devinitorg/iati-policy-markers huggingface dataset:
Southern Africa Towards Soy Bean Import Substitution In Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia a series of services for the soy sector starts to reinforce each other and a business model is emerging. Seed multiplication is taken up by selected farmers and provides improved income. Better seed and income permit better investment into the soy crop and for this, good practices training, and soil analysis services are provided. A better projected yield enables the provision of financial services, but for this, improved financial literacy of the farming household is also required, consequently financial literacy training was included in the training curriculum. Using the increased yield has stimulated some farmers to explore downstream businesses like chicken raising. In different stages of this development effort, farmers and groups are engaged. Covid-19 hampered most of the good practices training, ending up with 25% fewer producers supported than we expected (38,402 instead of the 51,000 planned). Still, 19,169 farmers reported to have improved their income as a result of the improved agri services. 149,000 hectares in total were brought under better management practices, and close to 35,000 farmers are organized into 50 soy farmer groups, of which 13 are led by women. A mix of individual entrepreneurs, local cooperatives and small companies totalling 249 service providers, were engaged in the project with soil analysis, extension service, input delivery, etc. The use of digital tools among both farmers and service providers is increasing and a system is considered that integrates these services into a single platform.
Better Mill Initiative (BMI) Ethiopia In Ethiopia, the Better Mill Initiative mainly focused on online/remote activities. These included updating partners on the activities as well as creating awareness on Covid-19 by delivering brochures and masks to our staff, beneficiaries and partners. The Better Mill Initiative project trained on health and safety in the 24 factories focusing on health issues, especially awareness creation and prevention mechanisms. The project also carried out leadership training for the Ethiopian Management Institute for management staff of three factories. A training on soft skills targeting 30 women workers was also carried out. In addition, we conducted gender related grievance handling mechanisms for 22 women labour unions leaders from four textile and garment factories. Through our training to workers and factory management, we worked to improve the working conditions for 25,400 workers. The economic and environmental performance improvements are limited due to the effect of the global pandemic. This also counts for trading activities between factories and markets in Europe and the USA. Revival of these markets including other business channels will gradually improve as global travel restrictions during the pandemic ease. There are different organizations working in the same sector, such as, FNV, ILO, GIZ, IDH and SIWI. Most of the organizations have good communication with us and try to minimize duplication effort in the factories. The Dutch Embassy is one of the steering committee members of the project and we update them once every six months.
Conducive policy environment for a responsible small-scale gold mining sector in Bolivia Together with our partner and local organization Cumbre de Sajama, we are very proud to have been able to create new dynamics of discussion, participation and governance in the artisanal small mining (ASM) sector. In a context of years of political and social instability for the country, through dialogue platforms such as the Gold Symposium (with 3 editions organized by the mining cooperatives), the Interinstitutional Working Group for Responsible Mining and the National Network of Women in Mining (Red Nacional de Mujeres y Minería), we provided a safe and stable space where mining cooperatives and women miners could be heard, arguments were enriched with technical knowledge, and miners’ needs could be made more visible towards the governmental authorities. The mining cooperatives and the Red Nacional de Mujeres y Minería developed 5 public policy recommendations on occupational health and safety, gender inclusivity and environmental regulations (reduction of mercury use), that were submitted to the Ministry of Mining and Metallurgy. The Red Nacional de Mujeres y Minería grew into a network with 1,875 members, the only of its kind in Latin America, where women miners learn and exchange knowledge, experiences and ideas for improvement of their rights, while providing the first space where women miners of different expertises (in-mine, alluvial, collectors, etc.) can interact. They have developed their own political agenda on issues around health, education, gender violence, environment, and they formulated the need for a mining census to determine the number of women miners and their geographical distribution. We supported women miners, who struggle with low digital literacy and poor connectivity, to use digital tools, to assure their continued participation in virtual gatherings during the Covid-19 crisis and related travel and meeting restrictions. At the conclusion of the project, the Red Nacional de Mujeres y Minería and the Interinstitutional Working Group for Responsible Gold continue actively participating in the most dynamic and influential spaces of the ASM sector in Bolivia. Likewise, Cumbre del Sajama is strongly involved in the preliminary activities for the implementation of an important global project supported by the GEF (Global Environment Facility), led by UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and implemented by UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) and Conservation International (CI).
Regional Sector Analysis Southern Africa Regional sector analysis in Southern Africa
Programme Management Team South America Budget support for programme management of Practice for Change 2016-2020
Programme Management Team for Advocacy for Change and Practice for Change - REC SAF membership Programme Management Team is responsible for the correct Programme Cycle Management of the Practice for Change and Advocacy for Change Funds, granted by DGIS for the period 2016-2020. PMT consists of representatives of REC EU, REC SAM, REC SAF and Solidairdad Network Secretariat. This project covers the participation of the REC SAF representative in the PMT.
PMEL network capacity building Our new PMEL data model provides a structured, unified approach to qualitative and quantitative measurement of programmes and projects. Our trained professionals equipped with this instrument can count increasingly on steady data-flows which form the basis for evidence-based decision making. Consistent and prolonged use of the PMEL data model framework will provide precise insights into the effectiveness and impact of our programmes, as well as support finding the balance between practice and advocacy to reach meaningful impact at scale.

In 2020, we completed 3 pilots on the collection of granular data for our new PMEL data model: one on farmer profiling (South Africa); one measuring CSO mobilization and engagement (Bolivia), and one on using phone-interviews to collect data (Ghana).  The pilots brought new elements to the design of our monitoring and evaluation framework. An important conclusion we made was that despite the local contexts of our programmes, sufficient common indicators can be designed to come to a cohesive and meaningful framework for our network, that align with our most recent Multi Annual Strategic Plan 2021-2025. The training and support to field officers and project managers to understand how to collect granular data, what kind of data to collect, and how this data can be used to inform adaptive management will start in 2021.
Gender Capacity Enhancement Programme Over the course of 2016-2020, the Advocacy for Change programme allowed Solidaridad to enter on a joint journey with experts from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partners, and to develop a comprehensive gender mainstreaming strategy within our organization. This also allowed us to develop strong thought leadership on gender inclusivity. We have translated lessons learned by re-examining our analytical approach on gender and social inclusion to intersectionality and intersectional gender analysis. This helps in understanding the multiple identities that farmers, miners, and workers have that reinforce their marginalization, and in some cases oppression. It is through the intersectionality lens that youth as a concentrated majority excluded group is currently a target group in our (SME) support interventions.

In the past years, our RECs have enhanced their ability to consistently integrate, implement, evaluate and learn from the gender strategies in their plans. We have developed gender training materials that support internal capacity enhancement and project implementation, which include an internal knowledge platform, the Gender Buckets, the Gender ABC and Gender Business case. The three tiers of the gender business case are based on the following notions: 1. Making optimal use of available human capital and opportunities by supporting women to climb the socio-economic ladder leads to enhanced economic growth 2. Balancing so-called male and female perspectives and approaches enhances the quality of decision making 3. Investing in gender inclusivity provides a valuable long-term return on investment for future generations.

A learning trajectory has been started to generate evidence for the business case for gender inclusivity in households, communities, businesses, and governments. A global team of regional Gender Experts is now in place, working towards decentralized capacity enhancement at REC level. We have developed a full 4-moduled curated gender inclusivity course. This course has been made digitally available on the Kaya platform for both internal staff and project partners during the Covid-19 pandemic. All the materials and tools developed by the task force have been tested and validated through pilots in various RECs before disseminating them to the network and external partners.
Solidaridad Sustainability Solutions: Network support for the suite of apps As part of the Digital Innovation strategy we aim to develop a Network-wide IT platform and approach to support Solidaridad and its partners in analyzing producer performance in the relevant areas of entrepreneurial farming and good practices. These are benchmarked against various standards, including legal standards, market-based quality standards and sustainability (certification) standards. By applying Big Data comparison technology to this analysis, we can bring large numbers of farmers to the next level of sustainable production. As of mid 2017, senior IT capacity came in board throughout the Network and we started a much larger streamlining process of already existing IT solutions in the Network, towards a broader strategic platform offering a series of tools through a suite of apps.
Gender capacity enhancement Solidaridad Southern Africa Gender capacity enhancement of programme staff in Solidaridad Southern Africa.
Task Force Impact Investment As part of its programmes, Solidaridad builds compelling business cases to generate investment opportunities, mobilizing a blend of grants, equity and credits to obtain the financing needed to increase speed and scale and achieve long-term economic, environmental and social impacts.

This task force is a network-wide group of experts in the field of impact investment, and is responsible for support with regards to the development of bankable business models and the engagement of impact investors.  

In 2020, we invested strongly in the network wide capacity of the regional specialists on impact investment and access to finance. This resulted in the development of new proposals and initiatives to increase farmers’ access to finance. Examples are the development of credit scoring and micro-finance in West Africa, a loan-management platform for crop maintenance in Colombia and climate-funding proposals in India and Indonesia.
We systematized and analysed several impact investment projects and opportunities and drew important lessons for our future strategic direction: among the main valuable lessons is the need to shift away from the large ticket sizes (> 500,000 euros) towards smaller investment needs for SMEs, the so-called “missing middle”. Increased attention for the development of financial instruments for smallholders became evident.
To target the “missing middle”, we launched the PlusPlus platform in partnership with Lendahand, Cordaid and Truvalu, in 2020. In total, the platform disbursed 9 loans to 6 counterparts with a total amount of 160,000 euros. Funding has been secured to build the coming years a pipeline with suitable candidates for funding in the Central American, East African and South African regions. In 2020, the GOWN Platform that targets specifically women-led SMEs, was designed and pre-tested among 5 SMEs, in 2021 the platform will be validated among 50 SMEs.
Better Mill Initiative The overall programme objective is to improve the sustainability performance of textile wet processing in the fashion supply chain in China.  The Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta are key geographical textile clusters. The project aims to move beyond compliance through a systems based approach to continuous improvement. The project is a collaboration between the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, ZDHC, BCI and Solidaridad. It allows for alignment and experience sharing to contribute to existing standards and tools.
Climate Smart Beef in Dry Chaco Paraguay In Paraguay, we implemented 6 pilots together with the agrarian research and support institute (CREA) on 46,700 hectares that showed promising results. Despite the severe draughts, the wildfires and the floods that took place in the region in the past year, the pilot producers showed resilience and managed to keep productivity levels 27% above the regional average. The Good Practices proved to be effective to reduce degradation, increase the soil organic matter content (77% higher), and decrease carbon emissions (by 18% per hectare or 14% per kg of beef produced). CREA has started to replicate the Good Practices with other livestock producers beyond the pilot area. In 2020, we released the “Good Livestock Management Practices Manual” and shared the pilots’ results through print and online materials, as well as through webinars, and this triggered the interest of several sector players: 30 additional producers, the Consortium of Ranchers for Agricultural Experimentations (CREA Group) representing large livestock producers, as well as the Rural Association of Paraguay (ARP) and the Paraguayan Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (MPCS) expressed interest to replicate the project. Marfrig, a large Brazilian slaughterhouse ready to land in Paraguay, is also interested in joining this initiative. We started to work with the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development by providing data to generate the “Paraguay GreenHouse Gas Inventory”. From the positive results and the interest raised, we conclude that there are promising outlooks for upscaling in the coming years.
Capacity Enhancement Solidaridad Central America Capacity enhancement of programme staff and management in Solidaridad Central America, notably for the innovation themes (impact investment, gender, climate change).
Supporting Social Dialogue in Emerging Garment Markets In Ethiopia, we supported the Confederation of Trade Unions of Ethiopia (CETU) to develop and submit an evidence based policy paper to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Standing Committee on Women, Youth & Social Affairs. This paper has been critical in the final decisions on formulation of key policy achievements in Ethiopia, relating to maternity leave and probation period under the Labour Law. Maternity leave was extended up to 120 days, helping to allow female workers to return to their jobs. Lobbying and negotiations led in the end to something of a compromise between employers and labour organizations: for new employees the probation period was limited to a maximum of  60 days. 

In Myanmar, Solidaridad was proud to be part of the clear organizational development of CTUM during the project period. From a nascent organization with a skeleton staff, scant resources and fundamental capacity gaps, they have grown and professionalized over the period in a remarkable manner. This has not only been evidenced by such developments as their capacity to lobby the State Counselor to order formation of a tripartite National Complaints Mechanism in January 2020, but has also been evident in their response to the political crisis following the closure of the project. CTUM have been among the leaders of the opposition, with their communications and leadership displaying a strategic outlook and international character that has clearly been developed through their relationship with Solidaridad and other international partners. The decision to focus on building the particular capacity of Ms. Khaing Zhar as a future leader of the organization appears to be reflected in her prominent leading role, in an internationally-oriented campaign to exert pressure on the authorities to respect labour norms and end the oppression of union members. 

Overall, our textile programme was severely hampered by socio-political events outside of our span of control. The popular uprising and violent response of the Military Junta led to the cessation of all our activities in Myanmar. In Bangladesh, a terrorist attack created a climate that made it early on too unsafe to continue with the programme. In Ethiopia, the political turmoil and armed conflict in Tigray led to halting the programme in 2020. For both Bangladesh and Ethiopia, planning exercises are underway and continuation is foreseen under our RECLAIM Sustainability! programme. It is not likely our office in Myanmar will reopen in the short term.
Not Applicable Philippines - Corporate Function - Non-allocated Funds activity: Services provided for external events hosted by MCC and our partner countries.
609g agreement/Compact signed Philippines - Infrastructure Project - 609g agreement/Compact signed activity: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete. In this particular project, due diligence funds were used to hire external technical assistance to support MCC's assessment and oversight of the MCA's infrastructure project to ensure country-led designs and subsequent implementation were consistent with MCC guidance.
MONITORING AND EVALUATION The Accountable Entity's, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) Philippines, monitoring and evaluation costs, which include monitoring, reporting and dissemination, GIS, data collection and data quality reviews.
Not Applicable Philippines - Non-allocated Funds - Non-allocated Funds activity: this activity was used in the past for accounting purposes but it is not currently an active activity for the program. It has no funds either committed or disbursed against it and has a sector code of 99810 (sector not specified).
MONITORING AND EVALUATION Philippines - Roads Project - MONITORING AND EVALUATION activity: this activity was used in the past for accounting purposes but it is not currently an active activity for the program. It has no funds either committed or disbursed against it and has a sector code of 99810 (sector not specified).
Environmental Assessments Philippines II - Environmental Assessments project: In this particular project, due diligence funds were used to develop and oversee the implementation of an Environmental and Social Assessment.
Customs Revenue Philippines - Program Administration and Control - Customs Revenue activity: Compact Development Funding (CDF) is used pre-compact for key project preparation work such as the feasibility and environmental impact studies, engineering designs, baseline surveys, financial management and procurement technical assistance, and other specialized analysis to help MCC determine the final suitability and scope of investments, costs, implementation risks, and mitigation measures.
FISCAL/PROCUREMENT AGENT Philippines - FISCAL/PROCUREMENT AGENT project: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete.
609g agreement/Pre-compact signing Philippines - Infrastructure Project - 609g agreement/Pre-compact signing activity: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete. In this particular project, due diligence funds were used to hire external technical assistance to support MCC's assessment and oversight of the MCA's infrastructure project to ensure country-led designs and subsequent implementation were consistent with MCC guidance.
Kalahi-Cidss Project Philippines - Kalahi-Cidss Project: Compact Development Funding (CDF) is used pre-compact for key project preparation work such as the feasibility and environmental impact studies, engineering designs, baseline surveys, financial management and procurement technical assistance, and other specialized analysis to help MCC determine the final suitability and scope of investments, costs, implementation risks, and mitigation measures.
Not Applicable Philippines - Monitoring and Evaluation - Non-allocated Funds activity: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete. In this particular project, due diligence funds were used to hire external technical assistance and/or collect data to support the design and implementation of the MCA's M&E and Economic Analysis frameworks, through compact implementation and evaluation stages.
Agriculture Project Philippines II - Agriculture Project: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete. In this particular project, due diligence funds were used to hire external technical assistance to support MCC's assessment and oversight of the MCA's agriculture projects to ensure country-led designs and subsequent implementation were consistent with MCC guidance.
609g agreement/Pre-compact signing Philippines - Private Sector Development Project - 609g agreement/Pre-compact signing activity: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete.
Not Applicable Philippines II - Transportation Project - Non-allocated Funds Activity: Due Diligence funding is used to obtain sufficient information to evaluate, assess and appraise projects during program development, effectively oversee and monitor program implementation, conduct quality assurance, and then evaluate the results of the project once complete. In this particular project, due diligence funds were used to assess and oversee MCC's transport project to ensure country-led designs and subsequent implementation were consistent with MCC guidance.