Markets Capability Statement

Participatory Market Systems Development (PMSD)

PAC employs Practical Action’s tried and tested approach: Participatory Markets System Development (PMSD). It is based on over 10 years’ global field experience, allowing us to build our knowledge on how to achieve stronger, more equitable market-chain linkages and relationships; viable, sustainable markets for business and exten-sion services; and a more enabling, pro-poor policy and business environment.

PMSD brings together the best of our or-ganisational values and experiences, mainly around participation, facilitation and ap-propriate technologies, with the best of the Value Chain Development and Mak-ing Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) ap-proaches. PMSD addresses three key aspects of market development:

• Developing the basic skills, capabilities and knowledge of marginalised market actors to respond to market opportunities in collaboration with other actors

• Creating processes and spaces that bring a wide range of public and private market actors together to make their market systems more inclusive, efficient and productive

• Facilitating transformations in the market system, which allows innovation and knowledge to reach those who need them most

Public and private market actors undertake participatory market mapping exercises and

come up with action plans and strategies that are appropriate to their needs and potential.

A market map is a simple and practical framework designed to help market actors gain a better understanding of participants in the system, how they are connected and the forces that affect them (e.g. legislation).

The mapping process builds trust, highlights key blockages and business opportunities, and helps the participants to build a joint vision for change.

Our services in this area include:• Tailor-made PMSD workshop interven-

tions to improve a range of markets from numerous agricultural sub-sectors through to energy, urban water/ sanitation and waste, or financial service markets.

• Training and mentoring to other organi-sations to build the skills of practitioners in PMSD approaches and techniques.

Drawing from over 40 years of international expertise, Practical Action Consulting (PAC) provides independent and professional consulting services in the use of technology for poverty reduction to governments, NGOs, donors and the private sector.

PAC works to create sustainable and scalable improvements in the way marginalised households use and engage with markets, for greater household income, food-security and well-being. Our interventions build on existing capabilities of market actors that boost their ability to make markets more inclusive, productive and efficient.

PAC’s international team of markets experts from across our regional offices allows us to deliver professional services to the highest standard in the following areas:

Cover image: Transporting goods around the Jamuna river chars in Bangladesh – Mike Albu, Practical Action

Markets, natural resources and climate change

Sustainable incomes for marginalised producers are inextricably linked to their ability to maintain and improve important natural assets. PAC’s market development activities in these fragile contexts work to build up and protect natural resources.

Our expertise in this area includes:• Participatory analysis and assessment of

environmental risks to provide an un-derstanding of the potential impacts of interventions on water, soil, biodiversity and forests

• Adaptation to climate change addressed through participatory market mapping- working with producers to identify the potential effects of climate change on the market system and building actors’ ca-pacities to respond

• Capacity building of market actors to communicate and anticipate change. In particular poor producers need to build their adaptive capacity so they can re-spond to changes in a dynamic economic and environmental context

Technology, innovation and market development

PAC believes that technology and innovation are crucial to transforming market systems. In fact, we believe that market systems and innovation systems are two sides of the same coin. We facilitate

small-scale producers and others in the market system to improve productivity and efficiency, conserve natural resources, reduce costs, enhance communication with buyers and suppliers, and to access new knowledge.

Our experience in this area includes: • Building relationships between the

private sector, research institutions and communities to nurture technological innovation and market uptake of products

• Promote access of marginalised small-scale producers to local, national or international providers using market-based mechanisms

• Facilitation of technology development and transfer, testing and commercialisation, with a focus on rural market development such as improved cookstoves, processing and drying technologies and modified vegetable oil

• Energy markets development through the transfer of charcoal carbonization technologies, kiln building technology and improved cookstoves technology

• Support to governments to improve the quality and availability of agricultural mechanization technologies for enhanced productivity

• Research and case study development to illustrate the process, challenges and good practices to technological choices

• Analysis, impact assessments and evaluations of technologies and training approaches for local economic development and improved livelihoods

Support for sustainable market development on the Bangladesh chars

PAC is providing strategic market-development advice to Maxwell Stamp and Swisscontact on two large-scale programmes in northern Bangladesh. The Chars Livelihoods Programme (CLP) and Making Markets Work for the Jamuna, Pabna and Teesta Chars (M4C) programme are working to address the extreme poverty of millions of highly vulnerable people who live on riverine islands (sand-bars and mud-flats) called ‘Chars’. By creating sustainable services and value-chains on and around the chars, CLP and M4C aim to overcome the constraints of weak infrastructure, patchy government services and extreme seasonal flooding. Improvements in livestock farming, dairy and agricultural production – driven by better knowledge, business relationships, inputs and investment – are expected to transform the economy of the Chars creating jobs, income and food security for the poorest households.

EMMA Toolkit

The Emergency Market Mapping and Analy-sis (EMMA) toolkit is designed for use in the immediate aftermath of an emergency to empower humanitarian and relief prac-titioners to better understand and make use of critical markets systems. It is a set of tools and guidance notes detailing an adaptable process for decision-making.

The EMMA process relates to protecting people’s food security and livelihoods, enabling more efficient and effective use of humanitarian resources, reducing the risk of prolonged dependency on outside assistance and encouragement for the transition to eco-nomic recovery. PAC offers a comprehensive EMMA training package for international relief agencies and NGOs, delivered globally.

PAC successfully employed EMMA train-ing and techniques in a markets and liveli-hoods assessment for the ILO, delivering recommendations on the interventions necessary to stabilize the food and humani-tarian crisis, and ensure long term stability in the northern Kenya, eastern Ethiopia and south central Somalia region.

Visit: www.emma-toolkit.org

Organisational learning, knowledge sharing and communities of practice

PAC facilitates the exchange of relevant markets information and experience be-tween individual users, communities of practice and organisations at the national, regional and international level.

Examples of our current work include:• Evidence and Lessons from Latin America

(ELLA): PAC facilitates a set of on- and offline learning alliances relating to re-gional economic issues such as extractive industries, agriculture and input markets. Visit: ella.practicalaction.org

• Market Facilitation Initiative (MaFI): this learning- and action-oriented network brings together practitioners, donors, academics and entrepreneurs interested in facilitation approaches to inclusive market development. MaFI is a working group of The SEEP Network and Practical Action pro-vides technical support and coordination.

• PMSD Roadmap: this online platform splits the PMSD process into 10 steps. It is designed to give clear instructions and practical advice to field practitioners to effectively facilitate the process and overcome common challenges. The PMSD Roadmap also provides experienced staff modules to train their teams and partners in the field. Visit: www.slideshare.net/pmsd-map/the-pmsd-roadmap

• Training and mentoring in PMSD: PAC provides ongoing workshops and sup-port to transfer our markets development expertise and build the skills and compe-tencies in others. Effective partnerships are currently ongoing with agencies including to build the skills and competencies of other agencies including CAFOD, Oxfam, Swisscontact, World Neighbours and Christian Aid.

Take Practical Action. Work with usTo find out how we can work together, contact us:

www.practicalaction.org/consulting-markets

EMMA participants undertake field research in Kathmandu- Practical Action

International Markets Specialist, Practical Action Consulting Eastern Africa, P. O. Box 39493-00623, Nairobi, Kenya

Telephone: +254 (0) 722 200 883 +254 (0) 734 651 602 Email: consulting@practicalaction.or.ke

Project Development Coordinator, Practical Action Consulting UK, The Schumacher Centre, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ

Telephone: +44 (0) 1926 634403 Email: consulting@practicalaction.org.uk