MaFI (The Market Facilitation Initiative)
MaFI (The Market Facilitation Initiative)
Pro-poor market development is an approach to poverty reduction that seeks to promote changes in market systems that will lead to sustained improvements in income, employment, and access to products and services for a large number of marginalized enterprises and households. One challenge of this approach is that, although a wide body of resources exists on conducting market research and program design for market development programs, there is far less information available on program implementation.
MaFI (The Market Facilitation Initiative) helps close this gap in knowledge by advancing practical principles and tools that assist practitioners working in pro-poor market development to move from market assessments and program design to implementation. The group produces learning products based on MaFI's online discussions, webinars, and in-person meetings, and also seeks to influence the debate about rules and principles of international aid that hamper inclusive market development.
Please join SEEP’s MaFI Working Group and Strengthening the Economic Potential of the Ultra Poor (STEP UP) Initiative for a series of webinars on the recently launched “Integrating Very Poor Producers Into Value Chains Field Guide.”The second 90-minute webinar on the Field Guide was held on February 21, 2013. Dan Norell and Margie Brand, co-authors of the guide, presented on innovative strategies for facilitating vertical linkages with very poor producers. Second SEEP Field Guide Webinar from SEEP Network on Vimeo. The first webinar was held Tuesday, November 20, 2012 and if you missed it, you can watch it here. This series of webinars is sponsored by the SEEP Network Market Facilitation Initiative and STEP UP Initiative and many thanks go out to them for their collaboration. The last Webinar in this series will be held on May 23, 2013 at 9 AM EDT and will focus on innovative strategies for facilitating horizontal linkages with very poor producers. For more information on the webinar, including how to join, please click here. |
Learning Products
- MaFI-licious, an online, live annotated bibliography on current practices, tools and methods used in pro-poor market facilitation. This resource uses the Delicious platform, a popular bookmark service that allows people to share web-based resources. Only members can add and edit MaFI-licious but anyone can access its resources.
- Do Systemic Interventions Reach the Poorest of the Poor? (November 2010)
- Online Discussion Synthesis: Sustainable Livelihoods and Pro-Poor Market Development (October 2009)
- Conference Synthesis: State of the Practice in Market Facilitation (September 2008)
Get Involved
The facilitator for MaFI (The Market Facilitation Initiative) is Lucho Osorio. You can get involved with MaFI through the LinkedIn group, on Facebook, and on Twitter. Check out the MaFI mind map to get a realtime picture of what MaFI members are talking about.
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Spotlight
Lucho Osorio, the facilitator for the Market Facilitation Initiative was recently named 2012 Facilitator of the Year by SEEP for his leadership and contribution to SEEP learning initiatives, as well as support and mentorship to others. Lucho is a International Market Systems Specialis at Practical Action Consulting where much of his work focuses on providing technical advice to field practitioners and designing/coordinating learning and capacity building systems to improve the quality, efficiency and impact of inclusive market development programs.
Seven things you should know about MaFI
Systemic M&E Discussion Series: An Interview with Shamim Bodhanya
In the second podcast in the Systemic M&E Discussion Series, Shamim Bodhanya and Marcus Jenal explore the origins of complex adaptive systems research and the application of its findings to development work.
Learn more and listen to the podcast here.
Listen to the first podcast in the series, an interview with Dave Snowden.
