Key Takeaways on Strategies to Achieve Systemic Change from Eric Derks (Tetra Tech)

Eric Derks of Tetra Tech provides key takeaways from a progression of approaches and lessons learned on achieving systemic change during MPEP Seminar #5, Facilitating Systemic Change: Experiences from Feed the Future’s Projects in Uganda. In this video, he discusses a three-pronged approach that entails

• supporting early adopters in performance management improvements;
• linking supporting service providers to businesses at entry points (e.g., ICT firms, equipment providers, soil testing services, and spraying services); and
• leveraging and reinforcing behavior change in trade networks, social networks, and other professional networks.

Bio: Eric Derks

Eric Derks has worked on improving approaches to achieving sustainable, systemic change in market systems for 15 years. He is currently the Chief of Party of the USAID/Uganda Feed the Future Agricultural Inputs Activity, an 8-month old effort to increase the use of agro-inputs through systemic improvements in the distribution channels and related networks. Previously, in Uganda, he led the shift of the USAID LEAD project from a direct provision of support to farmers to a more facilitative/leveraged approach, aiming for broad-based change in the maize, coffee, and agro-inputs systems. Derks is particularly interested in applying concepts of complex adaptive systems and social network analysis to inform and shape interventions.