Hello dear MaFI members: February was an exciting month… The three working groups had their first phone conferences to fine-tune the concrete products that they will produce this year and to get to know each other better. The summaries of the calls will be circulated soon to the whole network. Members who are not in the working groups (WGs) will be very important for the WGs, mainly as sources of experience and creativity. During March and April, the WGs will build their detailed working plans and get started with preliminary analysis.
There are some surprises coming too. One of them is the “Quick Chats”. These are a means of kicking off short and fun learning conversations about topics that contribute to MaFI’s mission (the advancement of pro-poor market development facilitation). The proposed method is very simple: A member and I chat on Skype for 30-45 min about something interesting s/he is doing in the field and together we try to explore the most basic elements. Then the rest of members have a relatively short window of opportunity (approx 1 week) to come back with questions and comments. Finally, the “interviewee” has the chance to respond to each comment or to a summary made by me and/or Jessica Elisberg -MaFI’s super-assistant (click here to read her profile). We’ll improve the method as we move ahead…
All the best,
Lucho
37 Comments
Quick-Chat - Andy Jeans: working conditions in SMEs in Sri Lanka
Lucho Osorio (LO): Hi Andy. You mentioned that you are doing work in Sri Lanka to tackle the issue of inequality within small and micro enterprises. This is interesting because it forces us to pay attention also to intra-firm dynamics if we want improvements in market systems to benefit the employees of these micro and small enterprises. Could you give us a bit of background of this project and why you think it is important?
Andy Jeans (AJ): Hi Lucho. I have for some years been concerned with the situation of the large numbers of poor people who are working – in often a very informal way – within micro enterprises. These are people who have not been targeted by for example the micro finance organisations, yet they first of all outnumber the owners of those micro-enterprises and are probably by definition more poor. The project I referred to in Sri Lanka however, is with somewhat larger enterprises – employing upwards of 5 workers – some as many as 25. The enterprises we are targeting are those which were affected by the Tsunami, which resulted in workers losing their jobs and considered to have the potential for once again providing employment and possibly further expansion to create even more jobs
LO: Who are your partners in the ground?
AJ: Our partner is Berendina Development Services – which has a background in micro finance and BDS together with some market linkage work such as forward contracting
LO: And what sectors are these small enterprises involved in?
AJ: Quite a variety. Since the aim of the project is to stimulate employment and incomes, those which have backward or forward linkages to other firms and suppliers are prioritised where possible. But the present businesses include fishing and metal fabrication, for example
LO: It is interesting to see that you are working with a wide variety of sectors. Could you describe briefly the core elements of the strategy you are using to address the problem or a brief list of the main intervention steps? Also, how does this variety of firms affect the strategy or the implementation?
AJ: The project strategy is to offer a package of services to qualifying enterprises within the project area, in return for certain projected result in terms of employment creation and employee conditions. Agreements are reached with the business owner and services then provided by the project include discussion of business plans, access to a grant and credit for asset replacement, access to working capital loans. The owner undertakes to create a certain number of jobs and to meet statutory welfare provisions for those employed. Also the owner enables workers to attend meetings and receive training to discuss and improve their working conditions
LO: Interesting… Is this project intending to test a business model that you hope other enterprises will take on board or it is intended to benefit a fixed number of firms? It feels like there is a CSR core in the whole idea. Do you think CSR will make these enterprises more competitive in a context where CSR does not normally command a premium?
AJ: At the start of this you used the term inequality. We are not trying to ensure that all workers receive the same remuneration. So in that sense it is not inequality we are addressing but trying to do something for those who are workers – a job that is done elsewhere by the trade union movement. I suppose there is some element of CSR but we are more business like – in focussing on business success (for the owner) by having well motivated and contented workers, who do not leave – some of them are as a result of the project ensuring that there are separate toilets for men and women
LO: For how long has been this project operating?
AJ: Although started in October 2007, there were some delays so it feels like only one year of activity and so results are not yet clear – mid term review planned in May and I hope to have a clearer picture then of what we have learned
LO: During the life of the project, have you seen positive impacts in terms of the overall performance of the firm? I imagine that the employees are very happy, but what about the owners? Do they see a business case for this strategy?
AJ: As I said concrete impact data (on jobs and incomes) is not yet available. However, the owners are very happy as they have been able to get their businesses going again – many of them had either ceased operating altogether or had been operating on a much smaller basis than pre-Tsunami because of infrastructure damage and /or loss of equipment
LO: OK Andy. Our time is up. Please keep us updated about the progress of this interesting project that raises the awareness of the importance of what goes on within the firm. I think that good facilitators need to be able to “move” easily between the micro, the meso and the macro levels. Thanks a lot for your time.
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? Write them in this blog
WANT TO BE THE NEXT STAR OF THE QUICK CHATS OR HAVE AN IDEA TO IMPROVE THEM? Write a message to Lucho or Jessie
Hello All, Thanks for
Hello All,
Thanks for sharing the on-line discussion. This is very good initiative enabling one-one interaction and giving others opportunity to comment on what is being discussed. Keep the spirit on.
Again, thanks to the discussant for enlightening us on post Tsunami efforts to revive enterprises in Sri Lanka. I did not understand the form of inequality mentioned but it is true that there exists various forms of inequalities even where I work in Kenya. Just an idea that dealing with inequality should be at the onset of any project. When situation before project is defined (baseline), status of inequality and root causes will be known. For example; Is it because of lack of gender equity? Marginalization? Extreme poverty? Fragile environment? Lack of productive assets? Exposure to highly vulnerable conditions? Emerging challenges like HIV/AIDS? etc. The interventions would then be tailored to integrating and streamlining measures that will address the root causes of the inequalities.
Thanks.
Crispin
——-Original Message——-
From: communities@seepnetwork.org [mailto:communities@seepnetwork.org]
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 3:46 PM
To: crispin.mwatate@heiferkenya.org
Subject: [!! SPAM] Comment for Discussion: MaFI BLOG Mar-Apr 2009
Andu Jeans work in Sri Lanka
Its a wonderful initiative to help those who have been affected by natural disasters and give them financial independence.
Andy can you elaborate which markets do you target.
Whether you do job work for established industrial units or produce and sell directly in the market.
Regards
Sam Tomus
It was a very interesting
It was a very interesting discussion with Andy and I agree that it is very
important to make a package offer of BDS to create sustained impact.
We just finished a pilot project with NABARD, India (the biggest development
back in India) and convinced all the stakeholders that along with finance a
package of BDS (to be selected properly) can make the use of money very
effectively. More than 5000 micro loans have been converted into enterprises
through this process.
Also this article made me recall my interaction with Andy in Srilanka couple
of years back.
Regards, Kirti, MART, India
BDS in Sri Lanka
Greetings Kirti
Can you give me some inputs how it is being done in India by NABARD and share your experience in Sri Lanka while working with Andy
Regards
Sam
BDS in Sri Lanka
Thanks Sam for your interest. What we have done with NABARD in brief is as follows
1. MART has developed a comprehensive model called MART’s 3M approach to Micro Enterprise Promotion. 3M helps in supply and demand mapping of a cluster to select viable opportunities and map gaps to design appropriate intervention plan. A user manual has been prepared on this. NABARD decided to follow the model to make SHGs graduate from micro finance to micro enterprise and it started a pilot initiative called MEPA project (Micro Enterprise Promotion Agency)
2. 14 leading NGOs in 9 states were selected in India as MEPA.
3. MART provided technical support to these NGOs to initiate micro enterprises among SHGs.
4. A Step by Step approach was followed to do this as described below
a. Orientation of NGOs on micro enterprise promotion and training on mapping of opportunities through MART’3M approach.
b. NGOs conduct the study of the local areas – the supply side, demand side, service providers etc. and analyse the data to identify viable opportunities and analyse the aspects like infrastructure, problems, markets, investment to design the intervention plan for each activity.
The intervention plan contains
• Reasons of selection of particular activity
• Raw Material: source, unit cost, total volume
• Production/collection process
• Technology: type, source, cost
• Economics of activity: investment, BEP, RoI
• Training needs (skill and business knowledge)
• Linkages with service providers (govt. and private)
• Marketing plan: markets (local, town, city), business terms
c. Then the motivation and interaction with SHGs to select right activities by using the above information follows. A clear guideline conducting such meetings with SHGs are described in the manual.
d. then the capacity building for both technical and business and marketing skill building follows.
e. And at the end the linkage with both markets and service providers established to make the enterprises sustainable. 11000 families have been targeted and around 5000 MEs have been created by now.
Please see a brief note by NABARD on MEPA at http://www.nabard.org/microfinance/strategymicroenterprise.asp
Regarding interaction with Andy, I have not worked with Andy but we were on same workshop. I made a presentation on Project Shakti which we co-created with HUL and Andy liked the model as it was a market led and sustainable BDS model.
Best regards, Kirti
Thanks Kirti for the
Thanks Kirti for the information. Are you still on the lookout for any NGO to implement MEPA or the pilot project is over.
Regards
Sam
MEPA
Hi Sam
State offices of NABARD are told by HO-NABARD to start/exapnd the model. You may contact the RO to know more about this.
Thanks and Regards, Kirti
ASF Model for Developing Micro Enterprises
Kirti,
I read your post with interest, as we follow almost the same model. Here, we have MoUs with 9 RSPs (Rural Support Programs) to form FEGs (Farmers Enterprise Groups) for us.
FEGs are basically cooperative micro enterprises, which are formed out of COs/VOs (Community Organizations / Village Organizations) for the specific purpose of generating income for the members.
We provide money to the RSPs for forming the groups (have also provided support to the RESps with Best Practices, Capacity Building Support etc) for us.
The RSP performs area analysis, identifies promising sectors, mobilizes the farmers in those particular sectors and then helps them set up an enterprise (support includes capacity building in technical & business skills, legal support etc).
After having the capacity built, the Group decides on what kind of enterprise to set up (marketing cooperative, processing cooperative, buying cooperative etc) and how much support they need from ASF. We just provide matching financial support for the initiative and don’t impose our decisions on the FEG.
For us, the good thing is that, these micro entrepreneurs are willing to match us dollar for dollar. i.e. They might invest 2-5 dollars for every dollar, we put in.
However, this is only possible as the FEG is empowered to make ALL the decision about their enterprise. The RSPs are playing the role of a facilitator and not imposing top down interventions. The RSPs help in implementing the decisions taken by the Group and don’t make them for the Group.
We are going to target 12,500 Farmers / Families encouraging them to set up 1,250 Enterprises. So far 700 Micro Enterprises have been set up.
Kamran
ASF Model for Developing Micro Enterprises
Hi Kamran,
Nice to read about your model and glad that both have lot of similarities. In one of our other initiatives we have built up from 3M and developed a Collective Marketing model wherein the self help groups and farmer groups have been capacitated to handle marketing activities and value addition. More than 3000 persons have by now sold produce worth Rs 30 million. Currently we are facilitating this in 500 villages in one of the IFAD funded projects in India. I am attaching a write up and a presentation in anticipation that you may like reading the same.
Kirti
This is a really
This is a really interesting discussion . I must admit that I’m not a markets systems person but I did a bit of work last year in Bangladesh with a colleague who is. We were comparing a ‘traditional’ livelihoods approach programme with a very markets systems programme. One of the issues that came up was whether the typical ‘NGO’ approach to community sensitisation, group formation, organisational capacity building etc, often with an emphasis on equal participation (including women, poorest members of the community etc), was too intensive in terms of costs and time involved (for both facilitators and group members) and so isnt really sustainable or scaleable without external support. It was suggested that such groups should take a much more ‘business-like’ approach – where time costs money! Would be interesting to hear what people think about this issue…....
________________________________________
From: communities@seepnetwork.org [communities@seepnetwork.org]
Sent: 12 March 2009 14:05
To: Helen Schneider
Subject: Comment for Discussion: MaFI BLOG Mar-Apr 2009
Market led approach
Hi Helen,
Though business like approach is definitely better compared to traditional livelihoods approach, but even to introduce and engage poor people in a business like approach a facilitation cost is involved. In my opinion it is worth. The market led or business like approach makes people focused around profit generation and returns. This approach puts them in a go-to-market mode to know what market demands than first produce and then look for market. The approach also helps them to reject unviable ideas in the beginning and pursue those which are sustainable. The process also helps poor to interact, learn and face market realities by themselves – and to discover quickly that market is not in any body’s control and you have to compete with market dynamics to survive… At MART our entire focus is on this and all works and models revolve around this…. Kirti
you raise an interesting
you raise an interesting point, helen. whatever approach we're taking, it certainly involves a range of costs for us but also and especially for the people/communities/businesses we're working with (which i'll call beneficiaries for simplicity's sake).
Another of my livelihoods
Another of my livelihoods colleagues also always expresses concern about the level of risk that often v vulnerable people (few assets, susceptible to a range of shocks and stresses) have to take in order to engage effectively in markets. And the potential for them to come off worse rather than better from such engagement. So, playing devil’s advocate, would again love to hear what people with a more markets perspective have to say on the issue of risk.
________________________________________
From: communities@seepnetwork.org [communities@seepnetwork.org]
Sent: 12 March 2009 16:25
To: Helen Schneider
Subject: Comment for Discussion: MaFI BLOG Mar-Apr 2009
Helen, I would agree that
Helen, I would agree that the dual objectives of sustainability and
inclusiveness don’t always align. In my experience, inclusive community
group formation can be an effective way to address community priorities,
but is not the best way to launch business endeavors as it may not suit
the requirements for new enterprise success such as: clear ownership and
management of the venture, appropriately skilled and motivated
entrepreneurs, adequate investment, etc. The more successful rural
enterprises seem to arise through the efforts of individuals and small
groups of trusted peers.
A more ‘business-like’ approach, however, does not imply exclusivity. A
program that supports demand-driven enterprise can benefit the broader
community in a number of ways. For example, supported entrepreneurial
ventures can provide labor-saving service to the community (e.g. flour
mill); services to make mainstream economic activity more productive
(e.g. animal feed mill, plowing service); or engage in value-add
activity that creates a cash market for local produce (e.g. local cheese
production facility which purchases households’ excess milk).
Community work certainly is intensive and time consuming but can yield
results that stimulate economic development in a broader sense. For
instance, better access to water, electricity and markets (through
better roads), may not directly lead to enterprise creation, but their
absence is definitely a constraint to it. Furthermore, community-level
programs that engage in the rehabilitation of (economic) infrastructure
can serve the purpose of restoring trust and goodwill, while making
known community leaders and entrepreneurs in the process. In doing so,
positive momentum is generated, trust of the program is established and
key economic actors are identified, making the sustainable
enterprise-level work more achievable in successive stages of a project
(should a project have both community-level and enterprise-level
objectives).
——-Original Message——-
From: communities@seepnetwork.org [mailto:communities@seepnetwork.org]
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 9:36 AM
To: Christopher Brown
Subject: Comment for Discussion: MaFI BLOG Mar-Apr 2009
Thanks Chris, that’s a
Thanks Chris, that’s a really nice description of how elements of sustainable livelihoods approaches which focus on participation and equity, and (community and individual) asset-building, can be combined with a more markets system/enterprise development approach for wider benefits for poor communities.
________________________________________
From: communities@seepnetwork.org [communities@seepnetwork.org]
Sent: 13 March 2009 14:25
To: Helen Schneider
Subject: Comment for Discussion: MaFI BLOG Mar-Apr 2009
"Quick Chats"
Just to say I really like this idea of doing a quick interview with practitioners and sharing them with the network so that others can comment, ask questions or add their own experiences. Will be really interesting to see how people engage with this methodology. Keep up the good work!
SEEP members may be interested to learn that Livelihoods Connect has moved onto a new platform in Eldis with information resources now organised by theme – please do have a look at our market development theme – tell us what you think or recommend other resources on livelihoods approaches to market development.
Helen Schneider
Livelihoods Connect
h.schneider@ids.ac.uk
Dear Members, I would like
Dear Members,
I would like to tell you that I unanimously elected as the Hon.Chairman,
Fullerton Industrial Association
,Kalutara,Sri Lanka. My project is to enhancement of Liquid Milk
Production,Process for value addition,
creation of sustainable Livelihood opportunities and generation of
employments for low income youth families of ,
Kalutara Administrative district.
First I am scheduled to meet existing Milk producers in collaboration of
Provincial Department of Animal Production and Health
enabling to enroll as contract Milk suppliers.
Most important issue is to select 600 youths from low income homes to train
as “Milk Entrepreneurs who wish to
start with 1-4 high productive Cows.A training will given with the
collaboration of the above estate Department.
600 cow program will sponsored by Estate bank of Ceylon.
This project can produce 1,050 Mt of Cow Dung Compost fertilizer in
innovative ( for Sri Lanka)Pallets form. So, I have
designed a additional income source for low income families who participate
in the cow program to grow fresh vegetables
and fruits by using cow dung compost fertilizer. The market for fresh
produces I developed is huge PETAH Market. PETHA is
Whole Sellers Association of Metropolitan Colombo City Market.
Our produces are special and we have a special segment of consumers and poor
families can get optimum prices for their produces.
Therefore, poor can do everything but we must guide them to produce the best
and our responsibility to find sustainability and steady
market place.
Sincerely
S.K.P.Gamage,
Lieb Frau Ceylon (pvt) Ltd,
20/1,Titus Gunathilaka Mw,
Panadura,
Sri Lanka
12500
Tel :94 71 4455321
Fax: 94-38-2235631
lieb@sltnet.lk
——- Original Message ——-
From:
Quick Chats
I enjoyed both this quick interview method and the information provided by Andy Jeans. I must say I really like the idea of local businesses receiving support to restart – possibly even grow following a natural disaster rather than further flood distruction – a flood of free and imported goods! When working on (non – disaster) sustainable communties initiatives across micro, mezzo and macro levels as mentioned, I’ve noticed that it can often be difficult to engage with local businesses who are more interested in quick and more obvious payback than the local mulitiplier and the development of their surrounding community. In this case you are closely engaged with the most difficult institutions right from the outset. It was also noticeable to me that within areas of low economic activity, people who received support in starting micro businesses had a much greater propensity to support triple bottom line priciples (economic, social and environmental outcomes).
Does Andy do any work in terms of interdependence – businesses retaining their own independence and yet working closely with other local businesses and projects to increase opportunities and the likely success of more local businesses?
Some tools we work with which may (or may not) be of interest to Andy are
Triple Bottom Line Scorecard to integrate 3xbottom line into the business plan
Lm3 to notice and measure the impact of local procurement
Both are free to download at www.pluggingtheleaks.org
To what extent does Andy get involved in commissiong work with local government – probably difficult I’d imagine.
Anyway – thanks for this. Good stuff.
Chris
even thanks from my side
even thanks from my side too
On 3/9/09, communities@seepnetwork.org
Seminar: Making markets work better for the poor, London 17 Mar
As we are discussing making markets work better for poor people, you may be interested in this event in London on 17th March.
For more details see
http://businessfightspoverty.ning.com/events/how-can-markets-work-better or email the organisers at event17Mar@businessfightspoverty.org
Some info below:
Many initiatives of governments, companies, donors and NGOs, aim to help the poor engage in markets – selling their labour or products, or securing the inputs, finance and services they need. But too often the scale of impact is limited, the output unsustainable. New approaches are exploring how to make markets work for the poor – commercially, systemically and fairly.
Speaker: Alan Gibson, co-founder of the Springfield Centre, speaking on DFID’s approach to “Making Markets Work for the Poor”. Alan will outline how this approach to developing markets is being applied in practice, and its implications for how we should work in future.
William Derban, Head of Community Relations for Barclays Emerging Markets business, speaking on the potential opportunities and challenges around reaching the poor at scale through commercial banking services that meet their needs, and the implications that access to finance has for their wider engagement in markets. William will draw on Barclays’ work to roll-out financial services to isolated communities. Chris West, Director, Shell Foundation, speaking on their work promoting enterprise-based solutions, applying market principles and business DNA to generate sustainable and scaleable solutions. Chris will report on their experience and the challenges that it raises for local institutions, and all those that seek to support them. Jon Mitchell, Tourism Programme Leader, Overseas Development Institute, speaking on ODI’s work to shift mindsets in tourism, to scale up impacts on poverty within the sector. Jon will outline how a value chain approach challenges assumptions about the best options for the poor, and helps reveal why some value chains work so much better for the poor than others.Chair: Simon Maxwell, Director, Overseas Development Institute
Business Fights Poverty Event
Hi Helen, this event looks great, thanks for flagging it up. I just tried to sign up on line but it seems that it’s already full. I’ve put my name on a waiting list
Tank’s for the
Tank’s for the information
If possible can you share some more information?
As a student of masters in Social Entrepreneurship,
I m much interested in knowing and learning new things and innovative ideas
If possible it may show me a way, how to go further in my carrier.
On 3/11/09, communities@seepnetwork.org
May I know in detail about
May I know in detail about this?
Can any one share with me?
On 3/12/09, communities@seepnetwork.org
mesopartner LED Summer Academy in July
Hi everyone,
Lucho suggested that I share the information of the event that we are planning for July 2009. It is the annual mesopartner Summer Academy on LED. Although the main theme is around LED, topics like market failure, systemic competitiveness, value chains and others do get attention.
The event is scheduled to run from 27 to 31 July
The attached flyer contain all the relevent information. A registration form is also attached.
Best wishes,
Shawn Cunningham
Stocktaking, updates and greetings
Wow! What a record-breaking response to the Quick Chats! Thanks to all of you contributors and readers. And special thanks to our starring Quick Chatter Andy Jeans.
I learned loads from all the posts. Some of them are just a pleasure to read (e.g. Chris Brown’s). The following bullets are a distillation of some of the issues that called my attention the most:
There is inequality within micro and small enterprises. We should be aware of it; find out how much impact is may have in a pro-poor market development process and find ways to tackle it through joint efforts of market actors, mainly the owners of the firm, their clients and government agencies
Inequality issues and their root causes should be considered from the onset of any project. This is easier said than done because many of these issues are linked to aspects of people’s lives that may be subjected to criticism: open discrimination (in contexts where it is formally unacceptable), health conditions (e.g. HIV/AIDS), or dysfunctional working places (which may embarrass the owners of the enterprise).
Devil’s Advocates Den:
- Are “traditional NGO approaches to community sensitization, group formation, organizational capacity building, etc., often with an emphasis on equal participation (including women, poorest members of the community etc), too intensive in terms of costs and time […] for both facilitators and group members”, and therefore unsustainable or unscalable without external support?
o Advocate 1: Costs depend on facilitation approaches, not on whether we use M4P, VCD or SLA, etc. However, market-oriented approaches seem to be better at filtering out business ideas that are not demand-led. But wait! Can not a bad facilitator lead a group of producers into a bad business idea?
o Advocate 2: Market-based approaches allow more space than “protective” NGO approaches for producers to “learn to interact, learn and face market realities by themselves – and to discover quickly that market is not in any body’s control and you have to compete with market dynamics to survive” Hmmm… in some cases markets can be under the control of a few market actors (e.g. Tesco, Intel, Monsanto, etc.); this is why governments have to step in with anti-monopoly and fair competition rules…
o Advocate 3: Facilitation involves costs too. (... with some facilitations being more expensive than others in similar contexts)
o Advocate 4: Asking very poor people to engage effectively in markets certainly puts them at risk. Who should bear them? How to minimize those risks?
o Advocate 5: Sustainability and inclusiveness don’t always align. Community groups may be good for community needs but not for business endeavors. However, a “business-like approach does not necessarily imply exclusivity”
As you can imagine, the Quick Chats will continue. The next Quick Chatter is Ekanath Khatiwada from SNV, who will be sharing his experiences in the development of the cardamom market in Nepal. Stay tuned!
Also coming up: summaries of what is going on in the three working groups.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO UPDATE YOUR PROFILES AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AND KEEP THEM UPDATED.
All the best to all,
Lucho
Seminar Making Markets Work for the Poor: Results Measurement in
Another seminar you might be interested in if you happen to be going to Switzeralnd in May!
SDC’s Employment and Income Network (E+I) is delighted to announce its
Seminar
Making Markets Work for the Poor:
Results Measurement in Private Sector Development – Current Practice and Challenges ahead
Venue: Hotel Holiday Inn, Westside, Bern, Switzerland
Date: 13th May 2009
Time: 9:00-17:00
The Fourth in an annual series of seminars on the market development approach, this year’s event is focusing on “results measurement in private sector development”. It is a seminar for development professionals concerned with the promotion of economic development in developing countries.
Measuring results is vital in all development fields …
in order to improve outreach, effectiveness and impact of interventions and report to clients and stakeholders, including parliament and tax payers. But agencies face many challenges in measuring their programmes in a rigorous, yet practical manner. Measuring results – in terms of efficiency, outreach, effectiveness and impact – of development interventions is never easy, whatever the field. Interventions are made in complex and dynamic environments, making the identification and attribution of change challenging.
From a guiding framework …
Clearly establishing how it is envisaged that change will occur, from intervention to final impact, is the starting point to address this challenge. The seminar will provide a guiding framework and principles for results measurement founded on the Making Markets Works for the Poor approach. This framework establishes a hierarchy of objectives or levels of achievement and sets the overarching assessment logic for a programme.
… to putting into practice
The event will introduce the international initiative coordinated by the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) on results measurement and explore how results and impacts are measured and assessed in different SDC supported projects in South Caucasus, Tanzania and Bangladesh.
Furthermore it will provide a platform for participant interaction to consider how results measurement might be strengthened within SDC and its partners.
To attend the seminar, would you please fill in the registration form.
For further information please contact SDC’s Employment and Income Focal Point.
e-i@deza.admin.ch
Address:
Hotel Holiday Inn, Westside
Riedbachstrasse 96, CH-3027 Bern
Phone ++41 (0)31 9852424
info@hi-bw.ch
Situation plan: http://www.holidayinn.de/bern
Event: Putting market access into practice: reaching the bottom
Some of you may be interested in this evening seminar in London, chaired by Simon Maxwell, ODI.
Putting market access into practice: reaching the bottom billion through corporate supply and distribution chains
Tuesday, 21 April, 17.30 to 19.00 followed by reception (Registration from 17.00).
Businesses are expanding the market access of the poor through new approaches in their supply and distribution chains. What is being learnt from experience so far? This meeting will compare different approaches, and draw out lessons concerning their implementation, impact, and returns. Are companies making their local markets work better for the poor?
Speakers:
Andy Wales, Head of Sustainable Development, SABMiller
David Croft, Sustainability Director, Cadbury
Euan Wilmshurst, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, The Coca-Cola Company
Caroline Ashley, Overseas Development Institute, acting as Respondent
Online discussions at:
http://businessfightspoverty.ning.com/page/2009-event-series-discussion
More info:
http://businessfightspoverty.ning.com/events/putting-market-access-into
Certificate Programme on Inclusive Marketing
HI All,
I am happy to inform that MART and BIMTECH have launched a Certificate Programme on Inclusive Marketing. The program is exclusively designed for development professionals of various Government organizations, Non-Government organizations and bilateral projects etc, involved in livelihood promotion. The programme will start on 18th May 2009 and the duration of the programme is 6 weeks. For details please find attached the brochure.
I shall be happy to answer any queries that you may have in this regard.
Regards, Kirti
Online Event April 21: Putting market access into practice
This event may be of interest to the MaFI community:
Business Fights Poverty is hosting a live web broadcast entitled “Putting market access into practice: reaching the bottom billion through corporate supply and distribution chains” at 17.30 UK Time (GMT+1) on 21 April. You can watch the broadcast here and post your questions live!
Further information:
Businesses are expanding the market access of the poor through new approaches in their supply and distribution chains. What is being learnt from experience so far? This meeting will compare different approaches, and draw out lessons concerning their implementation, impact and returns.
Speakers include Andy Wales, Head of Sustainable Development, SABMiller; David Croft, Sustainability Director, Cadbury; and Euan Wilmshurst, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, The Coca-Cola Company. The event is sponsored by Coca-Cola Great Britain.
This event is part of the 2009 Event Series, “Harnessing the Power of Business for Development Impact”, from the Overseas Development Institute, the UK Department for International Development and Business Action for Africa. For more information about these events, click here.
To visit the Event Series Resource Centre, click here.
Jessie Elisberg
Intern, Member Services
The SEEP Network
elisberg@seepnetwork.org
Microenterprise & Development Institute NH: June 8-20
Another event that MaFI will find interesting – and some of our very own members will be running workshops!
MDI-NH
June 8-20, 2009
Manchester, New Hampshire USA
Founded in 1999, the MDI-NH is held each June in New Hampshire, and focuses on both financial and non-financial practitioner skill building with emphasis on “Double Bottom Line” approaches to address the needs of poor families, their communities and building sustainable microenterprise development institutions.
The MDI-NH is designed for practitioners at all levels and offers the opportunity for those who are interested to get academic credit. This year’s program includes Pro-Poor Enterprise Development, Microfinance, and Community Economic Development tracks.
For more information on the MDI-NH, click here. You can also download the schedule below.
Jessie Elisberg
Intern, Member Services
The SEEP Network
elisberg@seepnetwork.org
April 28-30 USAID Speaker’s Corner on VC for Vulnerable Populat
How can value chains include and support populations affected by conflict, natural disaster or HIV/AIDS?
Let’s join other practitioners, donors and policy-makers on April 28-30 in an online discussion facilitated by Ben Fowler (MEDA), Luis Osorio (Practical Action), and Christian Pennotti (AED).
Explore how value chain development programs can effectively include vulnerable populations, discuss how use and abuse of power during a crisis can impact value chain programs, and learn how to adjust your activities to the particular situation and population you are working with.
Each day, participants are invited to share their own experiences, questions and comments in the discussion forum:
Day One (April 28) –Involving vulnerable populations. What barriers to participation are faced by more vulnerable populations? Are demand-driven approaches always sufficient to ensure their participation?
Day Two (April 29)- The politics of crisis. How does the use or abuse of power in a crisis affect the impacts of value chain programs for vulnerable populations?
Day Three (April 30) – Adjusting practice to context. A look at the practical experiences of people working on value chain development programs for vulnerable populations. What can we learn from those experiences?
Sign up today: For more information and free registration, visit www.microlinks.org/sc/vulnerablepopulations. Send questions to speakerscorner@microlinks.org
Greetings, Updates and Important Events
Hello MaFI members:
Work in underway to improve the internet platform that supports MaFI. Coming soon!
The Working Groups co-ordinators are working on the basic elements of their work plans. The WGs will share them with you very soon.
More Quick-Chats are in the pipeline.
Finally, mark in your calendars the following exciting events:
- 28-30 April: VCD for Vulnerable Populations. (A Speakers Corner in Microlinks but facilitated by MaFI members). More details here
- Last week of June (precise dates TBC): MaFI Online Discussion of Lead Firms: How to facilitate their engagement in pro-poor market development initiatives? In collaboration with the FIELD Working Group.
- 21 July: Sustainable Livelihoods and Pro-Poor Market Development: an ESRC Seminar in the University of Bath-UK. Pre- and post-seminar online discussion will take place in MaFI to challenge the academics who will talk in this event. More details on how MaFI will participate coming soon. More details about the Seminar here
You can share other events of interest to MaFI in this blog.
All the best,
Lucho Osorio
Some more markets related resources
Hi folks
Thought you might be interested in 2 new resources on pro-poor market development. The 1st one published by Rockefeller relates to a range of markets, the 2nd one published by IDS relates specifically to health markets
http://www.rockfound.org/initiatives/health/emerging%20markets_final.pdf
http://www.id21.org/insights/insights76/index.html
Thanks for this. I'm very
Thanks for this. I'm very interested in pro-poor market development.
Thanks
Thanks Helen.
________________________________
From: communities@seepnetwork.org [mailto:communities@seepnetwork.org]
Sent: Tue 28/04/2009 2:00 PM
To: Chris Pienaar
Subject: Comment for Discussion: MaFI BLOG Mar-Apr 2009
Submit Paper Proposals by May 7th
Sustainable Livelihoods and Pro-Poor Market Development: an ESRC Seminar in the University of Bath-UK, July 21.
This seminar will focus on the ways in which recent approaches to pro-poor market development relate to and interact with sustainable livelihoods concepts and approaches. In particular it will seek to address the following questions:
· What are the overlaps, synergies, tensions and divergences between SLA and pro-poor market development analysis and approaches?
· How effective have pro-poor market development approaches been in developing sustainable and scalable strategies for livelihoods promotion and what are the lessons and insights that this work has generated?
· How does the current financial and economic crisis challenge or reinforce the understanding of market development on which these approaches are based?
Papers addressing these questions are invited from practitioners, policy-makers and academics. Postgraduate research students are encouraged to submit proposals for papers or posters.
To submit a paper please submit an abstract by 7th May to Dr Susan Johnson email: s.z.Johnson@bath.ac.uk.
Elliot Wright
Intern, The Value Initiative
The SEEP Network
wright@seepnetwork.org