Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Title
Please provide a name for your action learning plan.
Digital Marketing Platform - KrishiCoopBazaar.com
Challenge statement
Challenge type: If you are working on multiple challenges, please indicate if this is your "big bet" or "exploratory" challenge.
Please note: we ask you to only submit a maximum of 3 challenges - 1x Big Bet, 2x Exploratory. Each challenge must be submitted individually.
EXPLORATORY
Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)
Our challenge was to strengthen the linkages between farmers' cooperative markets and consumers through digital transformation.
Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?
Due to the COVID imposed lockdowns and travel restrictions in Nepal, agricultural sector has been highly affected, with direct impact on the lives and livelihoods of farmers. Since there was an uneven distribution of agricultural products within the country due to the lack of market linkages, food waste was observed in high production area while price hike at the urban settlements. Most of the people living in urban areas started to depend on e-commerce platforms for the regular consumption of agricultural commodities in the wake of second wave of COVID in 2020. In one hand, it was a good sign of new market options but on the other hand farmers were compelled to sell their produce with minimal to no profit. Hence, we thought of working directly with the farmers' cooperative markets so that they could enhance their outreach and earn their fair share of investment. We worked together with Cooperative Market Development Programme (CMDP), a joint initiative between the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation and the UNDP Nepal. Our vision was to create a digital platform for the existing farmers' cooperative markets within CMDP so that the farmers could have direct contact with the consumers.
Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#country/149
Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7648539/ https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Nepal_COVID_Food_Security_Report_2.pdf https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/agriculture/covid-19-why-nepal-s-farmers-should-have-sustained-cereal-production-71842 https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/vegetables-worth-rs-millions-rotting-in-farm-amid-lockdown-in-dhading
Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?
The Cooperative Market Development Programme (CMDP) has been constructing and operating farmers' cooperatives markets since 2018 in order to increase quality, quantity and consistency of the supply of fruits and vegetables through infrastructure development, marketing and capacity development. Though the programme has been successful on establishing 50 primary cooperative market collection centers at the local level, 2 district level markets, 2 municipal markets and 2 central level satellite markets, the effect of COVID has negatively impacted on the market linkages. Since the project did not have any plans and resources (both financial and technical) to look into the unintended issues posed by COVID, Accelerator Lab came on board to explore potential ideas for the project. Accelerator Lab together with the project looked into the possibilities of introducing digital marketing platform for the project beneficiaries, i.e. farmers cooperatives. Since Accelerator Lab has prior experience working on digital transformation, we prepared the detail outline and concept for the platform which became an added value for the project. We also have experience working with software developing companies which made it easier for us to scan the existing market for potential vendors. We partnered with Bidhee Private Limited, one of the software developers, to prepare the platform for the project. One of the selection criteria that was made desirable was the cost sharing modality from the private sector, as a part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As a result, we were able to pitch in 40% of the total cost from the private sector and 60% from the Accelerator Lab budget. Apart from that it is worth investing to this challenge since it covers the national priority and both our frontier challenges (urbanization and unemployment).
Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?
#safeguarding the livelihood of #COVID affected #Farmers' #Cooperatives through #DigitalPlatform #DigitalTransformation #Digitization #MarketLinkage
Partners
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and Poverty Alleviation
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
Since the project, Cooperative Market Development Programme, is a joint collaboration with the Ministry and UNDP, it is vital to have the ministry on board for all the final approvals and endorsements on the digital platform.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Bidhee Private Limited
What sector does our partner belong to?
Private Sector
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
The partnership was on developing the codes and software for the digital platform, both web-based and mobile based (Android and IOS) applications. The partnership had a mutual cost sharing (40% of the total cost) from the private sector as well.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Who are your top 5 partners for this challenge? Please submit from MOST to LEAST important and state Name, Sector and a brief description of the (intended) collaboration.
Please state the name of the Parter:
Chabahil Cooperative Market
What sector does our partner belong to?
Government (&related)
Please provide a brief description of the collaboration.
This cooperative market has been established by CMDP and we are currently collaborating with them on designing and testing the digital platform for their market.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
Yes
Learning questions
Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?
Our learning question was: "How can we minimize the increasing market gap between the farmers and the consumers and minimize the COVID effects on the lives of people around us, especially the farmers?" In order to work on our challenge statement, we need to understand the need and requirements of the farmers' cooperatives. Hence, we conducted horizon scanning with few of the cooperative markets on the existing gaps and maximizing their reach to the local consumers. This helped us to frame their needs and capacity on handling digital marketing platform.
To what stage(s) in the learning cycle does your learning question relate?
Explore, Test
Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
1. Horizon Scanning: It helped us to detect the potential opportunity for the farmers' cooperative markets which have been highly affected by the COVID. The consultations with the cooperative markets helped us to identify the possibility of launching a digital marketing platform as per their current needs and requirements. 2. Participatory Design: Accelerator Lab formulated the initial concept and design for the digital platform which was further refined after multiple revisions and feedback from the ministry and the cooperative markets so that the actual needs and demand of the users and clients could be fully met. 3. Artificial Intelligence: The application uses AI to locate the locations of the users and suggest the markets closest to their area and also suggests products that are frequently been visited by the consumers to minimize their time on searching products.
Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?
The users and members of the application will automatically be loaded in the system which will help to track the transaction as well as preference of the local people on using e-commerce platform as an alternative to buy and sell agricultural products.
Closing
Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?
Farmers, Cooperative Markets and local people will benefit from this platform. In order to grow this platform, we are already collaborating with the ministry and few of the cooperatives on testing the platform. We hope to bring onboard and work together with the cooperative associations once this platform gets rolled out and have better traction in the field of e-commerce business.
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8Decent work and economic growth
12Responsible consumption and production
17Partnerships for the goals
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