Food Security and Inclusive Access to Resources for Conflict Sensitive Market Development (FARM)

General

Mercy Corps and Search for Common Ground propose a 48-month intervention to improve the socioeconomic and security conditions of about 25,000 households (150,000 men, women, girls and boys) in North Kivu province, DRC. This goal will be achieved through considering all the market actors, systems and functions – as well as contributing contextual factors – that prevent smallholder farmers and small entrepreneurs (impact group) from increasing their incomes and their food security situation. Under Strategic Objective 1, the programme will bring the government and citizenry together to allow the target population to increasingly benefit from quality and accountable state services related to land use, agricultural production and markets. Under Strategic Objective 2, FARM will strengthen and diversify agricultural and non-agricultural livelihoods of target households through increasing their capacity to respond to market demand and ensuring that they sustainably access services and goods that are adapted to their needs from private and public market actors. The programme will be divided into a 6-month inception phase, followed by 2.5 years of extensive support to market actors through facilitative approaches, and one year dedicated to monitoring improved market exchanges and additional programme investments to achieve scale and sustainability. The programme will be implemented in 120 villages, selected across 5 Chefferies of the Goma Hinterland

Objectives

Outcome 1.1: Systemic constraints to land access, including conflict management systems, are inclusively improved. Outcome 1.2: Barriers to formal control of land are reduced, especially for women and youth. Outcome 2.1: Market actors from different communities collaborate to increase market access, especially for women and youth. Outcome 2.2: Market actors / institutions develop inclusive accessible by vulnerable chain actors Outcome 2.3: Joint-community planning and management improve natural resource use