Cedric Steijn

• Report

This synthesis of six case studies studies the impact of the “landscape approach” and offers recommendations for its design and setup, as this approach – in theory – has the potential to support effective and sustainable action to prevent and address child labour. Based on an operational definition of a “landscape approach” – an approach […]

• Report

This report presents the findings of the mid-term evaluation (MTE) of the second phase of IDH’s Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes (ISLA), funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The ISLA programme was first launched in 2015 and is now half-way its second funding period (2021-2025). In view thereof, the purpose of this MTE is—besides accountability to […]

• Research article

There is widespread belief that intermediaries in African agri-food value chains have disproportionate market power. In this paper, the authors examine this belief by uncovering the purchasing and selling prices, costs and profit margins by farmers, intermediaries and retailers in the matooke (cooking banana) value chain in Uganda, and by analysing the prevailing value chain […]

Aquaculture improvement projects (AIPs) have recently emerged as a new form of market-based and non-state governance in the aquaculture sector. They embody multi-stakeholder efforts that leverage the influence of the private sector to drive improvements in aquaculture production and ensure that these changes endure through improved policy and management strategies. This paper is based on […]

• Report

Reflections on the Sea of Change project This learning report describes the processes involved in implementing a tailor made gender integration approach based on capacity development, technical assistance, and action learning involving unpacking the project’s Theory of Change from a gender perspective. Qualitative fieldwork and a series of reflection workshops generated the findings presented in […]

In 2015, Nestlé launched a program focusing on the ‘better-off farmers’, called the Elite Farmer program. The ‘elite farmers’ were hand-picked from ordinary farmers in villages, based on a number of selection criteria, and intensively trained and coached. The aim was to empower elite farmers to unleash their potential, both in cocoa production and in […]

• Working Paper

Agricultural production frequently competes with forest conservation. The issue is particularly significant in developing countries where economic pressures frequently drive projects oriented at short-term economic gains at the expense of deforestation and long-term sustainable development. This working paper offers a review of business models combining agriculture with conservation objectives and portrays two illustrative case studies […]

• Working Paper

Since their emergence in the mid-1990s, voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) have been propelled from specialty niches into mainstream markets due to rising demand among consumers, buyers and producers to address socio-economic, environmental and food safety concerns. VSS range from efforts by single firms or NGOs, to industry associations and social movement organisations, business-NGO collaborations, multi- […]

Executive Summary This report presents the findings of an impact evaluation of the Lindt & Sprüngli (L&S) Farming Program in Ghana carried out by KIT Royal Tropical Institute in 2019. Based on quantitative and qualitative methods, the evaluation covered a variety of topics in line with the program’s Theory of Change. To track change over […]