Smallholder Safety Net Up-scaling Pro-gramme (SSNUP)

To strengthen sustainably resilience and the safety nets of at least three million smallholder households and altogether 15 million low-income and highly vulnerable people in developing countries (with focus on Sub-Saharan Africa) by reduced risks, vulnerability, and social exclusion as part of a broader social protection agenda.

Noteworthy is the strong Swiss added value in achieving the overall goal in terms of the majority of the impact investment partners being Swiss.

Direct beneficiaries: around 200 agribusiness enter-prises, farmers’ organisations, and rural financial intermediaries which have business transactions with many smallholder households.

End beneficiaries: impacting on an estimated 3’000’000 smallholder households with less than 5 hectares and on roughly 15’000’000 household members being low-income and vulnerable people.

1)  Enhanced farm productivity, agro-ecological sustainability and resilience against adverse weather events of an estimated 3 million smallholder households by applying more sustainable funding strategies and/or adopting more sustainable farm practices in line with agro-ecological principles or being better integrated in their value chains.

2)  Approx. 200 agribusinesses, farmers’ organizations, and rural financial intermediaries grow sustainably their business transactions by creating added value for their smallholder clients while applying more sustainable environmental, social, and good governance practices in line with the Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investments.

3)  Value added in terms of more secured access to quality inputs and markets for many more smallholder house-holds through the replication of new/improved innovative and affordable financial and non-financial services as well as improved ESG practices by other agribusiness enterprises, farmers’ organizations, and rural financial intermediaries.

Resultados previstos:  

1) Around 200 agribusiness enterprises, farmers’ organisations, and rural financial intermediaries offer affordable agricultural financial products/services, farm risk reduction and extension solutions in line with agro-ecological principles.

2) They use and offer (directly or indirectly) digital sourcing, sales and communications platforms to their SH clients.

3) They improve their environmental, social, and governance practices vis-à-vis their staff and smallholder household clients/members.

4) SSNUP partners disseminate knowledge management tools throughout their thematic, industry, and policy dialogue platforms via multiple communication channels.

5)  SSNUP Impact Investors prepare new/ additional investments for the agribusiness enterprises, farmers’ organisations, and rural financial intermediaries.

Resultados de las fases anteriores:  

SDC gained the following key insights from its multiple private-public development partnerships with Swiss impact investors over the past ten years:

1)  Only an agricultural market development approach can lead to a better integration  of many

smallholder households into their value chains through mutually beneficial business transactions with their input suppliers, processors, and traders and access to finance from rural financial intermediaries.

2)   Smallholder households need affordable farm finance, risk reduction, and advisory services as proven pathways towards enhanced resilience by preventing setbacks and enabling long-term agricultural development.

3)  Their business partners need to apply high environmental, social, and governance practices for the smallholder households to benefit, e.g. fair prices, assured input quality.

4)  Technical assistance to their business partners can leverage substantial private capital, if linked to impact investors.

X Synergies with SDC’s agriculture value chain projects in the partner countries concerned.

X Synergies with Seco in collaborating with Swiss and other global impact investors, like Bamboo Capital Partners (managing the Agricultural Business Capital Fund), Blue Orchard, Clarmondial, and so forth.

X Synergies with Swiss Capacity Building Facility.

Fase 1 01.07.2020 - 30.04.2025   (Completed)