Making Markets Work for the Poor

Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) is an approach to poverty reduction that donors such as DFID, Sida and SDC have been supporting over the past few years. The central idea is that the poor are dependent on market systems for their livelihoods. Therefore changing those market systems to work more effectively and sustainably for the poor will improve their livelihoods and consequently reduce poverty.

"The last few years have seen an upsurge of interest in market development approaches amongst aid agencies. Alongside M4P there is UNDP's Growing Inclusive Markets, the IADB's Opportunities for the Majority and the IFC's Next Four Billion. Amongst businesses, there is growing interest in social investment, sustainable business practices, fair trade and engaging with the Base of the (Economic) Pyramid. Although terminology and emphasis may differ, all of these approaches see a market-based economic engagement with the poor as essential for sustainable development." (M4P Synthesis, DFID/SDC).

This page provides a comprehensive introduction to a wide range of links and documents relating to Making Markets Work - in most cases, explicitly for the Poor. For documents on specific market development programmes or projects from all over the world, for all phases of the project cycle, please refer to the DCED's Value Chain Database at www.Value-Chains.org. Reports focusing on Inclusive Business Models that engage with the poor as producers and consumers can be found here. Additional suggestions for content and links for this page are welcome. Please contact the Secretariat.

Contents

Key Links
Overview and Strategy Documents
M4P in Context

• On the M4P approach
• M4P, growth and poverty reduction
• Market approaches to basic service delivery
• Market approaches to environmental services

Discussions and Proceedings
Design and Implementation of M4P programmes
M4P programmes and case studies

Key Links

• The DCED Standard for results measurement and Case Studies of M4P programmes applying the Standard
• The new M4P knowledge and exchange forum (M4PHub)
• M4P publications of the Springfield Centre for Business in Development, on their website (many are also posted below)
• SDC's main M4P site and Market Approaches to Development site
• Resources and tools on agricultural markets by Engineers without Borders Canada (Untapped Markets website)

• Heierli, Urs: Market Approaches that Work for Development. How the Private Sector can Contribute to Poverty Reduction, SDC (2009)
• Synthesis of the Making Markets Work for the Poor Approach (commissioned by DFID and SDC, 2008)
• MMW4P: The Framework, DFID (2008)
• Understanding the Market System: The components that make markets work, DFID (2008)
• M4P - An introduction to the concept. Summary Paper for an ADB-DFID conference (2005)
• Making Markets Work for the Poor: An objective & an approach, ComMark Trust, South Africa (2004-5)
• Making Markets Work Better for the Poor - Original Framework Paper (2000)
• Markets4Poor: The DFID/ADB M4P programme in SE Asia
• UNDP: Creating Value for All: Strategies for Doing Business with the Poor, UNDP (2008)
• Wealth of the Poor: Eliminating Poverty through Market and Private Sector Development, Sida (2005)
• CARE Canada - Making Markets Work for the Poor (2004)
• Sierra Leone's PSD Strategy 2009-14 (includes explicit M4P element)

This section lists resources on various M4P sub-topics, including reflections on the approach, analyses of the role of M4P for pro-poor development, and information about market development in sectors that go beyond 'core' PSD work, such as water and sanitation, health care, and environmental services.

On the M4P approach

• Making Markets Work for Poor - Comparing M4P and Sustainable Livelihood Approach frameworks, SDC (2008)
• Perspectives on the Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) Approach, DFID/SDC (2008)
• How can research-based interventions be more effective at influencing policy and practice? ADB Vietnam (2005)
• M4P: Comparative Approaches to Private Sector Development, SDC (2006)

M4P, growth and poverty reduction

• Sahan, Enrich; Julia Fischer-Mackey: Making markets empower the poor. Programme perspectives on using markets to empower women and men living in poverty, Oxfam Discussion Paper (2011)
• Seville, Don; Abbi Buxton and Bill Vorley: Under what conditions are value chains effective for pro-poor development?, IIED (2011)
• Making Markets Work for the Poor: Results Measurement in PSD: Current Practice and Challenges ahead, SDC Seminar (2009)
• How MMW4P contributes to Growth and Poverty Reduction, DFID (2008)
• The Role MMW4P plays in Growth Strategies, DFID (2008)

Market approaches to basic service delivery

• Blog posts on the private sector and basic service provision

• MMW4P: Private sector delivery of public benefit goods and services, SDC Seminar, (May 2007)

• Market-based approaches to water and sanitation, Waterlines journal (2011)
• Jaime Frias: Harnessing Market Power for Rural Sanitation. Rural Poor as Customers and not Beneficiaries, Presentation at 6th Annual Service Markets Seminar, Turin (2005)
• Private Sector Sanitation Delivery in Vietnam. Harnessing Market Power for Rural Sanitation, WSP Water and Sanitation Programme (2005)

• USAID Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) project website
• The World Bank: Healthy partnerships. How governments can engage the private sector to improve health in Africa (2011)
• Bloom, G.; Champion, C.; Lucas, H., Peters, D. and Standing, H.: Making Health Markets Work Better for Poor People: Improving Provider Performance, Future Health Systems Working Paper 6, 2009. (Future Health Systems website)
• Eldis Health Insights: Making Health Markets Work for the Poor (March 2009)
• BizClim e-Zine on Investing in the Health Sector in Africa (2008)
  
• The State of Health in Bangladesh. Who constitutes the Health Workforce? Bangladesh HealthWatch (2007)

• Public and private schooling in Ghana: Are the Poor being served? CREATE/DFID, September 2010

Market approaches to environmental services

• Making Carbon Markets Work for the Poor in Vietnam, Practical Action (2009)

Discussions and Proceedings

The following materials summarise discussions and proceedings of workshop, seminars and other events on M4P.

• E+I Employment and Income Network: Limiting factors for applying the M4P approach, including its application in fragile contexts. Synthesis of the SDC E+I Employment and Income Network e-discussion 20 June to 8 July 2011 (2011)
• IIED Provocation Seminars Series: Making markets work for the poor - contents and discontents (2011)
• "M4P: What it is and Where it's Going?" Bangkok Workshop (2008)
• MMW4P - Private sector delivery of public benefit goods and services, SDC seminar (2007)
• Eighth Annual Seminar on developing value chains and service markets (2007)(English/French/Spanish)
• M4P Public Private Day report (2005)

Design and Implementation

This section lists generic documents on the design and implementation of M4P programmes. It includes value chain analysis guides, which exemplify the application of an M4P lens to value chain analysis.

• M4P Operational Guide, DFID/SDC (2008)
• Implementing MMW4P Programmes, DFID (2008)
• MMW4P Programmes - Lessons Learned, DFID (2008)
• The ILO Guide for Value Chain Analysis and Upgrading (2009)
• Making Value Chains Work Better for the Poor: A Toolbook for Practitioners of Value Chain Analysis, DFID (2008)
• Click on this link for other examples of tools to analyse value chains

M4P Programmes and Case Studies

Below you can find case studies and overviews of selected M4P programmes and projects. For more comprehensive programme- and project-specific information, please refer to www.Value-Chains.org.

Ongoing programmes

• Making Tractor Markets work for the Poor. A PrOpCom Case study (October 2011)
• Making Markets Work for the Poor. Experience, Results and Lessons from Katalyst, Presentation by Prashant Rana (March 2011)
• Katalyst, Bangladesh Website
  
• Making Nigerian Agricultural Markets Work for the Poor (PrOpCom) Website
  
• Making Financial Markets Work for the Poor (FinMark South Africa) Website

Older programme summaries and case studies

• Programme Summary for Southern Africa ComMark Trust (2009)
• Promotion of Equity through Pro-Poor Growth Programme, Nicaragua (2008)
• Making Markets Work Better for the Poor: Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, ADB/DFID (2003-2007)
• Making Markets Work for the Poor in Eastern and Southern Africa, ComMark Seminar (2007)
• Developing financial service markets for the poor: FinMark in South Africa (2006) **
• MMW4P Programme Summmary, Bolivia, DFID (2006)
• Improving the environment for small businesses in Indonesia and Russia: Experiences from Swisscontact (2006)**
• Experiences from SDC regional programmes in the Balkans and South Caucasus (2006) **
• Making Service Markets Work for the Poor in Uganda, by Jim Tanburn and Regina Kamuhanda (2005)

** These case studies form part of a series prepared primarily by the Springfield Centre, on behalf of the Fauno Consortium for the Employment and Income Division of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation(SDC).

_{Photographs courtesy of Katalyst, Gerry McCarthy, Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi.}