The Improving the Uptake of Humanitarian Market Analysis program will promote the consistent collection and use of market data in the design, implementation and adaptation of preparedness, response and recovery programming across all sectors.
Introduction
Market assessments and market-based programming are now widely considered best practice in humanitarian programming, especially among food security and livelihoods actors. They are embedded in various standard-bearing initiatives, and there are a number of tools for emergency market analysis and monitoring aimed at non-specialist practitioners, including the well-known Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis (EMMA) Toolkit, and the Pre-Crisis Market Analysis (PCMA) guidance.
Nonetheless, in reality, market analysis is conducted inconsistently, and even when it does happen, it does not always result in the uptake of market information and recommendations into actual program design or modification. The persistent gap between standards and actual practice requires a reevaluation of how market analysis is conducted, and how the data from assessments is managed and put to use, in order for market-based programming to be consistently applied across humanitarian sectors.
Project Purpose
The “Improving the Uptake of Humanitarian Market Analysis” project seeks to address the main barriers to greater uptake of market analysis and the use of market data in program-related decision making.
These barriers include prohibitively time- and resource-intensive market assessments; a lack of incountry ownership and leadership of market assessments; inadequate attention to markets in pre-crisis contexts and the limited knowledge and capacity in market analysis among field level practitioners and beyond the food security and livelihoods sector.
With funding from USAID/OFDA, the IRC will lead three-interlinked initiatives intended to facilitate the systematic use of market information in the design of humanitarian programs across sectors:
- Develop a framework to clearly define the market information required for specific program decisions.
- Identify, test and evaluate new approaches for collecting and managing market information for program design and adaptation.
- Strengthen field-level use of market analysis techniques through the organization of learning exchanges and the translation of important market assessment resources.
Related link: Improving the Uptake of Humanitarian Market Analysis
Original source: CaLP.
Posted on 21 August 2017.
