Economic Development Unit

This document presents the results of the first “cycle” of discussions of the FIELD Facilitation working group. The objective of this working group is to share experiences and identify best practices for facilitating value chain development programs, and more specifically how programs can best work with “lead firms” to accomplish their goals. In an effort to structure the work, a series of six “discussion cycles” has been developed that will take place over a one-year time period (see appendix for list of these cycles). Each cycle takes place over a 2-3 month period and consists of preliminary tasks, a working group discussion, and a synthesis of results.


This first cycle, entitled “Defining Lead Firms and Principles of Facilitation” was designed to serve as the foundation for the subsequent cycles. It begins with a description of lead firms (in the context of value chain development programs) and is followed by a section on “principles/good practice for facilitation,” (in the context of working with lead firms). This section includes topics on sustainability, promoting relationships among value chain actors, choosing lead firms to work with, and structuring collaboration.

This third cycle is titled “Structuring and Managing Collaboration with Lead Firms”. It begins with a section on practical measures that development organizations (DOs) can employ to establish and maintain credibility with LFs they are collaborating with. This is followed by a section on developing and negotiating memoranda of understandings (MOUs) with Lead Firms (LFs).  A discussion on how to initiate MOUs, the components of successful MOUs, and guidelines for identifying and structuring cost share agreements is also included.

This fourth cycle is titled “Interventions with Lead Firms”. It begins with a “typology” of common interventions that development organizations (DOs) undertake in collaboration with LFs in order to increase the competitiveness of these firms and the value chains they participate in, and to generate sustainable impact for the many MSME producers that the LFs buy from or sell to. Following a discussion of the typology, examples of “intervention briefs” (IBs) based on the actual experiences of working group member organizations are presented. Each IB contains a description of the initiative, an outline of the activities, potential cost share opportunities, and a section detailing the lessons learned and challenges faced by DOs. While there are not IBs for each topic listed in the typology, the ones presented provide good examples of different strategies and methodologies that reflect the principles of working with Lead Firms described in WG Cycle 1.