Those who work on a given product are members of a value chain. Clusters are broader, representing organizations in a sector and their bankers, consultants, insurers and other partners. A successful cluster cooperates to improve the consistency, timeliness, and quality that leads to real competitive advantage. IBI experience suggests that value chains in developing countries are no longer narrowly geographically limited and can extend beyond national boundaries. Our experience also confirms that successful clusters arise when potential members perceive real value from greater collaboration, and not before. IBI has worked with value chains and clusters across production, post-production, and marketing.

Production.

We worked with gem and gold value chains from miner to product maker. When lapidaries were finding it hard to be competitive in cutting and polishing top quality stones, we showed that working with stones from the bottom of the quality pyramid could be more profitable. We taught tumbling and hand-made jewelry-making using waste material left lying about mine sites. Learning creative design, they were able to hand craft costume jewelry with much greater value added. In Tanzania we linked these producers to tourist markets and watched many trainees enjoy immediate success.

Post-production Technology.

In Ghana, IBI technical experts led the mango value chain quality improvement outreach program including on-farm training for farmers in orchard management, adoption of EurepGAP agricultural practices, and harvest and post-harvest techniques to increase and protect quality. Training focused on harvesting, grading, sorting, packaging, pre-cooling, and equipment configuration. A geo-referenced industry database was developed for tracking purposes.

Market Information.

In Cameroon, IBI implemented a market information system (MIS) to give rural stakeholders timely information on prevailing food crop prices. Following a participatory process bringing together farmers, merchants, and industry providers, IBI assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the traditional MIS, updated existing systems, and introduced new, complementary ones that involve innovative approaches such as use of cell phones and email alerts where available and appropriate.