ESFIM - A FARMER DRIVEN RESEARCH AND POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

The ESFIM programme (Empowering Smallholder Farmers in Markets)  aims to strengthen smallholder farmers capacity to generate remunerative cash income from markets by strengthening the lobby and advocacy capacity of National Farmer Organisations (NFOs).
ESFIM stimulates this through a combination of action research and evidence collection, policy and case-study analysis, and dialogue and cross-learning between participating NFOs. With these activities ESFIM contributes to the formulation of evidence-based policy propositions and advocacy strategies to adapt the institutional environment of markets in the benefit of smallholder farmers.


ESFIM PHASE 3

AGRINATURA currently provides research support to national farmers’ organisations (NFOs) that strengthens their capacities to formulate feasible, evidence-based propositions for changes in key elements of the institutional or policy environment that empower smallholder farmers in markets.

For the new phase (2013-2016) ESFIM proposes to work on four components:

• EFIM Research Support Funds, available to NFOs exclusively, for contracted research that helps to refine their advocacy strategies
• Seed money to NFOs to facilitate the elaboration of these research proposals, including the necessary participative processes of policy generation and targeted advocacy
• Follow-up and backstopping by AGRINATURA to generate quality outputs
• Link these farmer-led processes with the knowledge and staff in national research institutes and related development interventions

Source:
ESFIM Newletter report on current highlights in the programme:
(October 2012) Download PDF: ESFIM newsletter October 2012