Market Systems Development (MSD) reduces poverty by enhancing the ways that the poor interact with markets. This page gives access to key documents on the approach.
The BEAM Exchange website hosts a wealth of resources on MSD, including a 4-minute introductory video. BEAM Exchange is supervised by the DCED’s MSD Working Group.
MSD approaches acknowledge the dynamic and complex nature of markets; good monitoring is therefore needed, to adapt the approach during implementation. Learn more about how the DCED Standard helps achieve that.
For more specific resources on adjusting MSD programmes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please refer to the DCED knowledge page on Adjusting PSD interventions in the short term.
Overview documents
Comparison with other PSD approaches
Overarching guidelines for funders and implementers
- The Operational Guide for the M4P Approach, The Springfield Centre, 2015
- Managing MSD projects: Internal guidance paper for SDC head office and cooperation office staff, SDC 2019
- Operational Guidance Note: Market Systems Development, DFAT 2017
- Shaping Inclusive Markets. How Funders and Intermediaries can Help Markets Move toward Greater Economic Inclusion, FSG, 2017.
- Guiding principles for donor intervention in business development services, DCED 2001
Cross-cutting insights from practitioner workshops
- Market Systems Development (MSD) Peer Learning Event, Jakarta, November 2016
- Market Systems Development Donor Workshop, Dar es Salaam, November 2016
- USAID Peer Learning Event Case Study and Organisers’ Guide, 2015.
- DCED Report on the M4P Peer Learning Event, 2013. Covered practical issues like how to structure teams, and how to make deals.
It is widely debated whether social and basic services should be free at the point of access, or whether private low-cost services can be a solution where the public system does not work effectively. In the health sector, for example, the first point of contact for low-income groups is often with commercial health care providers, in one form or another. Some therefore suggest to upgrade existing service provision, until it is possible to provide free universal coverage.
Resources in this section explore these debates and provide practical advice for developing inclusive social and basic service markets that work for the poor.
MSD in education programmes
- What’s New in the Private Education Pandora’s Box? FP2P blog, 2019
- Can a PPP improve Liberia’s schools? CGD, 2017
- Private non-state sector engagement in the provision of educational services at the primary and secondary levels in South Asia, World Bank, 2014
- Low-cost private schools: Evidence, approaches, emerging issues. EPS PEAKS, 2013
MSD in health care programmes
- Knowledge Portal on Private Sector for Health, PSP4H programme
- Engaging with Health Markets in Low and Middle Income Countries, DFID, 2014
- Primary Health Care at the Base of the Pyramid. RTT’s Unjani Clinic Model, B4D Pathfinder, 2012
- Strengthening Health Outcomes through the Private Sector project website, USAID
MSD in water & sanitation programmes
- The Journey of Changing Water Services Delivery in Kenya, KMT 2019
- Summary of best practices of iDE’s sanitation marketing approach, iDE 2018
- A Market Led, Evidence Based, Approach to Rural Sanitation in India, Monitor Inclusive Markets, 2013
- Tapping the Market: Opportunities for Domestic Investments in Sanitation for the Poor, World Bank, 2013
MSD Programme Websites
See the BEAM Exchange Programme Index for more MSD programmes. For project evaluations, please refer to the BEAM Exchange evidence resources.
MSD Case Studies
- In search of the sweet spot in implementing MSD programmes, with particular reference to Fiji and Pakistan – The Messiness Series Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, by Bear and Bekkers, MDF 2018
- The Art of Financial Market Facilitation: Learning from the FSD Network, 2017
- Smallholder agriculture: Scaling Impact. Cambodia MSME Ex-post Assessment, USAID LEO, 2016.
- Working with the mass media to improve educational and employment choices among young people in Albania, by Gavin Anderson for RisiAlbania, 2016
- SDC: Independent Evaluation of SDC’s Performance in Market System Development in Agriculture 2013-2019, 2021 Also Factsheet one-pager
- DFAT: Synthesis review of DFAT-funded Market Systems Development Initiatives, 2019.
- DFAT: Beyond value chains: Emerging lessons from MSD approaches in Australia’s aid programme, 2018.
- Sida: Evaluation of the market systems development approach. Lessons for expanded use and adaptive management at Sida, 2018.
- USAID: Leveraging Economic Opportunities (LEO) Final performance report, 2016.
- SDC: External Review of SDC ́s Program on Rural Market Development in the South Caucasus 2008 – 2012, 2012.
Popular BEAM Exchange webinars on MSD
This section provides quick links to some of the most viewed webinars on MSD organised by the BEAM Exchange. To view BEAM’s full library of past webinars, click here.
- Using MSD to support public agricultural extension services, 2015
- Assessing systemic change, 2014
- Adaptive management in aid programmes, 2014
- Alleviating extreme poverty using a Market Systems Approach, 2018
- Getting to scale, 2016
- Applying BEAM’s MSD Competency Framework, 2019
- Systemic change in shallow markets, 2019
- Reviewing the evidence – how effective is the MSD approach?, 2019.
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