SAAKTI in detail

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SAAKTI: Sustainable Access to Agroforestry Knowledge, Technology and Information
Where do we work?
SAAKTI interventions are not limited to but mostly concentrated in Rajshahi Division and Sunamgonj District.
A bit of history
The first Sustainable Land Use (SLU) Programme of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) ran from 1987 to 2003 and included a major field-based project - the Village & Farm Forestry Project (VFFP). The latter developed a network of local professional nursery owners represented by associations - and promoted agroforestry on private land and empowerment of farmers' organisations as a means of contributing to poverty reduction.
Considering that knowledge is essential for development, an Agroforestry Resource Centre (ARC) was established as an integral part of the project. The purpose was to collect, collate and disseminate technologies in agroforestry that were appropriate and affordable for small and poor farmers in the North-West. Despite its achievements, ARC constituted a project-based institution, not sustainable in the long run. Accordingly, it was decided to facilitate national institutions - research institutes and extension agencies- in order to make accessible agroforestry knowledge to small farmers.
The first phase of SAAKTI showed very promising perspectives in the field of private and commercial service provision. It could establish a network of 3,600 local service providers, which render advisory services to communities, most often on a fee-based transaction, either embedded or not. The service providers include and farmers, retailers, input sellers, etc. At national level, SAAKTI facilitated the revival of the National Agroforestry Working Group, which plays a significant role in the coordination of national stakeholders (large NGOs, research institutions, line agencies) in the field of knowledge management in agroforestry.
In its second phase, starting in 2007, SAAKTI will apply more systematically a three-tier approach for further developing a service provision system, including stakeholders at national, regional and local level. It will also emphasise on a regional perspective of interventions, enhancing collaboration with private sector.

Who do we work for?

We work for poor rural households in all 16 districts of Rajshahi Division and the Sunamganj District of Sylhet division, which represent 50% of the poorest districts of Bangladesh . More than 50% of the population of these districts live below the poverty line. . These households tend to have less than one hectare of cultivable land and 34% have no land except for their homesteads. The large majority of these households depend on their homesteads for about half of their requirements in food and cash. This income is to a great extent achieved through agroforestry - the mixed cultivation of diverse species of trees and crops along with the rearing of poultry and livestock. But we also address the extreme poor, with an approach that better fits their livelihoods strategies, often based on non-farm activities.

Rural communities mostly rely on their traditional knowledge, and often lack of local advisory resources that can help them in better accessing economic opportunities for their products. Their access to external knowledge (including information on marketing and processing) is very limited. Professional advice from institutional sources is available to them to a limited extent from the upazila (sub-district) level and union level line agencies, as well as and local NGOs.

Our purpose and vision
SAAKTI aims at contributing to economic empowerment of rural households, with special attention to poor and extreme poor, through improved access to quality and sustainable service provision at local level.
Our objectives
•	Demand led and affordable quality services are available at community level and contribute to the development of economic activities.
•	A sustainable system is established at regional level for strengthening the capacity of local service providers.
•	The National Agroforestry Working Group (NAWG) is consolidated and contributes to disseminate agroforestry knowledge at regional level.

		Our approaches

		•	Systematisation of 3-tier approach, which includes participation of national, regional and local stakeholders for the promotion and capacity building of local service providers
		•	Promotion of a sustainable linkage between stakeholders (research and extension institutes, private sector, local service providers and households)
		•	Promoting and strengthening service providers associations as a driving force of a self-propelled process for the extension of service provision
		•	Promotion of diversified services through creating employment opportunity for the rural poor and extreme poor, especially the women for the rural households
		•	Promoting Market development and Business Development Services for the growth of private services

Our partners

•	Public Sector line agencies, particularly at regional level for training of local service providers and backstopping support (e.g. DAE, DLS, BFRI, BARI)
•	Private Sector for capacity building of LSPs and for accessing to information and innovations, particularly in respect of BDS approach (e.g. Metal Agro, West-East Seed, Bayer Crop Science)
•	Service Providers Associations
•	Traders Associations
•	KATALYST Project, for the promotion of specific sub-sector (e.g. vegetables, spices)
•	Other initiatives and organisations that can contribute to further develop quality service provision
•	Local Partner NGOs- working as implementing partners of our interventions and approaches at the community level

Our assets
•	A pool of 3,706 voluntary and fee-based local service providers
•	43 associations of service providers which contribute to their professionalism
•	Four regional resource pools ( three in Rashahi Division and one in Sunamganj District) integrating line experts from regional and local level public institutes, and private sector
•	Network of experts from the private sector which contributes to capacity development of service providers
•	Strong collaboration with relevant public institutes and a few private companies
•	Revitalised National Agroforestry Working Group

Main activities

•	Develop Local Service Providers (LSPs) as professionals with commercial orientation for low-cost quality services at the proximity of the households.
•	Strengthen the capacity of the Service Providers Associations (SPAs) with a view that they would work as driving force for influencing the line agency experts for capacity building of LSPs leading to sustainability of the local service provision.
•	Strengthen and systematise of the Regional Resource Pools with inclusion of experts from private sectors that creates an environment of continuous flow of capacity building and supports to the Local Service Providers and their associations.
•	Strengthen local networks and platforms (e.g. agriculture technical committee), which have a potential to contribute to the development of service provision.
•	Develop public-private partnerships for the improvement of competitiveness of selected sub-sectors.
•	Support to the National Agroforestry Working Group for the dissemination of knowledge in agroforestry.
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