KEY LEARNING POINTS
Develop a clear offer: Describe what
the program is bringing to the situation
that will support the development of a
sustainable system. Determining what
benefits can be expected by each
player and stating the role of the
facilitator in a clear manner are all part
of ―developing an offer.‖
Manage expectations and establish
credibility: It is critical to
communicate the vision of the desired
market and the part the facilitator will
play in achieving this. Managing
expectations helps the facilitating
organization establish its credibility.
KDSCP developed the credibility to
make an ‗offer‘ beyond the provision
of financial assistance through
patience and persistence, creative
approaches and an understanding of
the context.
Trigger demand for local services:
The local training supported by the
program has been seen to be more
relevant and appropriate to the local
industry‘s needs than most of the
training offered by international and
donor supported trainers since it is
responding to specific demands from
farmers and is provided by trainers
with experience in the local industry.
Assure attribution: The program has
been keen to assure attribution and
demonstrate that the measured
impacts resulted from the intervention,
rather than from other interventions
(perhaps by another agency), or from
something completely different.
Accept that this approach takes
time: The BDS approach is still a
relatively new approach of
implementing development programs.
The approach requires a long time to
deliver tangible outcomes -
demonstrated by the delays in startup
of KDSCP. The approach, that
involved service providers as the main
trainers, resulted in slow dissemination
of information to dairy farmers in some
milk sheds. Some of the service
providers also took a longer time than
expected to embrace farmer training
as an embedded service.
Consumers are the key: It is notable
that consumer research demands
resource commitment on the part of
the provider. Whilst it is critical in
regards to both maintaining and
improving the quality of services, it
does demand that providers recognize
their consumers as the only way of
sustaining their business.
Address real concerns: In order to
facilitate increases in the volumes of
milk traded within each milk shed,
KDSCP encouraged SBOs to mobilize
members. Many farmers had
previously preferred to deal directly
with the dairy processors owing to past
problems associated with farmer
groups – problems occasioned with
the collapse of the Kenya Cooperative
Creameries (KCC). Direct
interventions to redress this dynamic
was imperative. Livestock disease
outbreaks were also a real problem so
KDSCP facilitated training for dip
attendants.
Build local capacity and ownership:
The KDSCP model focuses on building
the required capacity in the market to
sustain improvements over time without
continued support. This also means
limiting any financial support in the short
term by demonstrating the value
proposition to actors from the beginning
of the interventions. But remember it
does take time for players to understand
the benefits and value especially if they
have been used to obtaining allowances
from other donor funded programs.
Empower local providers: Partner with
suppliers who understand consumer
interests. Technical training has
historically been provided by
development agencies and has therefore
primarily been supply led. The growth of
a local training industry has therefore
been constrained and distorted by the
supply of free training and training
attached to allowances and/or free
equipment. Empower local service
providers to understand program
methodologies such as business
development service provision and
market approaches.
Accept the costs of learning: This type
of program tries out new concepts and
pilots activities. So there must be
acceptance on the part of the donor that
some contracts may not deliver their
expected value with specified time
frames.
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