Global value chains are ripe with partnership opportunities between governments, donors and businesses. While they often result in economic benefits, it’s time to take a look at how those gains are distributed — and whether they impact the poor.
Each global value chain has its own set of challenges, but what seems clear is that in most there are some actors who hold more power than others. Typically those at the producer end of the value chain — the smallholders development agencies are looking to reach and assist — have the least power.
Unequal power dynamics, misalignment of goals, or lack of incentives can leave existing partnerships lagging when it comes to benefiting the poor. Fostering a better understanding of all the actors and their objectives, organizing producers into cooperatives to provide bargaining power and working with industry platforms rather than individual companies are a few strong ideas to yield greater results for the smallholders and producers from the start.
About the author
Adva Saldinger@AdvaSal
Adva Saldinger is a Senior Reporter at Devex where she covers development finance, as well as U.S. foreign aid policy. Adva explores the role the private sector and private capital play in development and authors the weekly Devex Invested newsletter bringing the latest news on the role of business and finance in addressing global challenges. A journalist with more than 10 years of experience, she has worked at several newspapers in the U.S. and lived in both Ghana and South Africa.
