Project 09pfu-5330

09pfu-5330 A stronger Union heading towards poverty reduction among farmer members

budget	€ 246.140,85	status	execution
start date	01-05-2009	date end	31-12-2010
location	West Bank and Gaza Strip	country	palestinian territory, occupied
financer	Agriterra
executor	Palestinian Farmers' Union	intervention level	sub-national
Programmes	\| IFAP 03: Enhance capacity of farmers' organisations \| work area 03: Internal organisational strengthening (OS) \|
description	PFU firstly identifies its central problems of (socio)economic nature to be caused by lack of experience and skills at both central and farmers association. The intervention logic of a 2-year project approach is given under the Overall Objective “To empower PFU and its member farmers associations by improving their role (...more...)
description	PFU firstly identifies its central problems of (socio)economic nature to be caused by lack of experience and skills at both central and farmers association. The intervention logic of a 2-year project approach is given under the Overall Objective “To empower PFU and its member farmers associations by improving their role in the agricultural and rural sector, up to a stage where both can defend farmers’ rights and FAs become economically self-reliant.“ PFU carries out the project activities along two lines: (1) capacity building and (2) income generating projects for four FAs. A budget for approx 23 trainings is provided: equal to project budget submitted. The economic project, to be carried out by four already selected farmers association, will provisionally take-off in mid-2009, after approval of the first project. For this reason, the economic projects will continue in a next proposal. A project committee of eight permanent staff developed and supervises a project cycle and coordinates all activities within the project described. As regards monitoring and evaluation, the specific objectives on organization capacity building, expected results, indicators, M&E process table including indicator measurement and all activities are all neatly presented. Target group are 29 PFU headquarters and farmers associations staff, members of FAs Boards; 10.068 individual members of 16 FAs. 30% female beneficiaries are claimed. The project activities at association level will be step by step integrated in eight permanent economic programmes of PFU in order to assure their sustainability. (...less...)
results & observations	The project activities came as a fulfilment for PFU capacity-building plan as the project included PFU capacity-building Department annual plan while preparing the project which came as a result of the capacities and skills needs assessment sessions executed by a committee composed of some members of PFU board of directors, (...more...)
final results & observations	The project activities came as a fulfilment for PFU capacity-building plan as the project included PFU capacity-building Department annual plan while preparing the project which came as a result of the capacities and skills needs assessment sessions executed by a committee composed of some members of PFU board of directors, farmers associations in addition to PFU executive director and Capacity Building Department Manager. During 2009, a set of specialized training courses were executed by PFU which worked on improving PFU board of directors, the executive staff and the member farmers’ associations’ teams and board of directors in the following fields: the best practices of management, projects management, fundraising and proposal writing, reports either financial or technical reports, communication skills, time management, electronic Archive, Recovering the value added tax mechanisms, leadership skills and managing and designing lobbying or advocacy campaigns. So during the previous period 16 training courses were implemented in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 5 training were executed in Gaza Strip and 11 in the West Bank. In addition to the training courses, PFU conducted 16 workshops the aim of these workshops is to build farmers capacities and enhancing their knowledge regarding critical issues that contribute in improving their living standards, these workshops were as follows: A) Recovering the value added tax: 6 workshops were implemented in different districts of the West Bank. These workshops included illustration about the mechanisms of recovering the value added tax for the plants and livestock production beyond decreeing and authorizing recovering the value added tax for the benefit of the livestock breeders farmers at November 2008 by the ministers council throughout the advocacy campaign conducted 2008 by PFU and in partnership with other agricultural based NGO’s and funded by CCFD. During the workshops there were several presentations of success stories for farmers who could recover the value added tax on their productions. B) Shared diseases between Animals and Humans: PFU executed 7 workshops on the shared diseases between Human beings and animals (ZOONOSIS) including Brucellosis, Colibacillosis, Rabies, Cryptosporidium, Tetanus, Salmonellosis, Q Fever, Anthrax, Tularemia, Tuberculosis, Foot & Mouth Disease and the preventions methods of these diseases. During these workshops there were a focus on Swine Flu the Symptoms and prevention. These workshops were conducted by some veterans who volunteered as they knew the importance of raising farmers’ awareness regarding the shared diseases. C) Market Protection: PFU within this field executed 7 workshops with the farmers members in the farmers associations in fields related to market protections such as fighting adulterated agricultural inputs, qualities of the agricultural inputs and prices controls, proves of purchasing equipments and the compensation for any losses if occurred because of adulterated inputs. D) Publicity of PFU: PFU conducted 7 workshops for potential members in farmers associations, the aim of these workshops to include more members in these associations by that PFU will represent more number of Farmers (...less...)
specialisms	\| Agricultural extension \| Agriculture (general) \| Financial management \| Internal organisational strengthening \| Training \|

	APPLICATION
	APPLICATION

	DEFINITION
	DEFINITION

	EXECUTION
	EXECUTION

	RESULTS
	RESULTS

	PROGRESS
	PROGRESS

	RELATIONS
	RELATIONS

PROPOSAL

Agri-agency	Own contribution executor	Other parties	Total requested budget
Agriterra	PFU
€ 0,00 + € 0,00	€ 0,00	€ 0,00	€ 0,00

This budget part originally covered core of trainings and workshops only. Full budget includes also staff, transport/communication, office costs; total 18 months duration; request amounting to

Background / context
The external evaluation of project 4954 (mid2007-mid2008) by PFU recommended to target the following issues :
- For farmers associations, members to PFU : to improve capacities in proposal writing, strategic planning, accountancy, annual and financial report writing and English language use
- For farmers’ associations (FAs) : to generate their own internal funding by developing projects; and select FAs according to regional needs
- For PFU headquarters, to work on syndicate matters and issues.

Meanwhile the organisation has analysed its situation by means of a problem tree. This identified central problems of (socio)economic nature, which are caused by a weak role of the PFU network. Lack of experience and skills at both central and farmers association are identified as causes for this weakness.
1. Lack of skills and capacities of PFU staff and farmers associations in fields of organization management, project cycle management, fundraising and financial management
2. Lack of capacities and skills in the field of managing, planning and designing advocacy campaigns, for defense of farmers rights and benefits, and strengthening the role of the syndicate work of PFU
3. Lack of income generating activities within the farmers associations that can assure their sustainability and can improve the level of the provided services or even create new services.

A project committee of eight permanent staff supervises the project cycle and coordinates all activities. Departing from the problem analysis, the project committee presents the following intervention logic in a 2-year project approach.

Overall objective of the bi-annual project
To empower PFU and its member farmers associations by improving their role in the agricultural and rural sector, up to a stage where both can defend farmers’ rights

PFU carries out the project activities along two lines: (1) capacity building and (2) income generating projects for four FAs. The second will be defined later in a separate project.

Specific objectives (1-3 Organization building ; 4-6 for separate economic project)
1 To enhance capacities of PFU headquarters and regional staff
2 To improve technical and administrative capacities of farmers associations
3 To create awareness among farmers on their legal rights and on health issues

Expected results
- PFU employees' working skills have been improved
- PFU farmers’ associations members working skills have been improved
- PFU Farmers members and employees know well their rights and they take more care about their health

Indicators
- 18 Employees at PFU headquarter can better manage their work
- 16 Farmers associations strongly control and manage all their work
- At least 15 employees at PFU headquarters and 400 farmers gained knowledge about their rights and on health issues, and have been made aware of these

Activities
The activities will be included in detail in the logical framework planning.
(1) Capacity building
* Committee interviews with staff on required skills led to a classification of 16 reqested training courses for all four Departments (project document pp13-15)
* The need for 3 awareness raising workshops and trainings for building farmers' associations has been identified
* Institutional capacity building and development of applied systems : consultancy services to staff and Board of Directors. These are financed by Swiss Development Cooperation.

(2) Income generation by four farmers associations
Description will be integrated in next project proposal. Provisionally scheduled for take-off in mid-2009 and depending on approval of the first project.

Target group / direct stakeholders
- 29 PFU staff: headquarters staff and farmers associations staff; these are thought to have the greatest positive impact since their requests and demands were guiding to the project development.
- members of FAs Boards of Directors
- 10.068 individual members of 16 FAs
The proposal claims that 30% of the direct and indirect beneficiaries are female. Gender aspects have been elaborated in the logical framework (to follow).

Indirect stakeholders are public ministries of agriculture, finance and health, consultants and trainers and local working NGOs, who replace the governmental agencies in providing technical consultants or support.

PFU describes neatly the methods and means for project implementation (p25) : procedures, approaches, equipment, tools. Media coverage will be pursued including press releases and various media.

The project activities at association level will be step by step integrated in eight permanent economic programmes in order to assure their sustainability.

Monitoring and evaluation
Key performance and impact indicators will be identified for the project objectives and outputs. PFU will evaluate impact at farmers associations and cooperatives level by analyzing data in questionnaires and follow-up of these measurements. Impact-measurement formats will monitor achievement of outputs and objectives.
PFU will conduct annual audits of the financial records and statements within the project budget.
The project will be twice internally evaluated on annual bias. In the finalization phase, PFU will hold a meeting with coordinators and trainers for evaluating the project. Thus remarks and feedback on work progress and constraints will be included in the final report.
An ending ceremony will take place after the final evaluation.

GOALS

To empower PFU and its member farmers associations by improving their role in the agricultural and rural sector, up to a stage where both can defend farmers’ rights and FAs become economically self-reliant

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