Engagement and Facilitation with the
Private Sector in Disaster Affected
Markets
Tim Stewart & Kanchan Gurung
Samarth-NMDP
How far have we come?
It’s been 10 years since Aceh…
• Cash is now a recognized
relief and recovery
instrument
• We have a multitude of
analytical tools
• The recognition and
rhetoric of avoidance of
undermining markets &
early recovery is present
But…
• Capacity is low among responding agencies –
especially humanitarian agencies
• Pressure to deliver quickly and visibly are high (donors,
government, agencies)
• Fall-back to the comfort zone of assessment and direct
delivery
If we agree that we want to avoid undermining markets,
and that cash is a valuable recovery tool:
What do we need to do differently?
How to avoid it
1. Setting the intention – acknowledging the
role of markets in recovery
2. Using a sound diagnostic process to assess
impacted markets – evidence base
3. Facilitation with legitimate market players to
recover
Fragility affected market
•Transport & comms
interrupted
SUPPORTING
FUNCTIONS
Transport
Information
Inputs &
Services
Supply
•Finance is risk-averse
Finance
CORE MARKET
Demand
•Information & power
asymmetry: vested
interests
•Donors, INGOs &
international community
Ethnicity,•Trust
caste,
gender
Rule of
law
Regulations
Trust & risk INGOs/Donors
perception
/UN
RULES
& trust reinforcing
mechanisms
undermined
•Risk aversion
•Informality increases
Building or undermining?
Our interactions and
actions with market
players either build or
undermine markets
Building or undermining?
If we are providing
cash, who will affected
people buy inputs and
services from?
SUPPORTING
FUNCTIONS
Transport
Information
Inputs &
Services
Supply
Finance
CORECash
MARKET
Transfers
Demand
Ethnicity,
caste,
gender
Rule of
law
Regulations
Trust & risk INGOs/Donors
perception
/UN
RULES
If we are doing and
paying for these
things, who will be
there to do and pay
for them in future?
If we are not
strengthening
legitimate institutions,
how to we expect
them to function in
future?
Setting the Intention
Recovery
Development
Poverty reduction
(Jobs & Income)
Direct
interventions
ignore the
system
Reduced
vulnerability
Improved growth
and access
Recovery of livelihoods
System change
e.g. increased
access to inputs
System recovery & resilience
Restored access to inputs & markets
Improved networks & relationships
Systemic
intervention
Focus on
market system
recovery
Systemic
intervention
Diagnostic Process
• To fix a problem, one must first understand it
• In an emergency, the diagnostic process is rapid, & less rigorous
• But still essential & can involve market players too
The poor and Symptoms
their context
Specific
market
system
Why?
CORE
Systemic
constraints
Causes
Feasibility
Focus of
intervention
Samarth Early Diagnosis &
Engagement
Samarth is not a relief agency! But:
• Had an experienced, motivated and capable
team for market analysis & facilitation
• Had well established linkages and networks
with private and public sector
What Samarth Did
• Selected Vegetables, Dairy and Inputs to focus on
(obvious impact and role in recovery)
• Identified key business membership organizations to
work with
– Vegetables: FEVEN (veg traders)
– Dairy: CDCAN (dairy cooperatives)
– Inputs: PEAN (input wholesalers & retailers)
• Supported them with logistics and analytical capacity
• Presented findings to international community
• Brokered relationships
Outcomes
• BMOs used research as an advocacy piece for
government & NGOs
• Some uptake of recommended interventions
among NGOs
• But the recovery and response options
pursued were direct, & mainly ignored &
potentially undermined the private sector…
How could it have been done differently?
What is facilitation?
“any activity that makes tasks for others easy”
“the art of affecting change in the behaviour and performance
of market players such that it is sustained and continues to
adapt and respond to external influences”
“an action that is external to a market system but seeks to bring about
change within it, in order to achieve the public benefit objective of
systemic change”
“the temporary actions of a facilitator to bring about
system-level changes and develop market systems for
the benefit of the poor”
E.g. Agricultural Inputs
Objective: enable farmers to plant staple and cash crops in the monsoon
Instead of:
• Buying seeds and inputs
• Conducting household surveys
• Distributing inputs directly to households
Try:
• Engaging with PEAN
• Assisting them to understand the affect on input retailers (addressing
capacity issues)
• Assisting them in gap analysis for things they don’t normally stock (e.g.
seed storage bags)
• Building relationships with the CASH recovery community
• Fronting capital for re-stocking retailers (soft loan)
This maintains legitimate relationships between farmers and input retailers.
E.g. Livestock Feed
Objective: safeguard productive assets (cows and buffalo)
Instead of:
• Buying livestock feed (urea molasses & concentrates)
• Conducting household surveys
• And distributing it to affected smallholders
Try:
• Engaging with CDCAN
• Assisting them to understand the affect on supply-chain for milk (addressing
capacity issues)
• Developing a distribution mechanism via empty milk trucks through dairy
cooperatives to farmers (phasing out subsidy over time as milk supply returns)
• Building better management information systems to monitor (and manage milk
supply in future)
This maintains legitimate market relationships, and offers the potential for improved
feed supply in future
Finally…
• Understand when you are facilitating, & when
you are not: ask who else could or should be
doing this?
• Recognise the facilitation capacity you already
have, and cultivate it
• Develop and invest in relationships and
networks with market players
Thanks!
Reports are available on
www.samarth-nepal.com