In the Tanzanian Bush

We were discussing how grateful we were that it wasn’t the rainy season when the offshoot path from the main road would have been impassable. Perhaps, we should have knocked on wood. A few minutes later, we found ourselves stuck deep in a muddy section of the cleared bush several kilometers “off the beaten track.” No traction could be gained no matter how hard the driver pressed on the accelerator. If anything, the vehicle was sinking deeper with each attempt to propel out, almost comparable to attempting to break free from a constrictor’s grip (alright, not quite that comparable). As villagers passed by on foot or bike, they dropped their buckets of water, machetes, or whatever other livelihood or household-related good was in their arms and proceeded to help dig out the vehicle from the mud. In the end, 9 village members had banned together, and three hard attempts and 10,000 Tanzanian shillings later, the vehicle was pushed out and parked before the mud pit. To avoid the risk of plunging back in, we continued on by foot. As we approached the village, we heard several women singing in Swahili at a high tempo. They approached us one by one with massive smiles spread across their faces, shaking our hands with the traditional 3-grip movement as they welcomed us into their village.  The laughing, dancing, and singing continued through the coconut tree “forest” and through the village until we reached the place of their weekly meeting. I suddenly felt as if we were lone travelers who had lost our way and had suddenly come upon a lost society that had decided to take us in. It was sort of an Indiana Jones moment….but, not really.

The optimism of the savings group members we’ve met this past week doesn’t cease to amaze me. Their song and dance help them to forget their hunger and other daily struggles. They feel empowered as they adopt ways to carve out a better future for themselves and their families. This is especially the case in Lindi region, where poverty and food insecurity are far more prevalent. As I visited villages, I was taken aback by the sight of starved children with massive tummies, evidencing the intense malnourishment. Savings groups in these villages were some of the youngest in the program we were evaluating, and much of the greater program’s interventions hadn’t yet reached this region due to low population density, highly dispersed villages, and extremely poor infrastructure.

CBSG group in Masasi District celebrates their first shareout



Heading into a CBSG meeting



Client of a savings group

Child of a savings group client in Lukuledi District, Lindi

Where the program’s interventions and outputs had had sufficient time to mature, the impact was inspiring and noteworthy. Men and women came together into groups, met and saved each week, accessed loans that supported their livelihoods, agriculture production, paying of school fees for their children, and purchasing materials to build a new or improve an existing home. These were the most common purposes for credit. Concluding each 12 month cycle, savings (the deposit handled as a purchase of value-assigned share(s)) are added up with the interest paid on loans, and members celebrate the momentous shareout of the accumulated funds through festivities comprised of music, song, dance, and an extravagant meal of pilau, meat, and potatoes. It is the day, especially after the first cycle, that a member has held the most amount of money he or she has ever seen in a lifetime. It is long-awaited and enthusiastically anticipated, as if a lottery-winning moment. Members use the massive wad of cash towards bulkier purchases that they would never have been able to save up for had they not been members of the group. Some used the cash to purchase a small plot of land for agriculture production, while others applied the fund to start a microbusiness, or again, invest in constructing a new home altogether. We were fortunate to have some of our group meetings coincide with shareout festivities. We were invited to give speeches and take part in the memorable event that I will cherish for a long time to come. On one occasion, after I was introduced as being from the United States, the Tanzanian music instantly transitioned to Rihanna and Akon’s newest hits. I watched with so much enthusiasm as village children got down and dirty to the beats. It was incredibly adorable! My translator colleague, Alfred, whispered to me, “I think they’re trying to make you feel more at home by playing these songs from your country.” I was, to say the least, amused.



Children getting down in Masasi District at shareout festivities



CBSG members



Fishing in Mnazi Bay during the low tide





Big brother brings his brother along to enjoy in the dancing festivities




Shy to dance





Shareout in Kilwa District



Almost stranded

During Mtwara visits, each night required a different accommodation. We felt like nomads traversing through southern Tanzania. We typically had no access to food during the day and energized off of water, warm soda, and cashew nuts or bananas bought along the roadside. I was glad to reach Lindi and learn that I would have the main town as my central base for the subsequent 4 days of visits. It’s difficult to cohesively weave the many experiences and unique events, traditions, and people I met along the way. One person who comes to mind is the Italian-Ethiopian man from Rome, who moved to Tanzania 20 years ago for what he anticipated would be a 6 month getaway. He fell in love with a mountain top of Lindi town and opened a small guesthouse offering some of the best Italian food I’ve had in a while. Every time I passed through, he would say, “Ah, Luxury, my dear! Come see me tomorrow, and I will make a pizza for you. No charge!” I didn’t have the heart to correct him.

Well, I’ve returned to Dar as of this morning, and what a contrast. But, I will stop here. It’s time to get back to my assignment.  Over and out. ;)



Boresha Maisha! Weka Akiba! (Keep Saving! Making Life Better!)

Life is once again moving at a faster pace than I can keep up with, especially through blog posts! Let’s hit the pause button on the narrative of my recent travels through the western Balkans and head straight into my latest, most spontaneous adventure to date, at least with regard to work. I was aware as early as September that a trip to Tanzania in October was possible. We had submitted our bid, waited patiently, and come October 1st, hadn’t yet heard back from the client on the assignment scheduled to begin that very day. Come Thursday, October 4th, after a few joyous moments of celebration having learned that my proposal had won the competition, the panic and chaos roared in as we were subsequently notified that my colleague and I were required to be on a plane that weekend for our first meeting in Dar es Salaam the following Monday morning. With a pending presentation on microfinance and inclusive economic growth to be given that Saturday morning in Baltimore, it became unfathomable. Airline tickets were bought in a rush on Friday afternoon just before close of business, and after some negotiation with the client and delivery of my presentation, we found ourselves on the first plane out to Dar Sunday morning. And, well, here we are, on day three of our month long consultancy.


It has been over four years since I last visited Sub-Saharan Africa, and I have missed it dearly. I deboarded the Emirates flight with tremendous enthusiasm to be back in Africa, Tanzania, and always, “the field.” My colleague and I are here to conduct a midterm evaluation of a community-based savings group project that is a part of a larger program to enhance the quality of life and social wellbeing of households in Lindi and Mtwara regions through sustainable socio-economic interventions in food security, income generation, health, and education. Have I lost you yet? To put it simply, access to finance and reliable livelihoods in the poorest regions of Tanzania (Lindi and Mtwara) was practically nonexistent until the commencement of this program. As an introductory step to increasing the access to financial services for the poor living in these rural, quite disconnected parts of the country, informal savings groups are being established throughout the regions to promote a savings habit, financial literacy, social cohesion, and access to credit that is primarily invested into expanding small businesses and agriculture production. There are several methodologies in practice today to promote similar groups, the most common being Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLA), the model we are assessing on this assignment, and Savings for Change (SfC). Our assignment entails conducting a qualitative and quantitative analysis of these groups and assessing whether these truly have increased access to finance in a sustainable way for the poor, understanding in what ways membership has impacted lives, assessing and then advising on the potential for self-replicability of savings groups, and finally assessing and helping devise means to create synergies between this and other livelihood/agriculture programs in the region.




Children of clients in Masasi District in Mtwara






A savings group meeting in Masasi District, Mtwara






Female savings group member in Tandahimba District, Mtwara



Child in Tandahimba District, Mtwara

Savings group models are quite simple and typically involve groups with 15-25 members, who are required to establish a governance committee and meet once a week to engage in small financial transactions --- savings deposits and loan disbursements. All transactions are recorded in individual passbooks, and funds are kept in a box secured by three locks, for which three different keys are kept with three different group members exclusive to the governance committee. All transactions are done with particular transparency in front of all members as each individual transaction is announced multiple times to the group. Though simple, this model has truly changed lives by building the financial literacy and confidence of members. Through small loans and the cash received at the end of each annual cycle through the payout of shares, members have had the means to send their children to school, build a new home, and as I learned today, even purchase small plots of land to grow produce and supplement their household income. It is absolutely fantastic. Irrespective of how many savings groups I’ve observed in my career, I can never tire of seeing how well some of these groups function and the positive impact they have on the lives of the poor, especially women. I adore the welcome songs, dancing, and clapping we are greeted by and sent off with, and the exchange of smiles and handshakes meant to strike a sincere human connection.

Savings group in Masasi District, Mtwara



Waiting for his turn to deposit savings






Child of a cashew growing client waits for the meeting to end



Money counters each count and announce all funds

Children in Mtwara town



How adorable is she? Another child in Mtwara town






One of two male clients in a savings group in Mtwara town






My colleague showing clients their photos on his iPad!






Another client in Mtwara



Mtwara and Lindi are located along the southeastern coast of Tanzania and considered the poorest regions in the country, largely due to lack of infrastructure and investment. The region is most known for its production of cashew nuts, sesame, and rice in which most households are engaged. Newly discovered offshore deposits have recently attracted oil companies to drill and extrapolate this high demand commodity. This has led to the advent of recent construction of tarmac roads (a few) and a bridge that now connects the two sides of the Rufiji River, a once impassable obstacle during the rainy seasons that further limited the transportation of goods, services, and people. Still, our field work these last few days and for another week more continue to take us down dusty, bumpy dirt roads through sparsely populated remote areas with irregular access to electricity to reach our target areas. How I truly do miss the Hotel Serena in Dar es Salaam at this moment! But, as much as accommodation admittedly does stress me out, particularly difficult bathroom situations and the balancing acts that ensue, field work is where my heart is. It is where I find the most happiness and satisfaction. It really is where my livelihood most becomes my soul food.


Stay tuned for more updates and lessons we are learning out here, of course, access to internet permitting!

And another client in Mtwara



Treasurer of a group



The gorgeous Indian Ocean in Mtwara

Black Mountain of the Adriatic Coast

We had been traveling for nearly two weeks down the Adriatic Coast, beginning our adventure in the Croatian capital city of Zagreb, and from there, moving inland to hike through the seven richly hued blue and green lakes of Plitvice National Park, before finally reaching Zadar, the first of many port towns, from where our coastal journey would continue. The western Balkans is another phenomenal region of the world with such a rich and dynamic yet haunting history, due in large part to the war that led to the dissolution of former Yugoslavia. The region was tenuously pinned together under Tito’s Communist rule, and upon his death, the complex ethno-religious frictions that had been brewing for decades erupted into ten long wartime years --- the War in Slovenia in 1991, the Croatian War for Independence from 1991-1995, the Bosnian War from 1992 to 1995, and the Kosovo War  from 1998-1999.  The wars largely pit the Serbs fighting for a Greater Serbia on one side against the Croats and Bosniaks on the other, but these alliances blurred quite often as the wars crossed borders. The wars rose to notoriety as the first classified as genocidal since World War II and with an overall death toll estimated at 140,000.  While physical and psychological remnants of the war were apparent during our travels, varying, of course, from country to country, most individuals we spoke with seemed to prefer to memorialize their heroes while avoiding dwelling on their violent and dark past. From the literal ashes of war, six new countries --- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Montenegro, and Serbia --- and two autonomous provinces --- Kosovo and Vojvodino --- became recognized. Reconstruction has come a long way in the form of restorations of the charming Old Towns or ‘Stari Grad’ of the port towns, a revived tourism industry, and flourishing wine countries. And, Montenegro, the smallest of these new nations located on the Balkan Peninsula, has come to be known as the pearl of the Mediterranean.

 
Montenegro is a tiny but gorgeous country sized at 14,000 square kilometers and with a population of an approximate mere 676,000. We started our journey from Dubrovnik in southern Croatia by car, and due to the odd borders established around the new nations, were required to go into Bosnia and back into Croatia before crossing into the official borders of Montenegro. We took a ferry on our way into the country to cross the Kotor Bay, which was absolutely gorgeous. Its edges are lined by the many little towns surrounding the bay, studded with church spires and cathedral domes. We passed through many of these gorgeous little towns, the bay on one side and seemingly black mountains towering on the other, before reaching our base for the three days in-country. Sveti Stefan is a charming town, famous for its namesake island resort connected to the mainland by a guarded isthmus. The island was once a fisherman’s town before it was converted into a high-end retreat frequented by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren. During the war, the island lost its luster as an “Adriatic playground” and was only recently reopened as a part of the luxury Aman Resorts. On our last night in the town, we treated ourselves to a fine dinner at the island’s only restaurant and enjoyed some of the most delicious red wines of the region that accompanied our meal of lamb chops, fig spread with focaccia, cheese-stuffed peppers, and seafood stew. It was divine!

 

 

Sveti Stefan Island

We lost nearly a day of our trip when the rare event of a thunderstorm struck the coast. Our plans to visit the quaint town of Cetinje were scratched as we remained harbored in a traditional Montenegrin restaurant with lit candles, hot chocolate, and all! As the rain subsided by the afternoon, we made our way to the towns of Budva and Kotor. Like all the port towns of the Adriatic coast, these, too, have charming, fortified old towns full of little stores selling trinkets, restaurants in cobblestoned squares, and churches. Kotor was certainly our favorite. Overlooking its port and old town is the Illyrian Fort, lodged and well-camouflaged into the mountainside. It was an impressive architectural feat.

Ancient Venetian Fortifications of Kotor

Door inside the Kotor Stari Grad

Cathedral of Saint Tryphon- Kotor's Landmark

Restored painting from the Cathedral
 

One of many interesting depictions of the crucified Christ

Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint Nicolas

 

 

Church of Saint Mary

A local of Kotor

An unusual depiction of la Pieta

Atop the jagged mountains surrounding the coastal towns of Montenegro are several churches, both new and old. As we visited some of these on our final day, we enjoyed some of the most spectacular panoramic views of Sveti Stefan and the Adriatic coast. On our way back to Dubrovnik, we visited the smaller towns of Perast and Risan full of Roman ruins and magnificent villas built by the captains of the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Seven dazzling little islands dot the water of Kotor Bay --- Saint Marco (Sveti Marko), the island of Mamula, the island of Our Lady of the Rock (Gospa od Skrpjela), Saint George (Sveti Djordje), the island of Milosrdja, the island of Flowers (Ostrvo Cveca), and the smallest island of little Mother of God (Mala Gospa). These islands and the Durmitor Mountain give us plenty of reason to revisit this less discovered gem of a country.

 

 

Church of Sveti Sava

A view of the Montenegrin Adriatic Coast

One of many old palaces in Kotor

Boat in the Bay of Kotor

 

 

Our last night in the western Balkans was spent in lovely Dubrovnik but with heavy hearts. We were sad to leave the beautiful Adriatic and the peace and calm that came with it. Upon return to the States, it was back to a reality that hit hard when I awoke the following morning to not find the shining Adriatic Sea outside my bedroom window. ‘til we meet again!

Charming Sveti Stefan

 

A Gypsy of Kashmir

Last year in May, I blogged about one of the most captivating life experiences I’ve been blessed with to date. I spoke of the charms and many magical folds of this so-called ‘Land of the Gods’ and was in a photographer’s delirium of delight due to the overwhelming beauty, in both personal features and those of its landscape, the sort that is hypnotic and draws the viewer in, causing one to lose one's self in a surreal world of bliss while at the same time accentuating one's sense of existence.

One photo of a gypsy man I had taken in the mountains of Pahalgam visually captures it all. I was thrilled to learn that this photo will be published in Artists Wanted’s upcoming publication, Exposure.  Check back here for the release date.

A Gypsy of Kashmir



Hillary Clinton's Visit

Yes, you read correctly. But no, I did not get the what-I-imagine-would-be-fabulous opportunity to meet her myself. In May of this year, DAI won a USAID-funded contract to deliver the program, Integrating Nutrition into Value Chains, a three-year effort in Malawi with the goal to enhance food security and nutrition and reduce rural poverty through an agriculture-led, integrated economic growth and nutrition strategy. The INVC program is expected to:

1. Increase the competitiveness of select agricultural value chains, especially food staples, to mitigate food insecurity and increase incomes of the rural poor;

2. Facilitate improvements in productivity (land, water, labor), through soil and water management practices (taking long-term stress due to climate change into account);

3. Reduce chronic undernutrition;

4. Foster innovation and adaptive technologies and techniques that improve agricultural value chain competitiveness and nutritional outcomes, while increasing participation of the poor in agriculture-led growth; and

5. Develop the capacity of local organizations and systems to promote sustainability and climate change resilience.

In basic terms, the program is expected to increase the efficiency of the legumes and dairy sectors all the way from production (the field) to consumption (our mouths) with the aim of producing better quality produce, expanding employment along the value chains, and increasing incomes of the smallholder producers, 73% of who live below the $1.25 a day poverty line. The program will also promote a third value chain --- groundnut. Through the promotion of nutritious crop production and biofortification, the program also aims to improve household access to diverse and nutritious foods and nutrition-related behaviors that will reduce child-stunting and malnutrition in Central Malawi. On my second day on the job, this fascinating program was added to my technical management portfolio, and I look forward to heading to the program site in the near future. Malawi’s newest president, Joyce Banda, attended the program launch in early June, and last week, we had the pleasure of hosting Hillary Clinton at one of the program sites during her whirlwind 5-country tour in Sub-Saharan Africa. The full story is below, or click here to access it on the DAI website.

Secretary of State Clinton Lauds Malawi Dairy Milk Bulking Group

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week praised a community managed dairy enterprise in Malawi that is strengthening small farmers to increase their incomes and communities to live more nutritiously.

“For the past decade, the United States has been supporting Malawi’s dairy sector, including this center,” Clinton said during a stop at the Lumbadzi Milk Bulking Group. “And thanks to your work and the support we have given you, Malawi’s milk production has increased 500 percent. Thousands of farmers have benefited.”

The Lumbadzi center—supported by the Malawi Milk Producers Association (MMPA)—is being upgraded and strengthened further through the recently launched Feed the Future’s Integrating Nutrition in Value Chains (INVC) project, a three-year effort implemented by DAI and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). As part of her visit, Clinton donated Emanuel, a purebred dairy bull to contribute to the community’s dairy cattle breeding program.

“These kinds of projects might not always get the kind of attention that they deserve, but they are making a difference in the lives of so many men and women and children here in Malawi,” Clinton said. “We can point to lives we have saved and changed, and in the long run, I am so proud of that, because that’s what matters.

“Government-to-government relations are, of course, very important, and historically, traditionally, that’s what we’ve worked on. But in the 21st century, it’s people-to-people relations. It is how we reach out and get to know somebody and build relationships and learn and then perhaps help if possible.”

The INVC project is led by DAI in partnership with Save the Children and Michigan State University. The team is taking a comprehensive, market-driven approach to support the dairy, groundnuts, and soya value chains and increase the competitiveness of related farms, firms, and industries. By integrating agricultural investments with nutritional programming, INVC is enhancing agricultural productivity, agro-enterprise profitability, and nutritional outcomes for 275,000 households over three years.

“We want to help agriculture in Malawi get even stronger, so that all the children will have better lives,” Clinton said. “And I particularly thank the women farmers for their hard work, and their families, their husbands, and their children for being part of this successful program.”

A forum to converse on International Agriculture and Rural Development

I, along with two of my colleagues, recently became the newest (and very proud) members of the Association for International Agriculture and Rural Development (AIARD). To join the plethora of associations and working groups in Washington, DC, AIARD brings together professionals from the public and privates sectors and academia to set learning agendas and create a forum for learning exchange on topics related to agriculture, food security, nutrition, and everything in between. The association is entirely run on a voluntary basis, and this year, I’m thrilled to share that my boss was elected President; the gavel was literally passed on during this year’s annual conference, held last month in DC.

The 48th annual conference was titled, “Priorities for Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development,” a very pertinent topic that has infiltrated both donor and practitioner agendas in the last couple of years. As stated in the conference opening, “The current thinking of many development agencies around the world has been to include poor households as a target for development and keep the focus on using market-led approaches. While these two development objectives are not mutually exclusive, most current development activities either focus on the poor, where scale and market inclusion are a challenge, or focus on value chain development, which does not meaningfully include the participation of resource-poor households.” Practitioners are increasingly researching and attempting to design programs that incorporate approaches that are “market-based” yet inclusive of marginalized populations such as those of so-called ‘low caste’ and women, among others. Another link that practitioners have attempted to strengthen is that between agriculture development and food security and again, between food security and nutrition. Even in May of this year, prior to the G8 Summit, President Obama encouragingly spoke to the importance of global agriculture and its link to food security and has complemented his Feed the Future initiative with the newly announced (and very aptly named) New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. There are some very obvious and very pertinent trends here that AIARD integrated into its agenda this year.

Inclusive Agriculture and Rural Development. As we engage in programming to increase incomes and strengthen economies, market-based solutions are key to sustainable economic growth. Development should not be seen as charity; rather, it must be stimulated and then perpetuated through the extension or transformation of existing market systems that anchor new approaches and systemic changes. On that note, over half of the world’s population is comprised of women, who must be taken into account when promoting workforce development, job creation, and market development. The potential is immense. Women and marginalized populations do not and should not rely on charity; rather, they must be integrated into the system just as you and I are in the countries and economies that we are fortunate to work in. Provided with the right skills, equal opportunity, financing, voice, greater control of assets, and greater decision-making power, the potential for women, youth, and the poor to contribute to economic growth is spectacular. I almost feel I’m perpetuating a negative construct by categorizing women with the marginalized in my writing and ponder this as I write proposals and design program interventions that seem to do the same. I would like to move away from this practice, and this means changing perceptions of women, and simply seeing them as people too.

Market-based also means realizing the importance of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and private sector investment to spur sustainable economic growth. Unfortunately, the sorts of such partnerships that appear to be most prevalent in high potential developing economies, such as those in Africa, are focused on extraction of resources with very little wealth, if any, being reinvested into the local economy. Particularly in rural economies, PPPs should focus investment in inclusive agriculture development that boosts local economies, while also securing household food security. Making markets work for the poor means making markets work for all!

Integrating Nutrition and Agriculture. Promoting agriculture development and the production of crops that not only have high income potential, both domestically and for export markets, but are also nutritious and can enhance food security and nutritional status is an increasingly obvious priority, but one that is rarely remembered. USAID’s Feed the Future initiative aims to embed food security and nutrition into its programming, which is a major stride in this area. To achieve this, women, again, need to be integrated into production, sales, and household-level programming that increases their access to all pertinent resources (e.g., water, land, credit). Production and livelihoods should be diversified, with production focusing on more nutrient-dense foods. As discussed in a post on Bangladesh in May, reducing post-harvest losses through improved technologies and improving processing to retain the highest nutritional value is immensely important. Finally, increasing market access and opportunities to all -- the inclusive factor -- will help individual and overall economies and greatly reduce the seasonality of food insecurity.

Agriculture programs can help improve access to diverse and quality foods, but increased nutrition requires complementary health services that will promote improved utilization of food and maternal and child care practices. The complementarity of high nutrition crops, increased dietary intake of these nutritious foods (rather than selling the whole harvest), increased agricultural incomes, improved nutrition knowledge and practice, and improved policy coordination are critical to the successful integration of nutrition and agriculture development.

Back in the Bang

I've just returned from a two and a half week "recon" to Bangladesh, my second in just over a month's span. "I don't envision you traveling much," said my boss upon my signing an employment contract that stated at least 30% travel in my scope of work. Already at a 50% travel rate two months into my employment, I think, "ha!" and am very pleased -- exhausted, at the moment -- but, pleased. And, how opportune that food should feed into dual interests, a personal one that now literally feeds the professional one.  I would never have imagined that I would end up working in a field that literally now takes me into fields and requires me to understand farming and livestock rearing. My Appappa worked for Sri Lanka's Department of Agriculture, and traveled wide and far in the country for his livelihood, and in at least once instance, to India at the time of my Appa's birth.  I would have never guessed in a million years that my profession and interests, particularly in this day and age, would boil to this, and well, here I am, focusing largely (though, not entirely) on market development and production for agriculture. Funny how, in the most unexpected way, we've now come full circle. I wonder what Appappa would have had to say to that. When I was a little girl on one of our trips to Jaffna town, where my Appa's family had finally settled, Amma told me that Appappa took me -- and only me -- in his dusty quaint car to visit our heritage village of Vattakotai. I haven't been back since. O, the conversations we would have enjoyed on those car rides if we could do them now!

The Feed the Future solicitation for Bangladesh to which we are responding is a complex but absolutely fascinating one. The goal of the project is to 'improve food security through strengthened agriculture value chains over a five year period.  To do this requires achievement of several, interlinked outcomes: 1) enhance the economic functions, skills, and production capacity of small holder farmers, women, youth, and the poor along several value chains in Bangladesh; 2) sustainably link these actors to strengthened markets and support services such as appropriate financing or producer group building/strengthening; and 3) promote innovation and research for agriculture-related technology and increase private sector investment into and value addition of agricultural products.  To expand and enhance the market for select sub-sectors (e.g., floriculture, vegetables, coir products, jute), the awardee will also be expected to work with agro-processors, manufacturers, and retailers to strengthen their ability to respond to the demands of a growing middle class market and potential export markets.  All of this will hopefully result in higher financial returns all the way down to the producer household level.  The key cross-cutting component, improving nutritional messaging and practices, will help translate increased income and the production of more nutritious crops into the practical act of consuming these foods, contributing to the overall health of all members in a household.  It will undoubtedly be a challenging program to execute, but to effect change of this breadth and scale for so many lives from the farm to the marketplace would be a very rewarding and humbling experience. 

The competition to win is incredibly intense, and other 'contractors' and their partner agencies have also deployed teams of employees and consultants, who are also scrambling across Bangladesh to gather 'intelligence,' fortify relationships with key partners, and court key staff to assemble winning teams for a winning bid. I don't miss the vulture-like behavior that is a natural reaction to the tendering process; there is a certain thrill in being a part of it that is exhilerating and exhausting all at the same time. Agencies, as per the 'intelligence' that is gathered over years, will budget as much as a quarter of a million dollars' investment towards winning contracts like this one and begin preparation for a bid based on surmise as per country strategies. Once the solicitation is released, the roller coaster ride begins, and all one can do is gear up for an intense 45-60 day period, depending on the time allotted to respond, and say, "Here we go!" Upon submission, the panting comes to a halt, but there's no point in holding one's breath while awaiting award announcements.  Bilateral aid agencies, like our own, can take as much as six nerve-wracking months to make a final decision. And so, we wait the painstaking wait, distracted with having to respond to other bids and deliver on existing projects worldwide.

So, readers, stay tuned for later this year when the final verdict is made. All positive energy is welcome. And, don't forget to not hold your breath!

Whom are you feeding, Bangladesh?

As we rode through the streets of Barisol on cycle rickshaws under the star-filled skies, with our luggage and laptop bags in-hand, I couldn’t resist thinking to myself, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!” The streets of the town were gradually being filled by pedestrians, auto and cycle rickshaws, and cyclists as stores reopened for business after a second day of hartal or a national strike in Bangladesh, provoked by the kidnapping of an opposition party leader. During a hartal, motorized vehicles and stores are warned to not be in operation, which most comply with with the exception of a few daring (or perhaps, desperate) auto rickshaw and bus drivers. The reaction? Typically, the vehicle is lit on fire, and the driver may face public beating by supporters of the party that has called for the strike. This particular hartal coincided with a two week business trip my boss and I had taken with our partners to study various food value chains that thrive in the southern part of the country. The result was the building up of our knowledge that just skimmed the surface of Bangladesh’s food productions systems and markets from producer to end-consumer. The food journey from the field to our tummies is a good one to know, but even better will be figuring out how to help producers, especially among the poor, enhance the quality of production while earning the incomes they rightfully deserve for feeding their nation’s people, and often times, many of us all over the world. Funding for programs with such objectives come from President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative, through which the current administration has pledged $3.5 billion over 3 years to enhance agriculture production and strengthen food production systems in the less developed world with particular emphasis on increasing food security and improving the nutrition status of the world’s poor. The US government particularly emphasizes that to be food secure, not only must food be available in sufficient quantities, but it must also be accessible to all and utilized by all down to the household level. Women included.

 I’ve just completed my fifth week with Development Alternatives, Incorporated (DAI) (though, by the time this post is published, it will be eight weeks), one of the largest USAID contractors. I had contemplated making the transition from NGO to a private development firm for some time now, but the jump was postponed when I realized that it would be through working with an NGO that I would attain the necessary grassroots experience and understanding of poverty at the household level--- through exposures less typical in the private development world and critical, in my opinion, to amass as early on in one’s professional career as possible. They profoundly influence the way one approaches development moving forward, and attaining the experience is less painstaking when one pursues it earlier on with a more open, untainted mind and a greater tolerance for “roughing it” or in other words, being able to live like most of the world’s population for a bit of time. What I’ve sought in my new setting is greater diligence, discipline, and efficiency in developing solutions and approaches to poverty that are more systemic in nature. In very simple, general terms, NGOs often perpetuate change in a deep, yet unfortunately less sustainable manner, for a smaller few, while the latter seeks to effect sustainable change through markets and government for the wider many. I believe in this pursuit deeply and desire to explore whether the solutions here truly do impact larger populations in a more sustainable manner.

One of my first assignments has been to prepare for an anticipated bid for a Feed the Future program in Bangladesh that aims to enhance the efficiency (and quality) of production of a range of food and non-food commodities, while better integrating women and smallholder farmers into the system to help increase their incomes and availability, access, and utilization of food by themselves and their families. Given the competitive nature of the USAID tendering process, until proposals are submitted (once the solicitation is released), this post will be limited to some of the constraints we observed during our field visits, rather than embellishing on the solutions we might propose to address these. Welcome back to the world of government contracting.


As I discussed in my post from a visit two years ago to this former piece of India and then Pakistan, Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated nations in the world with over 164 million people residing in a space the size of Iowa! Forty percent of the population and fifty percent of the female population is undernourished. Forty percent of the population currently lives below the poverty line, and the country has one of the highest rates of child stunting in the world. These figures were viciously affirmed as we made our way back to Gulshan-2, one of Dhaka’s more prestigious neighborhoods, from the docks at the end of a brief, yet intense field visit to the south of the country. Because of the continued hartal, we were required to take a launch that took us across rivers, rather than roads, back to Dhaka. Launches are local cruise liners that provide overnight domestic transport between some of Bangladesh’s major towns/cities along river routes. The ground floor typically has no furnishings, and families traveling on general tickets line up side by side on the wooden floors, rolling out their sheets and blankets to sleep on and make the journey a little more comfortable. Launches can be three to four and sometimes more floors high, and the berths can be found up at the top levels. As I entered mine and scanned the bright blue, dusty tapestries, fringed with red and gold tussles and the cockroaches scramming towards shelter under a small, sheet-stained bed, I realized this was going to be another interesting experience. I was also oh so glad that I had followed by instinct to pack an extra set of sheets! My balcony contained a small sink, and a small door leading to my private, en suite bathroom with hole in the ground toilet and all. At departure and arrival, travelers on balconies on neighboring boats could look on to see others brushing their teeth and carrying on with business as usual under the bright neon green and yellow lights of the other boats. It was like being in a mini apartment complex on water.

The journey from the Dhaka docks to our hotel was an eye-opening one. We each hopped onto our cycle rickshaws (as the hartal was still on), and I was wrought with guilt over the laborious journey that my biker would have to make with a load of myself and the luggage that I can never seem to keep to a minimum. As he grew increasingly drenched in sweat, the beads slid down to the tips of his hair before drizzling onto me. What could I say? I wrapped my dupatta up and around my mouth and nose. I was in a predominantly Muslim country, after all. How odd could I have looked?

 One never sees Dhaka this empty- EVER! It was a luxury to drive through empty roads, but it provided a window into the lives of the invisible, whose livelihoods occur in the wee hours when everyone else is asleep. Men and women of apparent grueling poverty emerged from piles and piles of waste along the roadsides, wearing no masks or gloves, their sandaled feet fully exposed to waste and toxins. A lifetime literally in the gutters spent in dire poverty seemed to have stunted their growth on so many levels, rendering them almost subhuman. I looked on in despair as my insides tightened along with my heart, and I wanted to weep, thinking how can this be? Before I could wallow for too long, I gripped my backpack as I watched in horror the impending collision of an auto rickshaw and an SUV that had dared to venture onto the roads that morning. A loud ‘BANG!’ was followed by the ‘clunk!’ of the rickshaw tipped over onto the road. As we cycled on, I peered back but saw no one emerge from the rickshaw. I prayed that he was alright as well as his rickshaw that was either procured on credit or leased by the day. Who would be held responsible? If the driver was physically harmed, where would the daily income for his family’s sustenance come from until he healed? If the rickshaw was damaged, how would the repair costs be covered? Did the driver, due to ill fate, just land himself in an unexpected lifetime of debt? Three weeks later, I still wonder.

Despite the dark picture I realize I’ve just painted, Bangladesh is a country of great economic potential. In agriculture alone, the country produces such a grand variety of both nutritious foods as well as those whose byproducts are in high demand all over the world. You and I have consumed these products probably without realizing it, such as the jute we find in ropes and cots and the coir (husk fibers) from coconut that are used to make mattresses and floor mats. But, value addition is hardly to be found here. Take vegetables or even flowers, for example, two high potential areas for literal growth here. Both of these are grown in the south west part of the country in large quantities, but smallholder farmers lack the skills and know-how to maximize cropping cycles and the high quality inputs (e.g., seeds, fertilizer) required for quality production of these goods. There are few cooling facilities to be found anywhere in the countryside, and with poor infrastructure and virtually no packing materials, outrageous quantities of waste are seen in these two families of goods. There are no standards for grading and sorting goods before reaching wholesale markets. Farmers are often paid unfair, dismal prices for their produce, bordering exploitation, particularly during the lean seasons for income generation. Most farmers never see the markets because the existing system is embedded with middlemen all along the chain beginning at the farm gates, where most of the goods are collected. The system is rife with chaos and exploitation and perpetuates indebtedness and poverty in a way that we ascertained so unnecessary while studying these systems and chains all the way down to these farmer households.

White buds and marigolds at the Dhaka wholesale flower market (Shahbag Bazaar)

Rickshaw Art

Female wholesaler at Shahbag Bazaar

A woman earns a meager wage for flower petals

Piker or trader selling vegetables at the Dhaka whole horticulture market (Kawran Bazaar)

Guess who's the wholesaler in this picture?

Traders within the wholesale market

Women bear much of the brunt of this system. They contribute immensely to production, and while prohibited to buy, sell, and engage in the marketplace, are given no choice when it comes to executing the back-breaking and labor-intensive aspects of production. Perhaps due to socio-cultural and religious inhibitions, the very women in the field sowing and harvesting are unable to engage in decisions on what inputs to purchase, what to grow, and when to grow it. Even when extension services are available to disseminate these skills and knowledge, in the current system, women cannot engage with these service providers. Women are rarely permitted to engage on the front end of business, but of course, back end work as the invisible laborers is perfectly acceptable. Women are the last to eat in a household and often end up with very little to consume in both quantity and nutritious value. These women literally create the next generation, and the cycle is perpetuated. So, there you have it.

The only instance where women are visible in the vegetable market- selling the collected, unsellable scraps down market

Tea and bread- where is the nutrition??

Collected scraps are made to "look nice" and then sold to a lower marget segment

The unsellable unsellable scraps can go even further down market

Our team studying jute production in Faridpur

Raw jute being transported to a local factory for processing

Unhusked rice

Now, can you guess who the wholesaler is? Clue: stomach size

Piker auctioning tiger shrimp to buyers

Bepari (also trader) at the fish wholesale market in Barisol

It has been one insightful experience, and I must say, an optimistic one. All the issues laid out here have very clear solutions and are rectifiable. This is wonderful news! The challenge is to articulate these solutions and carve out implementable approaches that are going to tackle these obstacles in a deep and sustainable way. My fear? Much of this change is likely unwanted by a few and powerful. Some of the constraints require a deep-rooted change at the socio-cultural level that seeps into the very psyche of a massive population. How we approach our market solutions is the focus of the next couple of months, but the much-needed behavior change will be among the first of the challenges we will face in the field if and when we win this opportunity.