Empowerment

Discussion at the latest of the IIED-Hivos ‘provocations’ in Brussels last week (22 June) suggests that the first step in assessing how ‘pro-poor’ business contributes to development and smallholder empowerment, is to understand what we mean by the word ‘inclusive’.

In The Hague, Stockholm and Paris we have heard the call for more support to producer organisations through which small-scale farmers can have a voice in the market. This call was re-iterated at the latest IIED/HIVOS provocation ‘Making markets work for smallholders or wage labour?’ — held in Manchester, United Kingdom, last week, in collaboration with The University of Manchester.

Development policymakers, academics and practitioners gathered at a ‘provocation’ seminar in Stockholm, Sweden last week (3 March 2011) to discuss whether their approaches to supporting small-scale farmers sh