Partners for Development (PFD)

Benin programpfd's approach to agricultural Development in pineapple processing for export (pinex)pfd's main work in benin continues to be the multi-year $15m pineapple processing for export or pinex, which is core-funded by the u.s. department of agriculture (usda). The basic approach of pinex is work with local businesses in the pineapple value chain in product market research and then to strengthen or build the capacity of farmers and processors to meet that demand. This market-driven production model was used in pfd's growing resources for enhanced agricultural enterprises and nutrition (green) project, which in 2019 was assessed by the u.s. department of agriculture (usda) as one of its three most sustainable projects, with 100% of market garden farmers still using the crop production techniques and market access green had provided, three years after the project had ended.agricultural Development: select pinex impacts as of 2022increased pineapple production to 670,507 mt with a value of $137 million.increased pineapple juice production to 37,330 mt with a value of $42mincreased dried pineapple production to 123 mt with a value of $1.13m created 21,797 more jobs, mainly for women and youth.certified 650 hectares of pineapple fields in globalg.a.p., a food safety certification required by european fruit markets.increased use of improved techniques among 126 juice and dried fruit companies in processing and best practices for good hygiene; and eight companies had earned international food safety certification of hazard analysis and critical control point (haccp).insured that over 5,400 pineapple farmers are applying new techniques or technologies and practicing improved farm, and financial management.helped in securing for benin's unique sugarloaf pineapple "geographical indication or gi, the prized intellectual property status important for branding and marketing ("champagne" is perhaps the most famous gi in the world).introduced new varieties of pineapple to benin, with 9,491 queen victoria plants successfully grown on 45 demonstration plots and with an additional 117 demonstration fields used as farmer field schools to teach best pineapple production practices.in 2022, pinex strengthened the technical capacities of 1,187 pineapple producers, including 172 women through cascade training. 777 new producers were trained and 48 technical agents received refresher training. These trainings focused on pineapple best production practices such as soil preparation, planting, fertilization, maintenance, disease control, floral induction treatment, harvesting and packaging for the european market.pinex collaborated with moa/atda7 to conduct on-farm monitoring and advice to 2,170 pineapple producers. Pinex and moa set up 75 new demonstration plots on specific pineapple production techniques including the newly introduced queen victoria pineapple production.pinex also strengthened the presence of benin sugarloaf pineapples on the european market by increasing producers' compliance with globalg.a.p standards. Pinex assisted aneab members to certify 162 hectares of sugarloaf pineapple fields and collaborated with blue skies to certify 94 hectares of smooth cayenne pineapple fields.agricultural Development: improved agricultural processingin 2022, pinex trained 137 staff from 28 new processing companies on hygiene and processing best practices of pineapple juice and dried pineapple, focusing on the principles and implementing steps of haccp. Micro and small processors were provided training materials to conduct the refresher trainings of their staff.pinex collaborated with pum, a dutch ngo, to assist one processor of pineapple juice make wine and to review and improve the production process and the quality of the wine.pinex also conducted a first training for 13 processing companies on haccp requirements and the process of certification focusing on the prerequisites, the needed documents, hygiene requirements regarding facility, staff and production process, the processor registration with a certification company, the number and cost of audits.pinex assisted four haccp-certified companies in passing their follow up audit and which enable extended their certification for one additional year.expanded agricultural tradepinex assisted 13 processing companies to in securing necessary approvals to participate in the ecowas trade liberalization scheme (etls) which broadens market opportunities for them within the 15 countries in ecowas. 37 processing companies participated at two fiara and fidak fairs in dakar, senegal, and signed nine commercial contracts for 75 mt of pineapple juice. In 2022, seven pineapple exporters participated at the fruit logistica fair in berlin, germany, and reconnected with their clients after the covid-19 worldwide restrictions. This participation resulted in four sales contracts for 1,025 mt of fresh pineapples.connecting producers and processors to financing and agricultural inputsin 2022, pinex collaborated with five mfis to issue 2,530 loans to pineapple producers. These loans had an aggregate value of $2,155,004, with an average loan size of $850, and are used mainly to purchase key inputs such as seed, fertilizer, and pesticide and to hire seasonal labor. Pinex has issued 36 loans to processors with an overall value of $173,176 but in 2023-24 aims to increase that very substantially through a partnership with local mfi, fececam. Pfd has provided fececam with loan guarantees, with technical assistance, and by serving as a broker between it and up to 16 processors with the aim that fececam will then issue larger loans to these companies, averaging around $60,000, that the companies can use to scale up the capacity of their enterprises.innovation grants through 2022, pinex has issued 15 innovation grants, valued at $120,000, through a competitive process intended to stimulate innovative ideas in the pineapple value chain and involve more marginalized groups such as women and youth.

Cambodia program during the period 1992-2021, pfd has won approximately $24.5 million in 46 grants and contracts from public and private donors for project activities in cambodia. These activities have positively impacted several hundred thousand cambodians in 16 of cambodia's 25 provinces. As of 2022, we continue in cambodia, mainly working in improved access to credit for poorer households.

Nigeria program on august 6, 2021, Partners for Development (pfd) signed a $3.5million, three-year cooperative agreement with the united states agency for international Development (usaid) to implement the 36-month water improvement and sanitation enhancement (wise) project in 100 rural communities in jigawa and kano states in northern nigeria. The goal of wise is to provide potable water and improved sanitation services to 145,000 beneficiaries in these rural communities through the installation of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (wash) facilities and the provision of hygiene education.as of 31 december 2022, wise had rehabilitated 76 improved water facilities that together are providing clean drinking water to over 40,000 residents in 42 of the targeted rural communities that are providing potable water to over 40,000 men, women, and children. Twenty-four of these improved water facilities are located in public institutions (schools and primary health centers), thereby improving the wash status of public institutions, which was recorded as 23 and 36 for jigawa and kano states respectively during baseline assessments. Also, through strengthening the technical capacity of four local government wash departments and eight civil society organizations (csos) on facilitation of community-led total sanitation (clts) approaches, wise is contributing to government's objective of ending open defecation in nigeria by 2025. In this regard, over 31,000 persons are involved in constructing latrines for their households.in september 2022, Partners for Development (pfd) won a $4m sub-award for 49 months that is focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene (wash) from the larger usaid-funded watershed protection for safe and sustainable water supply project implemented in bauchi and cross river states in nigeria by wildlife conservation society (wcs). The goal of this sub award is to increase water security and resilience, by providing improved water, sanitation, and hygiene services, to 52,000 residents of 75 rural communities and ecosystems that depend upon the cross river watershed in cross river state (southeastern nigeria) and the pai watershed in bauchi state (north central nigeriaas of 31 december 2022, four months into implementation of the sub award, pfd had conducted advocacy and sensitization visits to the two state rural water supply and sanitation agencies (ruwassa) and the authorities of the five lgas targeted by the project - alkaleri lga in bauchi state; and akamkpa, boki, etung and obanliku lgas in cross river state to leverage existing resources and get their buy-in into implementation of the sub award. Also, pfd completed detailed baseline assessment of the target locations to earmark benchmarks for measuring project performance and to generate accurate data for use by the project and other wash stakeholders. Results from the baseline assessments revealed that 42% and 67% of existing wash facilities in bauchi state and cross river state respectively were non-functional. The baseline assessment results also showed that only 49% and 28% of the target populations in bauchi and cross river state respectively, had access to potable water. Pfd plans to install 75 improved water and 30 improved sanitation facilities in the target locations to improve access to wash in the locality.investment in delta state aquaculture (idsa) projectwith a $500,000 sub award from the usaid-funded west africa trade and investment hub (watih) project, Partners for Development (pfd) co-invested $1.1m in private funds and has been implementing the 24-month investment in delta state aquaculture (idsa) project initially in several local government areas (lga) in delta state. Since may 2021, idsa has been providing technical assistance and business management support to 600 smallholder fish farmers most of whom are members of fish farmers associations, 15 hatcheries, and 15 fish feed distributors. Also, idsa is strengthening the capacity of eight fish farmers associations and 10 agricultural extension officers that are personnel of the state ministry of agriculture (moa) to be able to provide support services to these smallholder fish farmers after the project ends.results from an assessment of the fish farmers conducted 18 months into implementation of idsa revealed that average farmers yield increased by 54% over the baseline average of 1,513kg, which translated into more than 21% increase in annual sales, and over 250 new jobs created. This improved performance can be attributed to over 85% of the smallholder fish farmers adopting at least one of the modern aquaculture management practices and technologies as well as over 90% benefitting from the financial services provided by idsa.before anne johnson's sudden death from cancer at age 57 in december 2013, she had a distinguished career in international Development and worked for Partners for Development (pfd) for several years, including as its nigeria country program director. Anne was passionate about many subjects, including girls' education in nigeria. As a result, pfd wished to honor anne's memory by establishing the anne johnson memorial scholarship fund (ajmsf) as of the school year 2014 -15. This was made possible through generous donations, mainly from anne's family and friends, initially totaling about $40,000, but since inception over $60,000 from more than 50 individuals or institutions. The fund provides scholarships for female students in nigeria, mainly at the middle school level. By the close of the 2022-23 school year, pfd had provided 309 scholarships with about another 50 planned for the 2023-24 school year.