• Local Service Providers (LSPs) are critical to addressing gender and nutrition gaps in Africa’s food systems: LSPs bring deep contextual knowledge, cultural understanding, and long-term commitment, enabling them to tackle structural inequalities that global, externally led models often overlook.
• The IGNITE+ model shifts gender and nutrition technical assistance from external delivery to sustainable local leadership: Through a phased co-delivery approach, Tanager strengthens LSP capacity so they ultimately deliver the majority of services, ensuring lasting impact beyond the project lifecycle.
• Strengthening LSPs goes beyond technical assistance to building a resilient, locally driven ecosystem: By investing in LSP skills, confidence, and business viability, IGNITE+ enables the scaling of gender-responsive and nutrition-sensitive practices across African agricultural institutions.

By Margaret Ngetha, IGNITE+ Partnership Manager at Tanager 

Africa’s food systems are under increasing strain, characterized by persistent food insecurity, structural inequalities, and untapped economic potential. Food insecurity continues to rise across the continent, with an estimated 58.9% of the population experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity in 2024, more than double the global average. This crisis is further compounded by systemic barriers that disproportionately affect those with the greatest potential to drive food system transformation, particularly women and youth. 

Gender inequalities remain pronounced, with food insecurity consistently more prevalent among adult women than men across all regions of the world. Vulnerable groups especially women and rural populations are also more exposed to food price inflation, owing to limited access to resources, weaker social protection systems, and fewer coping mechanisms. 

Why Local Service Providers Matter

 

African agricultural institutions sit at the intersection of policy, markets, research, and service delivery. They are uniquely positioned to influence who gains access to resources, whose voices shape the food systems and how nutrition priorities are set. By addressing structural inequalities in food systems including gender and nutrition gaps, these institutions play a pivotal role as they work directly with farmers, aggregators, small and medium-sized enterprises and other food system actors. However, many of these institutions lack the capacity to fully address these interconnected issues alongside challenges like limited business development support, poor infrastructure, and difficulties in sustaining and scaling interventions. For decades, various targeted initiatives have largely depended on international consultants, large international Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs) often led by professionals who are not rooted in the communities they serve. This is why the rise of Local Service Providers (LSPs) is a key driver for change. 

LSPs are in-country technical advisors, business development actors, and implementation partners who deliver context-specific, demand-driven technical assistance.  They live with the everyday realities of the local context, speak the local languages, understand cultural and social norms, and are deeply invested in the long-term outcomes of their food system. Because of this grounding, they have a clear understanding of the challenges faced by agricultural institutions working to tackle inequalities within the agrifood systems including economic barriers, limited access to resources and finance, technological gaps, leadership and representation issues, social and cultural constraints, food insecurity, nutrition deficits, climate and environmental pressures.  

IGNITE+ Successful LSP Model Approach

 

Tanager’s Impacting Gender and Nutrition through Innovative Technical Exchange in Agriculture Plus (IGNITE+) project, is centered on empowering local actors and transforming how gender and nutrition technical assistance is delivered to African agricultural institutions. As more institutions recognize the value of gender responsive and nutrition-sensitive approaches, the demand for practical, high-quality technical assistance support continues to grow. 

The IGNITE+ project is already meeting this growing demand by cultivating a strong network of Local Service Providers as its implementing partners, some of whom are drawn from the private sector, NGOs, and business associations, with technical expertise needed for the communities they serve. Since 2020, Tanager has worked with the following institutions as Local Service Providers. They include Tymax Agribusiness solutions in Kenya; Fair & Sustainable Consulting in Ethiopia; Centre for Gender Economics in Africa, Ikore International Development Limited and Inspire Decisions Consulting in Nigeria; Nafaka Kilimo in Tanzania; and PanAfricare and the Professional Association of Decentralized Financial Systems of Burkina Faso (AP/SFD-BF) in Burkina Faso.  

The Shift to LSPs as Strategic Drivers for Gender and Nutrition Technical Assistance 

 

Local Service Providers (LSPs) present an opportunity to scale IGNITE+ gender and nutrition technical assistance in a way that achieves long-term sustainability of program outcomes with African Agriculture Institutions (AAIs) beyond the project. With their deep local and regional expertise, strong credibility, and practical, hands-on experience, LSPs are well-positioned to help AAIs strengthen their internal systems, improve their programs, and enhance the effectiveness of their agricultural interventions. 

At first, Tanager co-delivers technical assistance services alongside LSPs. Over time, as their capacity is strengthened, they gradually take on a larger share of the work. Ultimately, the goal is for LSPs to deliver approximately two-thirds of all services, marking a significant shift towards local leadership that is sustainable. 

This transition happens when two conditions are met: LSPs demonstrate strong technical and business capability, and AAIs are ready and willing to act on the advisory provided. In readiness for this transition, Tanager works closely with the LSPs to set clear expectations for service quality and revenue growth, ensuring they are equipped to run sustainable service businesses long into the future. 

Beyond Technical Assistance

 

Importantly, the IGNITE+ approach goes beyond delivering technical assistance; it focuses on strengthening the entire ecosystem. So far, LSPs have been instrumental in cascading lessons learned, and tools developed by IGNITE+ to agricultural institutions in their respective countries.   

By strengthening LSPs skills, confidence, and business capacity and supporting AAIs adopt gender and nutrition practices, Tanager is fostering a transformative ecosystem where local service providers take the lead. This locally driven ownership, combined with the deep contextual knowledge of LSPs, is accelerating their emergence as champions of gender and nutrition technical assistance across Africa.