NFP and the Horticulture Human Cap coalition

Inclusiveness in Dutch funded horticulture sector programmes | Valuable Vegetables Webinar highlights

The Netherlands’ government has invested over 210 million euro in horticulture programmes in low- and middle-income countries since 2009. A recent synthesis study compiled the lessons learnt in these programmes, in order to facilitate further learning and the use of these lessons in the design and implementation of future sector interventions. Inclusiveness of the programmes for women and youth is among the key challenges found.

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Many projects manage to reach women and youth, but only a few had explicit strategies to guarantee women and youth actually benefit from the opportunities created. Strategies to facilitate women and youth empowerment are even less common. 

During a webinar on September 17th this challenge of inclusiveness in horticulture sector programmes was discussed. The webinar facilitated sharing of several practices, amongst others from Kenya, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Rwanda and pointed out a very clear dilemma: given the complexity and multiple objectives of most horticulture sector programmes, it is often not easy to achieve results in both inclusiveness and in economic development. Participants recommended to start recognizing that this is a dilemma, and to be transparent and realistic about expectations. For future discussions and policy making, further research is recommended on the potential synergies and trade-offs between objectives within horticulture sector development. This work can benefit from ongoing efforts to improve indicators for programme monitoring.