Strengthening Farmers’ Organizations to Develop Sustainable Livelihoods

Challenge

In Niger, a $2.71 million grant to Fédération des Unions de Groupements Paysans du Niger (FUGPN-Mooriben) will improve the income, food security, and nutrition by strengthening grassroots POs and their unions, emphasizing women and youth as drivers of economic and social development.  

This project will carry out activities with a particular focus on capacity building related to responsible investment in agriculture and food systems, which includes improving farmers' organizations' access to value chains and financing. In particular, Mooriben will help strengthen farmers' capacities to invest and benefit from investments and to manage and undertake sustainable and resilient income-generating activities. To this end, the project will bring innovative technologies and an inclusive approach and will seek to support quality food system products that are competitive in local and national markets. Furthermore, it will seek to create and support employment for women, particularly young girls who are experiencing high migration to large urban centers. 

The project seeks to strengthen the capacity of POs so that they can help their members integrate the various linkages in the value chains, with respect for transparency, inclusion, and participation, particularly among women. The project will also enable FUGPN-Mooriben, the leading PO; to strengthen all participating POs members through a series of modules that will include a core curriculum on organizational management, leadership, governance, negotiations, financial management, accounting, and communications.  

Through this project, FUGPN-Mooriben will help each Union/PO to identify its own value chain initiative to undertake as an organization using the FAO inclusive value chain development approach or to improve initiatives currently being implemented by Unions or POs, particularly those focused on technological innovation and improving market access. Special attention will be given to women and youth who have fewer opportunities to access productive assets.