Inclusive Market Systems
Empowering People Through Sustainable Practices
Ecociate recognizes the need of establishing inclusive market systems within the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector. Strengthening local rural market systems, building peri urban market networks, linking farmers directly with consumers and forging linkages with private sector players, are some of the interventions that has added to our experience and understanding. We believe that a healthy planet and a thriving economy go hand-in-hand, and that everyone deserves to benefit from sustainable practices. Hence, crop, gender, geography, flora, and fauna etc. have naturally emerged as major inclusion pivots.
Inclusive Market Systems: Powering Change
Traditional market systems often exclude or disadvantage marginalized groups. Inclusive market systems, on the other hand, create opportunities for all. These systems ensure that the poor have access to required resources and skills to improve their livelihoods. That women can participate fully in economic activity, youth have a future filled with opportunity, ethnic minorities can contribute their unique talents and perspectives, marginalized groups are empowered to benefit from a thriving economy, remote geographies are duly incorporated in the design to gain from the initiatives, are few among other focus areas.
Ecociate’s Approach to Inclusive Markets
By fostering inclusive market systems within the AFOLU sector, Ecociate co-creates a path out of poverty and towards a more sustainable future. We achieve this by:
Investing to understanding the local context: We invest to understand specific needs and challenges faced by local communities and relevant stakeholders.
Strategizing Strengthening of Value Chains: We connect producers with markets, ensuring fair prices and access to resources.
Leveraging Technology and innovations: We follow contemporary technology and innovations in the ecosystem and leverage to create more efficient and equitable system that is accessible to a greater set of communities.
Developing Marketing Strategies for Community-Based Organizations: We equip local organizations with the strategies and implementation tools to address and overcome market and marketing related challenges.
Building Capacity for Long Term Success
Ecociate doesn’t just create solutions, we strive to empower others to design them. We have designed customized capacity-building programs that equips farmers, communities and organisations with the skills to run successful businesses, to effectively serve their communities, and to design and implement impactful programs.
Our Partnerships
Ecociate works with leading organizations like GIZ, FAO, IDH, WWF India, Swissaid India, and The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) etc. to develop and deliver inclusive market system solutions. We are part of the ecosystem that is striving towards creating a world where everyone can benefit from a sustainable and inclusive AFOLU sector. Join us in building a future where nature and people thrive together.
Ecociate’s Projects on Inclusive Market Systems
1. Market study and business plans development for potential enterprises in semi-urban clusters – CARE-India, Tamil Nadu
The Resilience, Entrepreneurship, and Livelihoods Improvement (RELI) Project, succeeding the Nuton Jibon Livelihood Improvement Project (NJLIP), received approval in May 2021. This project aims to expand livelihood improvements for 750,000 rural individuals in 20 districts across 3,200 villages over five years, with a budget of USD 300 million. In collaboration with FAO, it focuses on enhancing nutrition outcomes, particularly through the distribution of vegetable seeds for kitchen gardens (USD 5.8 million) under Subcomponent A.3 Health and Nutrition.
Another initiative, the Chhattisgarh Inclusive, Rural, and Accelerated Agriculture Growth (CHIRAAG) project, seeks to increase income opportunities and improve nutrition availability in Chhattisgarh’s tribal areas, addressing high poverty and malnutrition rates. This project adopts a Nutrition-Supportive Agriculture approach, promoting household nutrition through activities such as kitchen garden promotion, behaviour change communication, and women’s empowerment under Subcomponent 1.2 Household Food Availability and Nutrition Practices. FAO wished to prepare a brief knowledge piece on kitchen garden intervention with the following objectives.
Objectives
The goal was to provide a succinct knowledge piece, outlining kitchen garden interventions in South Asian investment projects, especially in India and Bangladesh, while considering other relevant countries. It would summarize lessons learned, including integration benefits and challenges. Furthermore, it would present recommendations for enhancing kitchen garden initiatives within RELI and CHIRAAG, focusing on improving input packages for the most vulnerable beneficiaries with a priority on nutrition.
Approach and Methodology
We compiled key insights into home and kitchen gardens, combining primary data from consultations with project implementers, technical experts, and community representatives involved in homestead gardening initiatives in India and Bangladesh. Our discussions included Odisha-State Rural Livelihood Mission representatives, Bihar Rural Livelihood Promotion Society, GIZ’s Securing Nutrition and Enhancing Nutrition (SENU) project, RELI project, FAO in Bangladesh, and kitchen garden and nutrition experts. We supplemented this primary data with an extensive review of literature, encompassing publications, reports, project documents, and assessment reports related to home and kitchen gardening. We used both primary and secondary data to draw meaningful conclusions. Additionally, we organized a brainstorming session to compare and evaluate insights from various homestead gardening projects, enhancing our theoretical framework.
Results
The outcomes of our efforts encompass a comprehensive understanding of Kitchen Garden Interventions within investment projects across South Asia, with a specific focus on India and Bangladesh. Importantly, we’ve formulated recommendations tailored to the RELI and CHIRAAG initiatives, emphasizing enhancements to the current input package to better address the needs of the most vulnerable beneficiaries while prioritizing nutrition considerations.