TechnoServe (TNS) Livelihood Support Mejang Biosphere 2017-18

This intervention seeks to use TechnoServe's capacities in market development to stimulate the emergence of sustainable livelihoods opportunities in the biosphere establishment project agreed in cooperation with MELCA in Mejang. (Intervention number 5108014.) the budget for this two year long support project is proposed to be two yeard, 2017-18. During a pilot phase of 15 months, foundations have been established for development of better income opportunities for vulnerable communities, e.g through establishment and strengthening of cooperatives and their surrounding markets. Initial and full scale analyses have been conducted for value chains with particular environment and pro poor potentials such as coffee, honey and spices. Good results during the pilot phase now enable an effective scaling-up of environmental and economic development through the remaining period of biosphere establishment in Mejang; a mutually reinforcing combination of results which are also at the core of the new cooperation strategy for Sweden in Ethiopia. During the here proposed phase of implementation, both cooperatives and other players are expected to be strengthened to the point where economically and environmentally sustainable income opportunities are improved for vulnerable forest communities. The full effect of these improvements will not materialize in the two years of activity, but effects are expected to be tangible and sufficient to a point where additional external funding should not be required for effects to sustain. As further depicted in the results framework, 10-30% improvements in income are likely to materialize; the size depending on different enabling conditions for change for different ethnical and socioeconomic groups. This assessment is qualified as "Limited", due to the fact that it is a support intervention to 5108014, and due to both quality of partnership and experience which has been established under the pilot phase in 2016. Additional assessment of capacities and potentials is therefore not considered useful. The here proposed budget of 15 MSEK is 5 MSEK higher than the budget originally envisioned for income generating activities in Mejang. This adjustment is justified by the fact that TNS has demonstrated potential not only to ensure achievement of the results originally envisioned for income generation of cooperatives in Mejang, but also demonstrated potential to stimulate changes in market systems that can be expected to substantially improve sustainability of results while also extending numbers of beneficiaries from a few thousand to over forty thousand.