Kathmandu: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Nepal Agricultural Market Development Programme (NAMDP), or Sahaj, are working together to build a thriving and inclusive agriculture sector in Nepal by catalysing income and employment growth in Nepal’s rural population. The partnerships are expected to contribute to sustainable development of the different sectors and value chains of the Koshi Province. Accordingly, for the launch of partnerships of Sahaj Challenge Fund (SCF) Rounds 4 & 5, an award ceremony was held on April 19 at Dhokaima Café, Lalitpur. The event brought together the challenge fund winners, Swisscontact and Practical Action Consulting.
With innovation at its core, strategic partnerships were signed with three companies from Round 4 and one company from Round 5 on April 12. With their official launch, they will now work towards providing innovative services to solve existing bottlenecks in the value chains of maize, cardamom, dairy products, and vegetables. While Round 4 of SCF was launched seeking services for sustainable and market-driven product development and quality improvement, Round 5 of SCF was launched seeking climate and environmentally sustainable solutions in the four value chains.
All applicants of the challenge fund went through a rigorous evaluation process from call for applications up to the final selection. Based on this evaluation process, the following companies were selected to receive support from Sahaj Challenge Fund:
1. Belz Instruments Nepal Pvt. Ltd. – Awarded for their strategic sanitation services aimed at increasing and improving hygiene and quality within the dairy industries of Koshi Province. This partnership has the potential to bring positive changes to the existing cleaning, hygiene systems and practices of dairy businesses and processors in Koshi province, thereby allowing the processors to produce better quality products.
2. Holistic Purpose Group Nepal Pvt. Ltd. – Recognised for their innovative approach towards product development, process optimisation, and quality improvement services for dairy processors in the Koshi Province.This partnership will focus on new product development, market trials and viable composite products in the dairy sector of Koshi province.
3. Planeteer Innovative and Research Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. – Acknowledged for their commitment to enhancing product development, food safety management, quality control, and internal audit services for dairy and maize processors in Koshi Province.
4. Rastriya UrjaDakshata Kendra Pvt. Ltd. –Awarded for their pioneering efforts in providing energy audit solutions to both agriculture and non-agriculture companies across Koshi Province. RUDK specializes in energy audit services and aims to identify energy-saving opportunities and facilitate a transition to sustainable energy sources for agriculture processors and non-agriculture manufacturing companies of the Koshi Province.
These partnerships will support NAMDP in strengthening strategic value chains and will move the needle towards a vibrant and prosperous agricultural sector of Nepal. Sahaj Challenge Fund partners, evaluators, and stakeholders are committed to providing invaluable contributions in fostering innovation and driving progress in Koshi Province.
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