4. Present ICT based VC services in
C4C funded project:
• Co-ordination within producer organizations
(Kenya, Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Mali), or
• between producer organization and buyer(s)
(Burkina Faso, Kenya, Mali)
• Certification (Zambia (Organic Export), Bolivia (Local
Organic, aided with GPS) and Quality management
(Burkina Faso)
• Access to Crop Protection information (Bolivia, Kenya)
• Marketing (Peru, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso)
5. Successful market based ICT projects
(according to Hystra)
• Focused on customers’ ability and willingness to pay,
rather than on identified social needs and supposed
demand.
• Built from the ground-up through a trial and error,
flexibly evolving based on end-user feedback.
• Capturing adequate share of customer’s mind and
wallet (through a related set of services) to recoup
investment and to minimize marketing expenses once
an ICT channel is built.
• A wide range of services, combining varied revenue
streams. ICT4D is a low price-high volume market, with
unit price of each service in the order of magnitude of a
few cents to a few dollars at best.
6. Somebasicguidelinesonmarketconfo
rmity:
• focus on changing processes and behavior and not just
solving identified problems
• avoid taking up functions that are part of the business
cycle (i.e. take care not to substitute local entrepreneurs)
• work with existing commercial initiatives and do not
establish new marketing channels that are not
sustainable, even if they offer fairer terms for farmers
during the project life span
• do not set up interventions which compete with existing
business and other services, unless you are very sure
about their viability and sustainability
• address market imperfections and withdraw when
markets function