Project Details.

The Research and Development Foundation (RDF) implemented an ITC-supported ‘COVID Response Project’ under the Growth for Rural Development and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) Program in Thatta and Khairpur districts to support medium, small, and micro enterprises (MSMEs) to mitigate COVID impacts on their selected value chains. The project was putting more focus on the horticulture dairy sector value chain. The objective of the GRASP COVID-19 Response is to support MSMEs to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. This was to be achieved through immediate response interventions and medium-term responses (MTR). 

These responses have been designed through rapid consultation with farmer organizations, chambers of commerce, and government officials. The main objective of the assignment was to map MSMEs and women farmers in 11 districts of Sindh to identify financing gaps and link them to funding sources corresponding to their sector and level of maturity. The assignment also requires conducting mapping and needs assessments of women farmer groups and collectives in the district community and preparing a capacity-building plan in priority areas for capacity improvement of women farmer groups and collectives around GRASP products and the prioritized value chain. 

The specific objectives of the assignment are presented below: Mapping of MSMEs and women farmers groups (both in horticulture and livestock) and agribusinesses in 11 districts of Sindh province, including Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Tharparkar, Khairpur, Tando Allahyar, Tando M. Khan, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Matiari, Sujawal, and Hyderabad. Identify financing gaps among MSMEs, women farmers, and agribusinesses who are facing obstacles to accessing finance and exercising their services, and identify ways to link them to funding sources or financial institutions corresponding to their sector and level of maturity. 

HIMAT Consulting held a meeting with RDF and extracted key findings from the review. HIMAT Consulting drafted the inception report and finalized it as per the feedback of the RDF team. HIMAT Consulting developed data collection tools (questionnaires, FGD, and KII guides). HIMAT Consulting recruited and trained the data collection team. 

HIMAT Consulting conducted data quality assurance through field monitoring visits while collecting primary data. HIMAT Consulting validated data quality while receiving data daily basis from Kobo online data collection tools Analyzed of the data and present the findings to RDF. HIMAT Consulting drafted the report and finalized it based on the feedback from RDF.