Benin

active areas

network facilitator

Eric Hounsounou

eric hounsounou

network members

strategic partners

summary

The Local Network in Benin was established in 2023 with the support of the Dutch Embassy in Benin. There are over 2 500 farmer organizations which vary considerably in terms of commodities produced and organizational maturity in Benin. AMEA seeks to enable all stakeholders, (including public, private, business development service providers and non-governmental organizations) to adopt a common language regarding the professionalization of farmer organizations and share best practices and tools in terms of supporting farmers organizations to access markets.

focus areas

Develop and implement a BDS Roadmap in line with the AMEA Call to Action for Sustainable BDS

Create more dialogue space and businesses opportunities between stakeholders for sustainable investments in farmers organizations and agri-SMES

Establish a community of best practice around the use of assessments and capacity building tools in the AMEA toolbox

Establish a platform of service providers who focus on farmer professionalization

Cross-country exchanges with other West Africa Local Networks to facilitate and improve learnings

BDS improvement facility

The aim of the BDS Improvement Facility is to support the testing of AMEA approaches and the generation of learning. This includes:

Testing approaches and innovations that enable AMEA’s theory of change to be used in new contexts
Testing innovations that enable more appropriate dissemination of AMEA tools
Improve understanding of the scalability and sustainability of AMEA approaches through implementation
Test the combined approaches best suited to professionalizing farmers organizations and agri-SMEs.

Three initiatives have been selected:

Supporting Farmers Organizations by combining two tools (CREATE & Rural Invest) for efficient management and improved bankability (by M2M & Talents Plus)
Strengthening the capacity of farmers organizations to produce and market agro-ecological products: ACED’s integrated approach (By ACED Benin)
Mini-PAT Mirror Method for Farmers Organizations (By Sens Benin)