Global nuts and local mangoes: the limits and potential of the UNDP’s growing sustainable business initiative in Kenya

Abstract

"This paper seeks to offer an empirical contribution of the political processes, limits and potential of UN brokered partnerships that seek to deepen or create inclusive and sustainable agricultural supply chains in sub-Saharan Africa. More specifically it appraises the local processes of partnership brokerage, decision-making mechanisms and project implementation within the UNDP’s Growing Sustainable Business Initiative (GSB) in Kenya. The paper argues that the lack of bottom-up participation in decision-making mechanisms and the predominantly economic imperatives driving the partnership projects have failed to reach out to the partnerships’ intended beneficiaries – Kenyan small producers of nuts and mangoes. Opening up the GSB platform and monitoring the developmental impact of its partnership projects might hold the promise of reconciling sustainable business models with (some) poverty reduction." [author's abstract]