International Crops Resrearch Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)
Contact: Bekele Shiferaw (b.shiferaw[at]cgiar.org)

Egerton University, Kenya; Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Kenya; TechnoServe (TNS), Kenya; Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS), India; BAIF Development Research Foundation, India.

Using two case studies of collective action (watershed management in India and group marketing in Kenya), the study aims to identify how local institutions and organizations evolve and function, what determines user participation in collective action, and the extent to which this can contribute to poverty reduction. While direct performance comparison is not intended, several policy-relevant issues are identified to draw useful comparative lessons from the two case studies.

Data was collected through structured and unstructured interviews at two levels: the micro-watershed/marketing group level and the household level. The group-level data was analyzed to identify a few micro-watersheds for an in-depth study of the determinants of success or failure of collective action and its contribution to poverty reduction while the household-level data was used to identify the determinants of participation in collective action.

• Rural Institutions and Producer Organizations in Imperfect Markets: Experiences from Producer Marketing Groups in Semi-Arid Eastern Kenya
  Bekele Shiferaw, Gideon Obare, and Geoffrey Muricho. CAPRi Working Paper 60. Washington, DC: IFPRI. 2006.
  Abstract  |  Full Text
• Collective action for integrated community watershed management in semi-arid India: Analysis of multiple livelihood impacts and the drivers of change
  Bekele Shiferaw, Suhas Wani and TK Sreedevi. Paper presented at the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) conference held in Brisbane Australia, August 2006.
• Rural market imperfections and the role of institutions of collective action to improve markets for the poor
  Bekele Shiferaw, Gideon Obare, and Geoffrey Muricho. Paper presentated at the Innovation Africa Symposium, held in Kampala, Uganda, November 2006.
• Leveraging rural institutions for collective action to improve markets for the poor: Lessons and policy options
  Gideon A. Obare, Bekele A. Shiferaw, and Geoffrey Muricho. ICRISAT Policy Brief No. 8, 2006.