Delivering Business Development Services to Rural Areas
Regional workshop, 21-25 September 2009
Download: Call for papers (PDF) | Registration form (MS Word)
Please return completed forms to Jennifer.Karuguru@practicalaction.or.ke
Practical Action working in Eastern Africa with financial support from the Ford Foundation is organizing a 5-day workshop be held 21-25 September 2009 in Nairobi. The theme of the workshop will be Stimulating and Delivering Effective and Sustainable Business Development Services to Rural Areas , with particular emphasis on services for smallholder farmers.
Sustainable service provision is a component of rural enterprise and value chain development that received considerable attention earlier this decade. This workshop aims to review past and current rural Business Development Services (BDS) experiences in East and Southern Africa - and elsewhere - to identify best practices and share lessons learnt in the sector. This is expected to contribute to rural value chain and livelihood development strategies and programmes across the region.
The principal objective of the workshop is to share among a selected group of development practitioners, private-sector service providers and experts, their collective experience in the delivery of sustainable BDS to poor rural communities. The achievements and challenges presented by the participants will be used as the basis for identifying good practice and obstacles to BDS delivery at the community, institutional and policy levels. The case studies will also contribute to the development of a strategy for a programme in East and Southern Africa that builds capacity in this area among enterprise development practitioners.
The conference format will include facilitated themed sessions for academic and practitioner presentations together with interactive workshops and discussion panels. Additionally, the conference will provide excellent networking opportunities.
Some of the key questions that the workshop will address include:
- What services are farmer enterprises willing to pay for?
- What types of organizations are delivering BDS and what are the advantages and disadvantages of various providers?
- Which providers are most effective in delivering services and what are the most efficient means of service delivery?
- Are there services that can be provided within the community by community members?
- How sustainable are different models of BDS delivery?
