INTEGRATED LAND AND RESOURCE GOVERNANCE TASK ORDER UNDER THE STRENGTHENING TENURE AND RESOURCE RIGHTS II (STARR II) IDIQ
Background
PepsiCo and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are partnering to promote women’s empowerment in the potato value chain in West Bengal, India. The purpose of this partnership is to demonstrate how women’s empowerment can lead to the adoption of sustainable farming practices1 in West Bengal, resulting in improved potato yields and net profitability for rural farmers, positively impacting PepsiCo’s bottom line. This multi-year partnership will ultimately demonstrate the business case to both rural Bengali households and PepsiCo that empowering women makes good social and economic sense. To inform activities under this partnership, PepsiCo funded an assessment of women’s economic empowerment and equality, land rights, and agricultural engagement in the PepsiCo potato supply chain in West Bengal, India, which was carried out by Tetra Tech and Landesa in January/February 2019. The findings of this assessment, combined with discussions during a workshop held in Delhi from 30 April – 1 May 2019, and a subsequent field visit, form the basis for activities outlined in this implementation plan, to be carried out under the Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) task order. This implementation plan is focused on Year 1 (the 2019/2020 growing season) and runs from June 2019 – June 2020, but includes reference to additional years, as the partnership moves from ILRG implementation of activities to more holistic integration of activities into PepsiCo’s core business operations.