Multi-stakeholder platforms are increasingly recognized by researchers and practitioners as promising mechanisms for stimulating economies in developing countries. An increasing number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and private enterprises are participating in such platforms, however systematic research on their effectiveness and impact is scarce. Therefore, the NGO SNV initiated this study to learn from a number of MSPs which SNV started in 2005 in Ethiopia under the Business Organisations and their Access to Markets (BOAM) program, financed by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Maastricht School of Management (MSM) / Partnerships Resource Centre (PrC) were contracted to study the contributions of four selected MSPs to the development of value chains for the Ethiopian honey and beeswax, dairy, oil seeds and pineapple sectors. In total 437 organizations participated in at least one of the 66 CG meetings that were organized in the period 2005-2010. The overall objective of the study is to gain insight in and generate knowledge on how, and under which conditions multi-stakeholder platforms contribute to the development of value chains.
