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Integrated Seed Sector Development in Africa

The Integrated Seed Sector Development (ISSD) aims to enhance access to quality seed by smallholder farmers. It integrates both formal and informal seed systems and fosters participation of both public and private actors in the development of demand-driven seed chains. As a result, this supports the ability of smallholder farmers to produce food sustainably and stimulates economic growth.

Strengthening seed entrepreneurship

KIT supports the performance of national and cross-national seed sectors in Africa. This includes enabling the development of community seed management and local seed businesses, advising on the required enabling policy environment, and improving interaction with formal seed systems. All of these measures have the aim of strengthening seed entrepreneurship.

In partnership with Centre for Development Innovation (CDI), KIT is involved in country-specific programmes in Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Tanzania and Mozambique, as well as in cross-border programmes under the auspices of the African Union.

The new ISSD Africa programme began in September 2014 with the following four priorities:

The ISSD approach promotes partnership among seed sector stakeholders, identifying opportunities that can emerge between different seed systems and seed value chains. Through their interventions the programmes aim to stimulate seed policy innovation, strengthen local seed entrepreneurship and support the emergence of a strong, vibrant and pluralistic seed sector in Africa.

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  • Applied research

    KIT Royal Tropical Institute addresses development challenges at local, regional and global levels through research that generates new insights and knowledge in our areas of expertise: health, sustainable economic development and gender.

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    Development and research organisations are often so focused on achieving their objectives that they find it difficult to create time to look back, analyse and learn from what they experienced and share their results.

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  • Project Implementation

    KIT has more than 80 experts specialising in public health systems, epidemiology, sexual and reproductive health and rights, agricultural innovation, food value-chains, gender relations, and inclusive finance. The combination of this content expertise and process-related skills not only leads to better projects, it also builds competencies in project design, implementation and management. We build on our clients’ own resources and knowledge, mission and values and ensure that our advice is aligned with existing initiatives, has policy relevance, and is adapted to the local context. With extensive experience and practical involvement in projects and programmes worldwide, we tailor our project support to your needs, the context you are working in and the partners with whom you are working. Our approach is practical and based on action learning. This allows you to yield the highest possible impact with your investments. 

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  • Policy & Programme Design

    KIT operates at the intersection of theory and practice and between policy and implementation, translating good intentions into meaningful social and economic impact. Our professional staff combine expertise in specific content areas with the ability to offer a diverse suite of advisory services, including policy and programme design and implementation. This experience enables our advisors to navigate sustainable development processes and identify elements that can make a difference in programme performance. We help governments, organisations and businesses to learn from their experiences, improve practice, and maximize the impact of their interventions. With the knowledge we share, public and private investors are better equipped to identify the investments that yield highest economic and social impact. 

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