Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

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Chapter 7. GAIN methodology to enhance producer organizations’ capacity for market integration 245


Choosing umbrella organizations and selecting participants


Producer organizations targeted by the GAIN methodology must have an economic function and
current or potential relationships with the market, and their members must be able to not only produce
but also process and market their products.



  • The degree of formality of the structure may vary, but some form of association must exist between
    the members (or grassroots groups) even if it is partial, limited or informal;

  • Once the PO is identified, the selection of participants for the GAIN workshop must reflect the
    various components of the organization, including an adequate representation of women members,
    a representation of major crops, value chains or income-generating activities, as well as a balanced
    representation between management and simple PO members;

  • This level of representation must bring about a wide contribution to the assessment and ensure that
    the results of assessment workshop take into account the sensitivities of all the PO members (and not
    exclusively those of management).


Local support for the implementation of GAIN



  • The conduct of the assessment workshop requires an intensive group effort and hence the need to
    mobilize sufficient resources to succeed. In addition to the main facilitators (minimum 3), the ap-
    proach requires the same number of translators, rapporteurs and administrative and logistical support.
    It is often more efficient to team up with a local partner organization (NGO) that has or can mobilize
    the necessary human resources, knowledge and field experiences with the PO to ensure the proper
    conduct of the GAIN assessment when it is initiated by an extra-national (e.g. FAO).

  • Two activities are necessary prerequisites before starting the GAIN assessment, once the local NGO is
    identified and the list of people to mobilize is established. The first is to provide training for the team
    of facilitators (initiator and local NGO). This training includes both the philosophy and principles of
    GAIN in its various steps and procedures. During this training, the emphasis is on the leading role of
    PO members that will have precedence in the GAIN assessment workshop process. The organizers
    only play a facilitator role to guide the discussions and deliberations between PO members.

  • The second preliminary step is conducted by the local NGO with the PO to:

    • have a better knowledge of the organization and understand members activities;

    • present the objectives and expectations of the assessment workshop and the active role that
      PO members are to play in its conduct;

    • establish a list of participants in the PO on the above listed criteria;

    • assess translation needs and the choice of methodological tools based on the selected
      participants’ capabilities and the geographical context of the workshop.



  • The logistics of the workshop should be carefully prepared by the local NGO in collaboration
    with the initiator (FAO), taking into account the requirements for a three-day workshop with
    30 participating members and a team of six animators / facilitators, three rapporteurs and three
    translators (depending on local language requirements).


Whichever way the GAIN methodology is used, it is important to remember that the first precondition
is that the organization and its members have to truly want change and, secondly, that the local
environment offers opportunities for growth. The impact of this methodology on institutional change
processes and ultimately small farmers’ livelihoods depends on the energy and resources that they
can mobilize within their organizations and then with partners. Although the environment plays an
important role, change can only come from within and from grassroots members through a process of

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