission and values is key to one’s personal and professional growth.”

ANKA is a U.S. registered company with key operations in Côte d’Ivoire. It’s original name, Afrikrea, is derived from a French play on words, merging “Africa” with the French would for design, “creation.”

The substantial investments will allow ANKA to expand its reach to bring on 3,000 new, small- and medium-sized enterprises in Benin, Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria.

“For many of our sellers, ANKA allows them to reach markets that were out of reach just selling on their own,” said Ilan Mouyal, the head of acquisitions at ANKA. “This expansion will mean more artisans, particularly women, can share in that success.”

In addition, supporting ANKA in turn promotes regional trade under Africa Continental Frea Trade Area, or AfCFTA, Polet says, referring to a free-trade area brokered in 2018 to include 54 of the 55 African Union nations. The AfCFTA is the largest free-trade market in the world by member states after the World Trade Organization. The creation of the free-trade region aims to deepen the economic integration of the African continent.

“It’s not easy to fund African start-ups, especially those that help and target microbusinesses,” Polet says. “This is a success story because it builds on promoting U.S. investments and U.S. trade, while at the same time promotes income for micro-ateliers in Africa.”

Trade Hub Partnership Increases Nigerian Farmers’ Harvest in Fight for Food Security

March 9, 2022

By Aja Beckham and Blessing Lass

3 min read

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity among the Nigerian population, particularly those in rural farming communities, who are among the most vulnerable and adversely affected by this ongoing health and economic crisis.

Kola Masha, Managing Director of Babban Gona, a Nigerian-based agri-tech social enterprise, says that since the Trade Hub awarded a $500,000 co-investment grant to the company in May 2021, there are less concerns about food insecurity because farmers now have agricultural packages and training to increase food supply.

“The pandemic significantly impacted the maize and rice supply chains, causing commodity prices to increase. Some rural populations weren’t able to afford food,” says Masha. “But the co-investment supports smallholder farmers with agricultural packages and trainings, and now their yields and net incomes are 2 times and 2.5 times the national average, respectively.”

As a direct result of Babban Gona’s co-investment partnership with the Trade Hub, the company has been able to significantly increase rice and maize production and improve food security in Kaduna, Benue, Cross River, and Niger States—focus areas for USAID’s Feed the Future initiative. During the duration of the project, Babban Gona will leverage approximately $15.4 million of private funds.

The co-investment partnership is expected to generate $33.1 million in sales from the anticipated 90,000 metric tons of harvested grains for this past 2021 season. Of that amount, an estimated $20.1 million will be paid out to the benefiting farmers in profits and bonuses.

Sahura Dauda, a maize farmer based in Kaduna State, says that Babban Gona’s Trade Hub-supported project has allowed her to increase her crop yield. Sahura hopes that one day, with continued help from Babban Gona, she can travel to Mecca, own houses, and continue to pay for her children’s school fees.

Sahura Dauda, a maize farmer based in Kaduna State, has been able to continue to pay for her children’s tuition since working as a farmer on Babban Gona’s Trade Hub-supported project Photo by: Babban Gona

“Since working with Babban Gona, I have experienced remarkable changes. Before, I hardly got more than 10 bags but now I harvest 50 to 60 bags. Last year, I harvested about 100 bags,” says Dauda. When the pandemic hit, a lot of people had challenges, but God brought relief to us through Babban Gona and I did not feel the effects of the situation.”

Other farmers like Musa Audu, who had already had success working with Babban Gona, were excited to learn about the additional support the Trade Hub project would provide. The joint effort will allow him to continue to send his children to school, instead of requiring them to put their schooling on hold to help in the field.

“After I joined Babban Gona, I was able to pay for one son’s college tuition and my other children’s secondary school tuition,” says Audu. “Honestly, it’s done everything for us.”

Babban Gona also provides smallholder farmers with harvesting and marketing services and financial credit to improve their labor productivity, market access, and incomes.

Prior to the 2021 planting season, approximately 2,500 smallholder farmers supported through Babban Gona’s Trade Hub partnership were trained on best agronomic practices, including land selection, fertilizer application, appropriate spacing techniques, and managing pests and diseases. Then, agricultural packages were distributed.

For maize production, agricultural packages were distributed to over 56,000 farmers, mainly in Kaduna State. It included 880 pounds of fertilizer, 55 pounds of seeds, and 2 liters of herbicides for each standard hectare field.

For rice production, 432 farmers, mainly based in Benue and Cross River States, received 660 pounds of fertilizer, 130 pounds of seeds, and 2.5 liters of herbicides for each standard hectare field.

Collectively, farmers harvested over 40,000 hectares of maize, which is about 56,000 soccer fields and 200 hectares of rice, which is close to 280 soccer fields.

During September to December 2021, Babban Gona also provided hermetic storage facilities to preserve 90,000 metric tons of grain, which will reduce post-harvest losses and further help to improve food security in the four key Nigerian States.

Creative appoints new Vice President to lead its largest division

December 8, 2021

4 min read

Sharon Van Pelt has been appointed Vice President and Senior Director of the Communities in Transition Division at Creative Associates International, a social-impact company implementing development programs in more than 30 countries.

With more than three decades of experience in political dialogue, policy reform, local governance and conflict prevention, she joins Creative from Chemonics where she served as the Senior Global Democracy and Governance Practice Lead for 10 years.

Leland Kruvant, President & CEO of Creative, says Van Pelt’s experience fits with the company’s model that puts programmatic excellence and innovation at the center of its development efforts around the world.

“Sharon is a committed professional and a talented leader who can advance Creative’s mission and vision,” Kruvant says. “Her commitment to development, ability to manage complex programs in challenging environments and dedication to building a robust staff made her a natural choice for us.”

Van Pelt says Creative’s reputation for trying new approaches and its collaborative atmosphere drew her to the position leading the company’s largest division.

“What motivates me is actually getting to know the contexts in which we work, what challenges people face, and how they can solve them,” she says. “What I often find is that this is highly non-technical. It tends to be very inter-relational and political. And it’s that dynamic of various actors coming together to work on a problem, to try and understand it— gain a common understanding of it— and solve it, and that’s what really drives me. That dynamic is what I find is at the core of the passion I have for political transitions, democracy and governance.”

Creative’s Communities in Transition Division has programs operating in 15 countries, including the USAID Office of Transition Initiative’s West Africa Littorals Regional Initiative and several programs supporting liberated areas of Syria.

The Division has four Practice Areas – Stabilization, Political Transitions, Democracy, Governance and Electoral Integrity, and Citizen Security – and counts on a diverse set of clients, including USAID and the U.S. State Department, as well as the German, Danish and Finnish governments.

Watch an interview and read a Q&A with Sharon Van Pelt.

Tom Wheelock retires as CIT’s Senior Vice President

Van Pelt takes over as Tom Wheelock retires after 12 years as the Senior Vice President and Senior Director of the Communities in Transition Division.

Kruvant describes Wheelock as “an exceptional leader who has guided and grown the Division to its current 15 countries, as well as having had a tremendous, positive impact on the staff and beneficiaries.

Wheelock says it has been an honor to shape a division that takes on some of the toughest development assignments facing communities.

“It has been an enormous privilege to lead CIT staff and its projects implementing in some of the world’s toughest environments,” Wheelock told his staff. “During my conversations in the past few weeks with donor colleagues, they clearly hold Creative in high regard for implementing outstanding programs in conflict-prone countries. That is an accolade that is hard to earn.”

Following a leader like Wheelock is tough, though Kruvant says Van Pelt is the right person to step in the role.

In addition to Chemonics, Van Pelt has served as principal governance adviser for the German GIZ and U.N. Development Programme, among others. While a Foreign Service Officer, Van Pelt earned the USAID Meritorious Honor Award for advancing policy dialogue on decentralization and transparency during the Guatemala peace process.

She served as Chief of Party in Moldova, Director of Governance for counter-extremism and peacebuilding programs in francophone Africa, and as an advocacy adviser in Bangladesh, Guatemala and Nigeria. Van Pelt is a Certified Performance Technologist for the International Society for Performance Improvement, and trains staff globally on capacity development, including problem-driven iterative adaptation. She is also the co-chair of the D.C.-based Working Group of the Thinking and Working Politically Community of Practice.

Van Pelt holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Rutgers University and a master’s degree in international development from the American University in Washington, D.C.

Watch an interview and read a Q&A with Sharon Van Pelt

About Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International works with underserved communities by sharing expertise and experience in education, elections, economic growth, governance and transitions from conflict to peace.  

Based in Washington, D.C., Creative has active projects in nearly 30 countries. Since 1977, it has worked in nearly 90 countries and on almost every continent. Recognized for its ability to work rapidly, flexibly and effectively in conflict-affected environments, Creative is committed to generating long-term sustainable solutions to complex development problems. 

Creative has grown to become one of the leaders among the U.S. private sector implementers of global development projects. Creative is minority owned and operated.

The great digitization of learning

October 26, 2021

By Ayan Kishore

2 min read

A growing community of education technologists have tried to bring the promise of technology for teachers, students, and caregivers to fruition for decades.

Digitizing learning materials and making them available to beneficiaries can dramatically improve at scale student learning time, parental engagement, teacher training and reading outcomes for students. Yet, these interventions have been on the fringes of international education, particularly in development programming.

All this changed in 2020.

The pandemic shuttered schools globally, and digital was perhaps the only way education could continue. Governments scrambled but adapted quickly, with ministries putting out blended learning policies and setting up and growing their EdTech staffing.

We have seen an epoch of massive digitization of school learning content. In addition to doubling down on existing TV and radio distance learning initiatives, governments also set up new digital learning channels such as learning management systems and virtual meeting communications.

Every Creative education program pivoted, and project staff and teachers upskilled to fill gaps. Learning and training content was digitized and distributed via WhatsApp in Mozambique, eLearning courses and video in Morocco, SMS and radio in Nigeria, and IVR in Ethiopia for example.

There was crucial behavior change beyond the tangibles. The persistent resistance to technology in education was rapidly overcome with forced digitization. Teachers learned how to use distance learning, communication and administrative technologies for reaching and supporting their students. They also gained first-hand experience in learning with technology by receiving professional development virtually.

There is still much to be done.

Some of the rapid changes have missed the EdTech field’s learnings on best practices. What makes for good accessible digital learning content? How does one effectively deliver blended learning across multiple channels? How can learning be assessed remotely?

Much of the digital content is currently inaccessible to the marginalized: people with disabilities, people in remote areas without connectivity, those who cannot afford devices, and so on. The digital divide has become a significant barrier to education equity.

The question on many minds is whether the digital changes brought about by the pandemic will stick. I think so, and so do most country governments.

They are clear about a permanent future of hybrid or blended learning that complements in-person with digital channels, creating for a more resilient education system. Structural capacity is being built, and human spirit has been instigated to find a way.

This is the start of the global era of the Great Digitization of Learning.

We, along with international education colleagues affiliated with the Basic Education Coalition conducted a survey at the turn of this year with 12 developing country governments to understand how they have used education technology to adapt during the pandemic, and their concerns and hopes for the future. You can read the brief report here.

Agriculture-Tech Program to Boost Incomes of 50,000 Nigerian Farmers

August 26, 2021

By Aja Beckham

3 min read

The one-year project will reach 50,000 smallholder farmers, all women and youth, to increase their crop yields and incomes through access to services, networks and technology

Building on its work to boost food security in Nigeria through technology-driven agricultural services, Thrive Agric has launched an ambitious one-year project to support 50,000 smallholder farmers interested in increasing their crop yields and incomes.

“We know that most smallholder farmers, particularly women and youth, require more nuanced support to facilitate their participation in [the farming] markets and, ultimately, increase food security and incomes at the household and national levels,” says Ayodeji Arikawe, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Thrive Agric.

Thrive Agric is committing $10 million to fund this project and the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub is backing the effort with a $1.75 million co-investment grant.

Fifty-thousand smallholders, particularly farmers in Kaduna, Kebbi and Kano States, were tapped to join the project. The focus of the initiative is to increase the production of three staple crops— rice, maize and soybean—by involving women and youth in the farming industry. Most of the program participants will be women and youth.

The resources that farmers will access include agronomy advisory services, pre-and post-harvest storage and logistics support, links to credit and agriculture insurance products and the company’s current and future mobile apps.

Through the year-long project, launched in May 2021, at least 50,000 metric tons of rice, maize and soybean is expected to be produced by the end of the 2021 season.

The crops which will be sold to premium markets and result in farmers enjoying higher-than-normal incomes.

Thrive Agric developed mobile apps to support smallholder farmers across Nigeria and Africa at large.

A Thrive Agric field officer in Saminaka, Nigeria, shows farmers how to use the TMoni app that allows them to easily send, receive, save, and borrow money. (Photo By: Thrive Agric)

Through its Tradr mobile app, Thrive gives farmers direct access to seed and other input providers, farm machinery service providers and off-takers within their locations. Also, its Tmoni mobile app provides customers with a digital wallet on their phone, which they can use to send, receive, save and borrow money.

Karl Littlejohn, Trade Hub’s Interim Chief of Party, says that Thrive will position farmers to be competitive in the market because of technology efforts.

“I look forward to seeing the company’s success in using tech solutions to benefit these farmers,” says Littlejohn. “The lessons learned through their tech-savviness can be leveraged to assist future partners seeking innovative avenues to assist stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.”

The project is creating 1,000 jobs within the agricultural value chain, including for prospective farm, field and warehouse managers. Nearly 70 percent of these jobs will go to women, who are often overlooked for higher-paying managerial positions.

Thrive has already proven that its forward-thinking strategies and technology are effective and reach the masses. Since its founding in 2017, it’s helped over 140,000 farmers in Nigeria increase their capacities to meet supply, quality and food safety standards that are required by domestic and export markets.

The company has accomplished this through bundling a variety of products and services normally out of reach for smallholder farmers and partnering with agriculture organizations who assist with distribution, outreach and other efforts.

Arikawe says this is one of the many ways Thrive Agric is approaching opportunity and the market differently than competitors, who tend to follow traditional approaches to boost farmers’ agricultural productivity.

New, Modern Fertilizer Equipment and Plant To Increase Farming Yields in Nigeria

August 2, 2021

By Aja Beckham

4 min read

Enhanced with efficient equipment, the fertilizer blending plant facility under construction in Kaduna State will be able to produce 120 metric tons of customized fertilizer blends and reach 1.3 million smallholder farmers in the area.

OCP Africa Fertilizers Nigeria Ltd. received a $1.4 million USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub grant to purchase new equipment that will produce higher-yielding fertilizers and address food insecurity in the country. OCP Africa contributed $11.7 million to build a new fertilizer blending plant that’s currently under construction in Kaduna, Nigeria.

By 2024, the plant is projected to bring in nearly $45 million and serve than 1.3 Nigerian smallholder farmers through agricultural trainings and fertilizer sales. (Photo By: OCP Africa)

By 2024, the plant is projected to bring in nearly $45 million and serve than 1.3 million Nigerian smallholder farmers through agricultural trainings and fertilizer sales.

Caleb Usoh, Country Manager for OCP Africa Fertilizers Nigeria, says the new USAID West Africa & Investment Hub support will improve farmers’ crop yields and incomes, as well as increase employment at the company’s new factory.

“Over the years, farmers in Nigeria have recorded poor farm yields due to the quality of fertilizers,” says Usoh. “The production and distribution of blended fertilizers combined with the training will help farmers produce better quality crops as well as increase their yields, which will lead to higher earnings and better returns for their farming business.”

OCP Africa, a leader in the production of phosphate-based fertilizers, will install modern blending equipment in its new fertilizer plant. The new addition will help bridge the gap where there is a paucity of specialized fertilizers and grow crops on a large scale to increase food access.

Emmanuel Azaino, Research and Development Director of Trade & Investment Hub, says that currently consumers pay too much for basic food items because farmers don’t have quality fertilizer to yield abundant crops.

“The [food] prices are very high. The average person struggles to afford basic food items like rice, maize and soybean,” says Azaino. “Farmers aren’t yielding enough because they can’t afford fertilizers with the best nutrients or have travel too far to pick it up.”

OCP Africa expects at least 1.3 million smallholder farmers within the catchment area of the plant will benefit from the company’s increased operations.

Farmers will also be able to easily access the fertilizer from the 36 locations that OCP Africa will establish across 13 Nigerian states.

The fertilizer blending equipment will efficiently produce products to meet the demand.

The machine can manufacture 120 metric tons of fertilizer per hour and the plant can store up to 10,000 metric tons. The new fertilizer blends will increase farmers’ yields by 50 to 85 percent per hectare depending on the type of crop, which may include rice, maize, soybean, cassava, tomato and other staple crops in Nigeria.

Also, OCP Africa will lead trainings on good agricultural practices and soil testing for the 75,000 farmers.

Michael Clements, Chief of Party of the Trade Hub, says that the investment will enhance already existing efforts to build sustainable agriculture in Nigeria.

“This project is quite a unique one, and we are excited to partner with OCP Africa to complement the Nigerian government’s policy to leverage locally available resources to expand food production capabilities,” says Clements.

OCP Africa Plant To Hire Locals

Through this co-investment partnership, 826 jobs are expected to be created, including careers for staff at the new facility, organizers who will lead the farming trainings and workers at the 36 locations where OCP Africa will sell products.

Also, in support of the Trade Hub’s goal to ensure that traditionally marginalized groups have equal access to job opportunities in the agricultural sector, at least 50 percent of the 826 jobs will be dedicated to women and youth.

The end goal of the project is to foster a thriving agricultural-business ecosystem in Nigeria.

West Africa Positioned as Major Cashew Nut Exporter Through a New Public Private Partnership

July 9, 2021

By Blessing Lass

3 min read

Red River Foods and USAID West Africa Trade & Investment Hub partnership to create 500 new jobs and benefit 11,000 farmers, processors and suppliers.

USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub awarded a $3 million grant to Red River Foods in support of increasing cashew kernel production in West Africa, which will help West Africa to become the largest cashew kernel exporter to the U.S. market by April 2024.

Red River Foods, a leading global supplier of plant-based foods, has also committed to investing approximately $47 million in capital and resources. The funding will go towards building a cashew processing facility and provide trainings to local farmers, processors, and suppliers. Also, it will create 500 new jobs and establish training programs that will benefit nearly 11,000 farmers, processors, and suppliers working in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire and Benin.

After every cashew harvest season in Ghana, Red River Foods Ghana provides a bonus payment to cashew farmers to help them fund improvements to their cashew fields, purchase new farming equipment, or support education and healthcare for their families.

Dan Phipps, CEO of Red River Foods, says, “Our mission is to sustainably source the highest quality products from around the world. This project is a natural extension of our current integration along with the entire supply and value chain.”

The public-private partnership will have a lasting impact on the region.

Michael Clements, Chief of Party with the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, says the program supports “ambitious, forward-think projects” like Red River Food’s investment.

“We hope to soon see ‘Made in West Africa’ printed on cashew products bought throughout the United States thanks to this partnership,” Clements says.

The USAID’s West Africa Trade & Investment Hub grant will accelerate economic growth in West Africa and builds on already existing partnerships. The U.S. government’s Prosper Africa effort also seeks increase the two-way trade and investment between the United States and Africa.

The grant will support Red River Food’s efforts to build a cutting-edge cashew processing facility in Cote d’Ivoire. During the three-year partnership, USAID estimates that the infrastructure will generate $27 million in smallholder sales and $32 million in total exports. Red River Foods owns a value-addition facility in the United States.

More than 90 percent of raw cashews grown in West Africa are exported for processing due to poor processing infrastructure, lack of agriculture education, and . The region produces 1.8 million metric tons of cashews annually. While this figure seems massive, it’s still less than the volume of cashews grown and processed in Vietnam and India. The United States is primarily dependent on Vietnam, Thailand and India for importing cashews.

After the facility is complete, Red River Foods projects that West Africa will export nearly 11,000 metric tons more annually – 10,664 metric tons of raw cashew nuts and 668 metric tons of processed cashew nuts.

The agricultural trainings will also increase the amount of cashews processed annually. Due to the lack of agricultural education, farmers have had poor cashew yields, post-harvest losses, and lower incomes relative to cashew farmers in Southeast Asia. As a part of the effort to make West Africa the largest exporter of cashew kernels, Red River Food representatives and food handler officers will participate in technical assistance and agriculture trainings, and then lead training for locals to teach them about best practices for cashew yields and food handling.

Nigeria – Lake Chad Basin / Early Recovery Initiative

Program

2 min read

Funded and guided by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Transition Initiatives (USAID/OTI), Nigeria Lake Chad Basin (NLCB) was a quick-response program that supported activities to strengthen and extend stability in the hard-hit states of Kaduna and Plateau, also known as the Middle Belt region.

In September 2020, NLCB – known locally as the Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative (NERI) – focused its efforts on improving community security, recovery of livelihoods and advocacy and peaceful resolution of conflict in the target states. These activities strengthened community resilience and supported conflict prevention mechanism to anticipate, prevent and respond to increasing violence and threats of attacks against civilians.

In close collaboration with community leaders and through small grants to local partners, NLCB/NERI activities supported the ability of displaced individuals to return to their homes and that strengthened the physical security of vulnerable neighborhoods, such as by installing solar streetlights. It developed early warning mechanisms that alerted communities to potential threats. With restored livelihoods as a key priority, NLCB/NERI supported small investments into rehabilitating marketplaces and providing livelihood kits and cash-for-work activities to at-risk community members. 

NLCB/NERI’s activities increased the access to an inclusive space for community led advocacy and platforms for dialogue. Working in target locations, experts built the advocacy skills of grassroots organizations to ensure that community decisions and interventions were locally driven and inclusive of marginalized groups. Because many communities remained traumatized by the effects of violence, NLCB/NERI implemented activities that provide elements of psycho-social support and trauma healing.

By the end of the NLCB/NERI program, vulnerable communities in eight LGAs were equipped with improved community security, resiliency and recovery of livelihoods, as well as increased capacity and access for inclusive advocacy and peacebuilding mechanisms towards a peaceful resolution of conflict in the Middle Belt.

Nigeria – Northeast Connection Program

Program

2 min read

Northeast Connection’s solutions-based approach used a range of activities to address and prevent social conflicts in some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable communities.

Residents in Nigeria’s northeastern states face a host of challenges – from poverty to violent extremist organizations like Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa – that continuously block their path to peace, inclusion and economic prosperity.

With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development and in close collaboration with grassroots organizations, the Northeast Connection program took a preventative and holistic approach to addressing the causes of violent conflict in the region.

By targeting localities that are vulnerable to violent extremist infiltration and conflict, but not yet under their influence, the Northeast Connection program strengthened community resilience by improving their ability to respond to emerging threats. This program aimed to mitigate the grievances that may erode social cohesion within and across communities in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states, and ultimately created a stronger foundation against violent extremist threats and other conflicts.

Northeast Connection’s solutions-based approach used a range of activities, including the increased involvement of youth in their communities through inter-community exchanges, leadership roles and efforts to address their sense of marginalization, as well as promoting positive roles for them in the community. In the same vein, the program actively engaged internally displaced persons, persons with disabilities and cultural minorities, among others, to increase their social bonds.

Recognizing women as key interlocutors in building community resilience to violent extremist organizations’ influence and infiltration, Northeast Connection designed specific programs to equip women to become vocal, positive leaders for peace and advancement. In addition, the program helped women to develop skills and obtain leadership roles to support survivors of violence and identify people at risk of recruitment into violent extremist organizations.

The project built effective working relationships between the Nigerian government at both the state and local levels and communities through a variety of activities, including forums and platforms that promote dialogue and access to government operations, such as providing input into governments’ development and social welfare activities or collaborating with state and national assembly representatives.

The Northeast Connection program developed opportunities for engagement between communities and security providers that built constructive relationships and productive civilian roles in managing security, working collaboratively in peace and security, early warning and early response efforts.

International Women’s Day 2021

March 8, 2021

8 min read

‘I see women coming out to demand equal rights and to speak about what happened to them, even after being attacked.’ Davita Andow, USAID/OTI Nigeria Early Recovery Initiative

International Women’s Day 2021: Voices from the Field

Rebecca Sewall, Gender Specialist for Creative Associates International:

While the global development community shows a more nuanced understanding of the dynamic relationship between women’s autonomy and their ability to contribute to development efforts, many practitioners continue to see the “value” of promoting women’s advancement only in terms of optimizing their contribution to larger development goals.

This position presumes that what is good for the economy or for “development” is also good for women – a presumption that is not always true. In line with this International Women’s Day theme, I want to #ChooseToChallenge this position, it is time we move away from asking what women can do for development and instead ask ourselves what development can do for women.

There are signals that this perception is starting to change, as the voices of women in Creative’s projects below attest. There are glimmers of hope that paying attention to women and gender in development is not just viewed as a means to an end, but an end in itself. Nearly 50 years after the passage of the Percy Amendment – which required that attention be given to integrating women into national economies to improve their status and to assist the overall development effort – it is time we focus on the other goal it was intended to achieve: Ensuring women are equal beneficiaries of development.

Florinda Puac, Community Facilitator Supervisor

USAID’s Peacebuilding Project, Guatemala

What do you want to see change for women in your context in the coming years?

The reality of women’s participation in community processes is very limited because they are generally invited to meetings or training activities on health, food security, food demonstrations, etc… topics closely linked to the gender roles that society has set for women. While of course these trainings have contributed to improving their health and nutrition, this still places them in a passive or information-gathering role. We saw in some community assessment processes that when people were consulted about women’s participation, it revealed that most people looked to assign women tasks unrelated to community development. These are things that have historically limited the substantive participation of women compared to the active role that men have played.

But the Peacebuilding Project (Tejiendo Paz in Spanish) is designed to change this paradigm because it identifies women as important actors in the analysis, approach and transformation of community conflicts together with other actors traditionally involved in decision-making. We work to give women a seat at the table in all our activities.

Habiba Suleiman, Business Development Manager at WACOT Rice Ltd.

Habiba inspects a rice paddy with a local farmer. Photo by: Rasheed Photography

Partner with the West Africa Trade and Investment Hub, Nigeria

What is your project’s biggest success or most inspirational moment related to gender inclusion?

We conducted preliminary meetings with farmers across the communities to inform them about the project and to seek their support in on-boarding new farmers. A young lady in her early 20s showed up [to our office] and we told her to wait for the interview in the next room, assuming she was there to be interviewed for a field officer role. After the [interview], she walks up to me to say that she came for the farmer meeting, as she was a rice farmer, too. I sat down with her and learned that on her own, she had raised funds and cultivated rice on half a hectare during the last season, and that she had employed laborers to work for her, yielding 25 bags in harvest. Her wit, bravery and commitment were beyond impressive, considering the fact that she was a graduate and could go seek a white collar job instead. I visited her farm and ensured she was on-boarded into the program. She came along with more women rice farmers too! This experience further reinforced for me the fact that women can do it all.

Lydia Onuoha, Deputy Chief of Party

USAID’s Northern Education Initiative Plus, Nigeria

Has there been a moment or experience that hit home for you the reason why more work needs to be done in the ongoing fight for gender equality? 

I came from a very large family with older uncles and cousins. Whenever there are events, everyone contributes some amount of money, usually prorated: the oldest pay more, regardless of gender. But when there are properties to be shared, women are left out and do not get a share of the family inheritance. I have never been given any share of my father’s property, but my younger brothers get very large shares. Land can never be distributed to women and this tradition has lasted for years. I keep wondering when this disparity and neglect will end. The struggle and campaign on gender equality have to be intensified.

I hope that in the not-too-distant future there will be a freedom of participation for women in community affairs, especially more women in decision-making spaces. Although today women’s participation in popular election positions has seen an increase, the participation of indigenous women is still very low. So I think it is as important as ever for us to raise awareness of men for this paradigm shift or stereotypes about the importance of the women in leadership positions.

Rehab David, NGO Capacity Building Officer/Gender Specialist

Northern Education Initiative Plus, Nigeria

What do you, both personally and professionally, hope to see change for women in your context looking ahead?  

I want to see a firm commitment to gender equality and female empowerment in education. I want to see more commitment and steps taken to overcome gender discrimination and to realize equal opportunities for women and men. I want to see more programs that increase women’s awareness of their rights and ability to advocate for themselves.

I want to see adolescent girls and youth get access to practical life skills training, trainings that will make them more aware of the options and services that are available to them and raise their expectations for their own lives. I want to see them empowered to speak up for themselves and make informed decisions. I want to see all barriers to education addressed and all girls mainstreamed into formal schools after graduating from non-formal learning centers.

Yajaira Hernandez, Gender Specialist

Yajaira gives a women’s health presentation in rural Honduras. Photo by: Victor Mercado

The Dry Corridor Alliance Project, Honduras

What is the greatest challenge you see for achieving women’s equality in your context?

An important aspect of my work is that women have for many years moved in and out of the working world even with children, but men still do not contribute to household tasks so that women can have more time to mobilize, participate in community affairs, become leaders and entrepreneurs. I work to slowly sensitize families to share responsibilities for domestic affairs.

The biggest challenge I see for women is access to resources. Globally, women only own 1 percent of property, rural women have access to land, the lack of bank loans for lack of guarantee continues to limit their participation in productive or income-generating work, conditioning them to domestic space, another major challenge is violence against women that is still a taboo or dare not denounce for fear or shame.

Hafsa Drissi Semlali, Program Coordinator

USAID’s Reading for Success – National Program for Reading, Morocco

What do you want to see change for women in your context in the coming years?

I was hired as an administrative assistant for another project with Creative, and that was the opportunity that eventually led to the leadership position I have now as a project manager. Having this chance to develop as a professional has made me more passionate to see the same for other women. So, what I really hope to see is more women in decision making positions. At the professional level, I see this gender inequality play out all the time. For example, there are more women working in our field, but in leadership roles there are still more men holding positions of power.

We work closely with teachers and most teachers are women. But when we hold workshops, it’s mostly men who show up and that’s because there are always more pressures on women to remain at home with their kids or families instead of traveling to these professional development trainings. As a mother myself, I understand those constraints. But I hope that in the future we can find ways to even this out and make accommodations so more women can take these important career steps.

Yelfign Ayenew Tesfahun, Cross Cutting Issues Coordinator

USAID READ II, Ethiopia

What is your project’s biggest success or most inspirational moment related to gender inclusion?

Based on a study we conducted in the Amhara region, we decided to ensure 30 percent of women leadership in the education sector. This is one of the remarkable results we achieved in government policy changes through evidence-based consultations.

The gender radio drama we produced and broadcasted to incite discussion is changing attitudes has shown also a very encouraging results. We have confirmed through an assessment study that the drama has helped girls and boys, parent and community to discuss gender related issues and the drama raised awareness on things considered taboo, such as girls’ menstruation, the responsibility of both boys and girls in sharing household chores, boys’ participation in the gender clubs, etc…

Another inspirational activity we have done is that while the project provided training to teachers, mothers who breastfeed their children were having trouble participating the trainings. The project provides childcare and place where the children can stay while the mothers participate in trainings, which has made a huge difference.

Patricia Vahanlé, Educational Leadership Officer

Vamos Ler! Mozambique

Why is it necessary to have women working in development?

It is important to have women working on development because they are intellectually equal to men and can contribute equally to the development of a country or society. I hope that in the future there will be a gender balance in hiring staff in both private and state organizations and that women can take advantage of opportunities on an equal footing with men. Many women miss opportunities because they have not been properly prepared or trained. That is why it is necessary to have a gender balance in training centers and universities.

It is necessary to make women aware from an early age that they can contribute to the development of the place where they live and the country in general.

On a personal level, my greatest success was having managed to reconcile family, work and training. The fact of being a mother, wife and worker did not prevent me from continuing my higher education. In this, I was the first of my family to complete a course in higher education. Today, I am an example for my older and younger brothers.

Four U.S.-Africa Trade and Investment Trends to Watch in 2021

March 3, 2021

5 min read

An essential component of the U.S. government’s strategy to strengthen its relationship with Africa is stimulating two-way trade and investment to foster economic growth in accordance with the Prosper Africa initiative. Despite considerable economic setbacks caused by the global pandemic, Africa presents immense economic potential with its rapid growth, both in terms of its population and commercial opportunities.

Under the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub, we have been fortunate to interact directly with business owners, financial leaders, government officials and other stakeholders during the past 16 months of the initiative’s implementation. Based on our discussions and overall observations from the private sector in West Africa, we expect these four trends to shape U.S.-Africa trade and investment relations in the months ahead.

AfCFTA will set the tone for trade relations

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is the world’s largest free trade area based on the number of countries participating. It is predicted to have a substantial effect on African economies and the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world, including the United States. Since it came into force on Jan. 1, it is a bit too early to declare the extent that AfCFTA will impact U.S.-Africa trade and investment. Nonetheless, it is expected to drive considerable benefits and set the tone for trade and investment relations.

AfCFTA covers a population of 1.3 billion people across 54 countries, representing a market worth $3.4 trillion in GDP. In addition to having the potential to lift millions out of poverty, the promise of improved regional trade has the potential to significantly expand the market for local producers and, in some cases, making businesses more attractive to foreign direct investment.

This free trade agreement also creates a vast market for goods and services from the United States. With the new U.S. administration tipped to focus on multilateralism in Africa, new initiatives are expected to be announced that accelerate and simplify two-way trade and investment. Some of these initiatives will be driven by AfCFTA’s enormous potential.

Increased U.S. investments into Africa’s private sector

Inevitably, COVID-19 will steer the economies of the world in 2021. We expect some of the predominant macro-economic trends from last year to continue, although mitigated compared with the height of the pandemic in 2020.

In Africa, disruptions to supply chains will linger, escalating cash flow problems for producers, suppliers and exporters. Unfortunately, this will lead to redundancies, job losses and business failures as access to finance becomes more expensive and harder to find. On the other hand, investment opportunities will increase because of these same cash flow problems. This situation could expedite the flow of foreign direct investments into Africa.

The Trade Hub, for instance, is facilitating the meeting of investors and local businesses to advance COVID-19 resilience by providing catalytic funding to de-risk and encourage such investments. We announced some of these catalytic deals, and more are in the pipeline. Worth millions of dollars, these co-investments are designed to drive and attract even more investments into West Africa during these difficult times.

Likewise, the U.S. government’s Prosper Africa initiative has leveraged the services and resources of 17 participating agencies to drive billions of dollars of investment in Africa. In support of Prosper Africa, USAID is launching an up to $500 million trade and investment program to facilitate more deals between U.S. and African businesses and to address trade and investment barriers. Such U.S. government-driven initiatives across Africa provide assurance that foreign direct investments will increase this year to buoy resilience and drive growth in the region.

More African SMEs will export to the United States

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) gives African countries a competitive edge by allowing duty-free exports for almost 7,000 products from Africa to the United States. It has created long-term, sustainable growth by stimulating the private sector and creating jobs in many African countries. It has also supported the growth of certain sectors in the region, such as garment manufacturing.

In 2020, about $3.72 billion worth of goods exported from Africa to the United States was facilitated through from AGOA. There is an opportunity to increase this value, given the U.S. consumer market consists of more than 328 million people with a purchasing power of $13 trillion.

However, one of the Trade Hub’s biggest challenges in its efforts to promote increased trade is finding export-ready producers.

To tackle the paucity of potential exporters, the Trade Hub’s export promotion team has worked with about a dozen small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to help them get export ready. SMEs create around 80 percent of Africa’s employment. By providing them with technical assistance on issues ranging from obtaining certification to packaging products, the Trade Hub aims to boost their growth potential. This has generated a lot of interest from different sectors in West Africa’s business ecosystem. We expect 20 to 40 SMEs across West Africa to benefit from these export promotion programs and that more companies will join the initiative once they see their counterparts succeed in scaling up thanks to AGOA export assistance.

Increased activities in climate, food security, and digitalization

Although global food prices have been stable, food inflation has risen at the retail level in many countries due to supply chain disruptions caused by COVID-19. Rising food prices have a greater impact in lower-income African countries because people spend a larger share of their income on food. At the same time, many families are grappling with lost or reduced earnings. Aside from pandemic-induced challenges, climate change threatens food production, particularly for subsistence farmers, who form a large portion of the population in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa.

With a new U.S. stance on climate, it is anticipated that U.S.–Africa trade and investment relations will increasingly feature climate smart solutions, especially those that tackle food security challenges and provide clean energy to improve access to electricity, which many Africans still lack .

Overall, digitalization is a cornerstone to solving access problems across the board, from easing regional trade to ending hunger. Apart from access, it is a highly productive sector with the potential to create jobs at scale, especially for young people. Private investments from the United States into Africa’s digital technology sector is already significant, so we expect this trend to continue as government participation increases in this enabling sector.

The impact of these trends will depend on many factors. Whatever the case may be, two-way trade and investment relations between the United States and Africa is shaping up for better times.

Michael Clements is the Chief of Party for the USAID-funded West Africa Trade & Investment Hub. He has diverse industry experience, including in agriculture, energy, information technology, manufacturing, and mining. Before joining the Trade Hub, Michael ran two investment development funds for Trademark East Africa.

The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of Creative Associates International and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the U.S. government or its programs such as Prosper Africa. Photos provided by WACOT Rice Ltd., a grantee of the Trade Hub in Nigeria.