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AFC reacts to COVID-19 MEMBER OF GOPA CO NSULT ING GR O UP
AFC’S IMMEDIATE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 ADAPTING OUR WORK Adaption measures
Emergency measures
Hygiene measures & social distancing
Flexible workplaces & teleworking for all staff
Coming out stronger
Relying on local & regional staff with distance support
E-learning and technical support
SE T TING-UP WORKING GROUPS
Crisis management
AFC’s working groups
Capitalizing on AFC’s previous experience in providing e-learning courses on different platforms Allocating expert resources to build AFC’s capacities & transfer existing knowledge to e-learning material
E-learning & remote assistance
Strengthening synergies among different projects to build relevant content applicable worldwide
Improved distance communication
Using synergies with the GOPA Group: EPOS for health management & IT for online tools support
THE RIGHT TOOL, FOR THE RIGHT AUDIENCE, WITH THE RIGHT PURPOSE Selection of distance learning tools according to criteria including:
Synchronous participation needs
Level of interactivity
Relevance to target groups •2•
Possible dissemination channels
EXAMPLES OF ADJUSTED SERVICES ON-SITE
National SME Financing Strategy
Green Innovation Centre
Namibia (GIZ)
Mali (GIZ)
Namibia has been going through an economic recession since 2016. The pandemic has decelerated the fragile recovery of 2018/19.
The mango season in Mali is from end of April to June. It is important to act fast, as mangos are perishable products and the season is short. The government has introduced a number of measures to control the pandemic, which di-rectly impact the harvest, processing, packing and local marketing of mangoes. Furthermore, actors are affected by disruptions in global supply chains and demand.
GIZ introduced “SME survive”, a soft-loan for MSMEs struggling with the economic fall-out from the pandemic. Mentoring & coaching are attached as a condition for the loan.
AFC ’S RES P O NSE
A FC ’S R E S P O N S E
The Mentoring and Coaching Programme may be adapted to cover topics highly relevant for the crisis: •
•
• •
AFC visited 17 packing stations in Bamako and Sikasso regions in order to assess the challenges and impacts of COVID-19 and develop a targeted response. It revealed that overall processing time has increased from 1,5 days to 3 days, and that production costs had increased significantly. A key number of sanitary measures were introduced immediately to ensure the continuation of operations.
Liquidity management: for micro- and small enterprises‚ how to separate business & private expenditures in times of crisis; Relationship management with suppliers, landlords, etc.; negotiating with financial institutions; How to apply for support, loans etc.; How to sell (despite) the crisis, e.g. new sales channels, new services, etc.; Adapting production workflow to the crisis. For medium enterprises: How to ensure health of staff.
The short-term response include: • • • • •
• •
•3•
Provide 300 sanitary kits to packing stations, processing units and harvesters; Provide 252 sanitary kits to organic farmers and assist in renewing organic certification; Train 2,500 people in packing stations on preventive measures , Train 1,600 mango harvesters on preventive measures; Support monitoring of packing and pro-cessing units with regards to implementation of sanitary measures; Collaboration with 30 local radios for awareness raising on preventive measures; Support identification of new markets subregionally to compensate for export.
EXAMPLES OF ADJUSTED SERVICES ON-SITE
Market Oriented Agriculture Programme
Nigeria Competitiveness Project
Ghana (GIZ)
Nigeria (GIZ)
Ghana’s agro-processing SMEs face increasing costs and uncertainty due to Covid-19. Transport costs for exports shot up as logistic companies increased their rates, costs of production escalated due to maintaining social distancing & hygiene protocols, demand is generally less predictable.
In the garment sector, through partnership agreements, NICOP committed to provide technical assistance/ trainings to improve membership service delivery by the business membership organizations, and to improve production skills of member enterprises.
The GIZ Market Oriented Agriculture Programme (MOAP) works with stakeholders to cope with and adapt to the new normal.
Most of the planned trainings had to be put on hold until first training modules are transferred into e-learning courses.
A FC ’S R E S P O N S E
AFC ’S RES P O NSE •
• •
•
• •
Provide protective items (wherever possible, made in Ghana) to over 300 MSMEs in the agricultural sector Convene virtual meetings of umbrella bodies (e.g. Mango Round Table) Use remote coaching to support businesses with tailor-made advices (e.g. on processing efficiency and quality management systems) Develop content for local radio stations to disseminate key agricultural messages to reduce dependency on „face-to-face“ interactions Mitigate expected lay-offs by promoting apprenticeship models for the youth Build scenarios & develop strategies for agribusinesses to recover from COVID 19 and utilize opportunities (e.g. virtual trade fairs)
AFC in cooperation with one of the BMOs started a pilot production of a sample quantity of cloth facemasks: •
•
•
•
•4•
Involve 25 enterprises engaging 4 women per enterprise within the production system, producing 5000 cloth masks; Provide a video tutorial on the overall production which will be circulated on the organisation’s homepage for not only benefitting the participating enterprises in this pilot but for the entire pool of member enterprises; Determine the viability of home-made cloth masks with respect to its health and safety parameters as well as future commercial prospects; Scale-up of pilot if commercially successful.
AFC SUPPORTS ADDITIONAL SERVICES IN AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAIN This support is essential for AFC, as supply chain problems lead to food shortages and thus to hunger. Moreover, women are particularly affected by the curfews and the losses in agriculture lead to aggravated situations in the household.
SPECIFIC INPUTS
•
Provide: - Eqipment - Inputs
PRODUCTION
• •
Grow, harvest Produce the primary stage, etc.
TRANSFORMATION
• • •
Classify Process Pack
TRADE
• • •
Transport Distribute Sell
Inputs: Are seeds/ tubers etc. available and accessible?
Production: Is qualified labor available?
(Re-)packaging: Are packages now too big, because restaurants, etc. are closed?
Logistics: Transport / air freight available?
Adjustments in logistics might be needed
(Distance/ ICT) training might be needed
Re-packaging for retail might be needed
Coordination with producers and intermediaries can help
CONSUMPTION
• •
Prepare Consume
Hygiene Measures
Introduction is needed to keep farming and processing on-going ADJUSTED TOOLS
Management/Coaching from distance
E-learning •5•
Information campaigns by TV, radio, ICT, etc.
AFC SUPPORTS ADDITIONAL SERVICES IN FINANCIAL SEC TOR DEVELOPMENT EM ERGEN C Y ME A SU R E S Micro and SME Finance
Financial Institutions Development
Re-structure the loan porfolio
Manage increased credit risk
Manage relationship with borrowers (expection to borrow again)
Manage relationship with: • savers (avoid liquidity root) • regulators (ensure flexibility during crisis)
Re-negotiate and re-structure funding
Manage Investor relations
ADA P TION ME A SU R E S Micro and SME Finance
Organise (access to) support for Microfinance-Customers and MSMEs to ‘stay afloat‘ (liquidity, manage tight budgets, mobilise [family] resources)
Financial Literacy
Avoid withdrawing credit as much as possible! Re-evaluate existing and/or seek new strategic partnerships
Digital Finance
Insurance Systems
Manage staff expectations and retain talent
Banking Regulations & Supervision
Intensify on-site supervision to ensure safety of savings Relax borrowers’ burdens but carefully to avoid killing lending business Run stress-tests; monitor capital endowment of the different institutions closely – manage capital requirements ‘on the knife’s edge’ – not too loose and not too suffocating Financial Literacy
Encourage and co-fund financial literacy for households and MSMEs Encourage innovation in digital finance and in insurance
•6•
Digital Finance
Insurance Systems
AFC SUPPORTS ADDITIONAL SERVICES IN FINANCIAL SEC TOR DEVELOPMENT CO NTI NU ED
COMING OUT ST R O NG E R
BANKING REGULATIONS & SUPERVISION
DIGITAL FINANCE
Micro and SME Finance
A robust and inclusive financial sector with a healthy savings and borrowing culture
INSURANCE SYSTEMS
Financial Institutions Development
Efficient and innovative (M)FIs that innovate financial products for all segments of the economy
•7•
Expansion and innovation of the insurance sector
AFC IN 2020
AFC Agriculture and Finance Consultants GmbH is a private German consulting firm focusing on agri-cultural, agribusiness and financial development projects in developing and transition countries. AFC was established in 1973. In 2007, AFC became member of GOPA Consulting Group, Germany’s largest group of consulting firms in development cooperation. Our services for public organisations and private companies cover the whole range from primary production to processing and marketing. AFC’s portfolio includes the institutional development of microfinance organisations and banks, in order to provide sustainable credit and savings systems.
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PROJEC TS
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JANUARY 2020
86
PROJECTS
50
15
10
1
9
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©AFC 2020
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