ICCO STARS
I was Strategic Communication Advisor for ICCO Cooperation between 2019 and 2021, supporting four country teams to develop and implement a communicational strategy for its STARS program.
The Strengthening African Rural Smallholders, (STARS), is a five-year (2017 – 2021) ICCO Cooperation project in partnership with Mastercard Foundation and ICCO Terrafina. Through a market system development approach the project focuses on improving access to finance and markets for 210,000 smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Senegal and Burkina Faso. The project plans to have an overall impact in the lives of more than 1 million people.
​
ICCO Cooperation is a faith-based, Dutch non-governmental organization for development cooperation, established in 1964.
Stories and Photos
January 17, 2020
Digital Info System in Senegal Brings Together Agricultural Actors
How can farmers who live in remote parts of Senegal still get access to the national market and sell their produce? The answer is called Mlouma, a platform dedicated to bringing buyers and producers closer together.
​
Read the full story here
December 4, 2019
Shea Producers in Burkina Faso Develop New Business Plans
The shea sector in West Africa is growing at a promising pace. But can the female shea collectors in Burkina Faso, who face many challenges, among which a deteriorating security situation, keep up with the market demand?
​
Read the full story here
November 20, 2019
Introducing Equipment, Creating Jobs For Youth in Rwanda
By mapping the gaps and opportunities in equipment financing, STARS discovered a new pathway to improve access to agricultural equipment, while creating jobs for young entrepreneurs to act as service providers to farmers. In this blog, read more about how this could look like.
Read the full story here
November 20, 2019
Malt Barley Farmers Access Inputs Through the Farm Service Center
Ethiopia is one of the major producers of malt barley in Sub-Saharan Africa. But farmers have low yields due to lack of access to quality inputs. STARS, a program of ICCO Cooperation, works in Ethiopia with Microfinance Institutions and Farm Service Centers to change that. Read here how that works.
Read the full story here
October 16, 2019
Developing Climate-Resilient Cowpea Value Chain in Senegal
Cowpea farmers in Senegal often lack access to quality inputs, best agricultural practices and access to finance and remain stuck in subsistence farming. In this blog, read how the STARS program of ICCO Cooperation supports cowpea farmers in Senegal to increase their cowpea production and get linked to markets.
Read the full story here
September 4, 2019
A-CAT – A Tool for Risk Assessment in Agriculture Financing
Both farmers and MFIs have an interest to know how much it costs to produce a certain crop and whether or not a profitable return can be achieved. If only they had a tool that could assist them to calculate costs and returns of any crop during its crop-cycle.
​
Read the full story here
Publications
Final program report
This publication was created as a final program impact report. Texts, photos and design was created by Christien van den Brink. Download here.
​
​
