Strong Groups = Strong Projects

Quality farmer group capacity building is a corner stone to development project sustainability and efficacy. But why then, are the time and resources required to effectively strengthen and develop groups routinely underestimated?

A typical approach for a project is to ask the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to find them groups to work with. The sentence “I need 20 groups who are willing to farm cashew with 25-30 members each and there should be a gender balance” is one example and “We want to work with only extremely hard working poorest-of-the-poor farmers” somehow, is not seen as an unreasonable request.

These requests neglect the needs and circumstances of the actual farmers, and instead put the needs of the donor and the project first under their mandate to execute a particular task.

But with the promise of a bonus from the project, the Extension Agents go out and often have to throw together farmer groups for the project because none of their existing groups fit the project’s specifications. Then project staff show up and expect the groups to be fully functional and ready to receive both complex technical training and a huge loan.

From what I can tell there are two basic reasons why projects insist on working with groups and not individuals. In the eyes of the project staff, if they give a loan to a group, repayment will be better; if one farmer defaults, the other group members can be forced to pick up the slack. In a newly formed group, this means each member is liable for the mistakes of the others whom she may or may not trust.

In addition to the “better” loan repayment rates, development projects are always going to want to work with groups because it is simply too time-intensive to work with each person individually. If we accept this, then we must look at how we can make groups more functional.

First we must recognize that groups are always in flux: They are constantly being formed in response to donor project demand; members are added or drop out for countless reasons; and they often change crops, processing activities, and other farming activities based on fluctuations in the markets (which is a good thing!).

To make the best use of development projects and to be prepared for them when they come, the best thing an Extension Agent can do is consistently work at strengthening the groups she/he has. And the best thing a project can do is allocate enough time and resources in their planning and budget to allow the Extension Agents to do this job effectively.

Proactively working with the members of farmer groups ensures the groups have high trust, good decision-making processes, business skills, and a solid relationship with the Extension Agent who will inevitably be implementing many of the project activities.

Project success (i.e. improvements to farmer livelihoods) relies on initial group strengthening and skills building that can help the group decide if they even want what the project has to offer and make the most of the project support when it comes.

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