Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

Chapter 7. GAIN methodology to enhance producer organizations’ capacity for market integration 221

Figure 4. The GAIN iterative scheme for the development of the PO’s new vision (source: authors)

• INTERNAL NEEDS - What priority needs of the organization and its members can this new proposal meet?


• INTEGRATION - The principle of integration requires to consider how the PO’s members intend to link
  training needs, strengthening members’ capacity, access to means of production, and restructuring
  their governance to implement their new proposal.

This group exercise ends with the development of an action plan or roadmap in the form of a table with two
columns (short and medium term) and two lines (PO’s internal activities, and activities to be undertaken with
external support). The final part of the assessment workshop consists in the members of the group filling
out the table with the help of the facilitator, thus laying down the final development stage of the new vision.

The results of the group work on the vision are briefly presented and the next steps of the methodology
are explained to PO members in a plenary session that closes the assessment workshop.

A first report is prepared following the workshop and is used as the basis for the consultations that follow
with both current and potential partners as identified by PO members during the common vision exercise.

C. Consultations with partners

Key stakeholders who may be consulted have been identified during the assessment workshop.
These partners may represent a sample of all the current and potential partners. The outcome of the
consultations and monitoring with partners is reconciled with the new vision of the PO, while fully taking
into account the partners’ possibilities, opportunities and expectations, in order to elaborate the final
plan of action for the OP. These consultations will assess partners’ points of view and relations with the
PO while allowing them to outline their own strategies and requirements that may facilitate collaboration

A NEW VISION

GOVERNANCE

(member-centered)

NEEDS-BASED

(Acvies and

iniaves are

demand driven)

AUTONOMY

(financial; decision-

making)

INTEGRATION

(linking needs,

capacity, and access to

resources)

Road map to implement the

new proposal

SHORT TERM ACTIVITIES

(3 MONTHS)

MID TERM ACTIVITIES

(6 MONTHS)

EXCLUSIVELY BY THE PO

WITH EXTERNAL SUPPORT