SOCIAL OUTCOMES AND UPGRADING OF DONOR LED AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS INTERVENTIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY CONTEXTS

Abstract

The complexity in development assistance coupled with recent shifts towards neoliberal development paradigms has raised the need to explore recent dynamics. This current process has raised questions on the capacity of donor led AVCD development interventions to yield social upgrading and foster ex-post sustainability to drive economic growth. This study investigated specific research questions relative to how social outcomes manifest among intervention beneficiaries, how social outcomes influence social upgrading, and whether there are adequate institutional arrangements to support ex-post upgrading of intervention outcomes. The study employed mixed research methods techniques and used both direct quotes and data visualization tools to undertake analysis. In all, 393 smallholders from four communities in the Wa West District who benefited from the GROW project, 8 institutional heads, and 19 development experts were sampled and interviewed. The findings suggest that various social outcomes can impact social upgrading through multiple mechanisms. This study identifies two outcomes: food security, and poverty. As a pioneering contribution to this field of knowledge, the study established “belonging to a Farmer Based Association (FBOs)”, “Participation in the pricing of Soya”, “Household Decision marking”, and “right to land” as proxies to undertake the first ever examination of the relationship between social outcomes and social upgrading. The study found that higher levels of food security and lower poverty rates are linked to participation in FBOs. This indicates the potential influence of food security and poverty levels on social upgrading through the right to association. The second relationship identified is that food security and low Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) can lead to increased empowerment by enabling greater participation in household decision-making. The final relationship identified is that food security and low MPI can also reduce discrimination, particularly regarding land tenure. From an institutional perspective, the study emphasized that it is crucial to prioritize social factors in production to achieve social upgrading and ex-post sustainability.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Osman Ouattara (Supervisor) & Aminu Mamman (Supervisor)