On Wednesday, 3 June 2026, the Univereity of Félix Houphouët-Boigny hosted a workshop dedicated to the UJALA project, titled “Improving Access to Markets and Local Services: Assessing the Impact of the OCP School Lab (OSL) and Village Input Fairs (VIF) in Côte d’Ivoire.” The event provided an opportunity to present the preliminary findings of the baseline survey, gather feedback from field stakeholders, and engage decision-makers to foster ownership of the results.
Discussions reviewed the progress of the project, highlighted farming practices and barriers to market access, and assessed the relevance of the OSL and VIF interventions. Participants emphasized the importance of adapting project activities to enhance the effectiveness of the interventions and to prepare for the endline survey. The workshop also aimed to mobilize authorities and partners in support of a potential scaling-up of the solutions being tested.
Speakers and participants included representatives from CIRES (CAPEC), the Village Input Fairs Fund, Interdisciplinary Policy-Oriented Research on Africa (IPORA), OCP Côte d’Ivoire, UJALA, cooperatives and agro-dealers, as well as national institutions such as ANADER, CNRA, the National Institute of Statistics, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The workshop was organized into three sessions and featured constructive and engaging discussions, which participants described as both productive and collegial.
