Improve Crisis Response by Understanding and Leveraging Markets – Tools

Working through markets and non-aid partners to deliver humanitarian assistance increases humanitarian impact during crisis and facilitates economic recovery faster.

Kim Beevers and Loris Shannon-Cooper

Development practitioners are increasingly finding that providing direct assistance can be a costly activity that maintains a culture of dependency and causes harm to the affected population. Working through markets and partners to deliver support in times of crisis, on the other hand, can bolster systems that people depend on for goods, services, and income.

How can the government, agencies, and donors understand and leverage markets and partners differently? Start by understanding markets and identifying needs and potential opportunities.

The following is a list of pre-crisis and post-crisis market assessment tools that provide an understanding of markets either before or after a shock to guide relief responses.

Pre-crisis market assessment tool

• Pre-Crisis Market Analysis (PCMA): explains how to analyze critical market systems before a predictable crisis to anticipate how markets will respond and to inform preparedness efforts.

Post-crisis market assessment tools

• The Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis Toolkit (EMMA): EMMA provides guidance on selecting and analyzing critical market system(s) post-shock to inform response options and market support from relief to recovery.
• Rapid Assessment for Markets (RAM): provides a quick snapshot of how key markets operate immediately following a shock to support initial decisions on response options’ feasibility and the need for a more detailed market system analysis.
• Market Analysis Guidance (MAG): offers processes and tools that aim to integrate market analysis into the various project cycle phases.

Read more: Knowledge Point; Shelter Cluster; Good Practice Review; Seep Network

GROW Liberia © 2021 All rights reserved