A Few Projects from the e+i Market Place…
Market Stalls
Bangladesh – M4 the Chars: Market Development in a Natural Disaster Prone Environment
by Fazle Razik
Chars: River islands (sand islets) formed and reformed through silt depositions and erosions of rivers, located in the northern rivers of Padma, Jamuna and Teesta of Bangladesh.
Population: About a million people, mostly living on subsistence agriculture, farming and labour wage and around the bottom of the poverty line (daily earning ≤$1).
Geographic Fragilities: a. Disconnectivity, b. Land Erosion, c. Flash Flood, d. Extreme Weather
Economic Fragilities: a. High transaction costs (infrastructure), b. High rate of migration (infrastructure), c. Absence of forward and backward linkages for agro products (i. Absence of support services, ii. Absence of power sector), d. Vulnerable women working at home
M4C (Making Markets work for Chars) was designed to spur again the economic activeness of the people that have already benefitet from DFID’s Chars Livelihoods Programme phase 1 (CLP). Given the fragile contexts, the beneficiaries faced the big risk to slide into poverty again if they are not part of a systemic intervention that would link them to markets (backward, forward, support and financial) and facilitate more service provisions, infrastructure development and access to public services, technology transfer etc.
The project follows an M4P approach and applies diversified analyzing tools. Given the context of the chars, M4C applies systemic (M4P), fragility (DRR) as well as participatory approaches in its strategy. Facilitation being the main method to intervene and private sectors being the main partners and drivers of change, this project thrives to take more innovative business approaches to tackle fragility. The solutions designed for M4C have elements of systemic change that reduce vulnerability (disaster risks and socio-economic fragility) to prevent the project beneficiaries from falling back into poverty.
There are particular examples on special strategies adopted to reduce fragility:
1. Balance private sector profit interest vs. the need to overcome fragility: a) Promoting less commercial but more resistant “Miracle” seed of Maize; b) Promoting use of specific chilli variety that reduces effect of cold waves on chilli crop.
2. Collaborating with local/national government authorities to reallocate budget on infrastructure and transportation to improve the connectivity to the mainland.
3. Targeting special sectors focusing on char women vulnerability such as handicrafts and chilli.
4. Partnering with more local intermediaries and enterprises as it is supposed that they are better able to share the risks with the neighbouring char dwellers, compared to national players.
5. (Planned) Special mobile phone based financial transaction services to reduce money transaction risks and costs.
Learning from M4C and recommendations:
1. Adapt to a systemic approach with mixed tools for context analysis.
2. Design in complementing to other livelihood/asset transfer projects to maximize outcome.
3. Focus more on service delivery penetration than achieving outreach (Depth > Breadth). Fragility requires more demand stimulation for services: making producers’ groups, building capacity on coordination and making them ready to demand and receive services in bulk, etc.
4. Search opportunities to work with and complementarily to the local government.
5. Although not a fragile country overall, a country, at times, might have fragility in small pockets and micro contexts.
6. Gathering benchmark information and measuring impacts in fragile context are difficult tasks.
Haiti – Fonkoze and Catastrophe Insurance
by Hans Ramm and Jane Gisin, FP e+i
Vulnerable and poor people fight hard to climb out of poverty. Fonkoze as a Microfinance Institution helps micro- and small entrepreneurs to overcome their cash flow shortages and to foster their economic activities. However, Haiti is very prone to natural disasters that frequently wash away the hard-earned assets, merchandise and houses of the poor. Therefore, Fonkoze developed an asset protection strategy. One idea was to develop a catastrophe insurance product. To do so, this innovative pilot programme had to establish the entire re-insurance structure from scratch. 
Fonkoze pioneered this approach and after only two years, it is possible to say that the insurance has helped people to better deal with shocks like natural disaster and to recover faster. Hence, SDC is now together with Swiss Re, MiCRO and other stakeholders evaluating how the catastrophe insurance product could be replicated in Central America and later in other contexts.
During the market place, we had some interesting questions raised regarding the nature and the contribution of the partners within the Private Public Development Partnership. This intervention would not be possible without the knowledge and expertise of the international re-insurer and national insurer due to the complexity of insurance products.
Furthermore, it is also crucial to finance intelligently different activities. At first, the SDC will provide support for the capitalisation of MiCRO through the local Microfinance Institutions with a strong proven social mission. On the other hand, SDC facilitates capacity building on all levels from financial literacy and DRR to technical assistance to MiCRO. Sustainability is a long-term challenge for such an innovative pilot project but possible. Regarding replication, obviously it is a question of thorough analysis of local risks and cultural acceptation but the international re-insurance sector is very much interested in expanding their services to the BoP strategically and long-term. Therefore, we have strong partners at our side to support us with the necessary technical investigation.
Georgia – Alliances: Rural Development (incl. DRR)
by Sadunishvili Giorgi, Mercy Corps
Aspects of fragility in Georgia: a) Environmental b) Governance c) Financial d) Animal disease d) Food safety and hygiene.
Target group: Small Scale Livestock Producers (SSLP’s); the poor, as identified in our Focus Group Survey as people owning 5 or fewer female cattle and/or 40 or fewer female sheep and generally earning under 200CHF/month.
Reducing poverty makes our target group less fragile. For example: a) increased access to vet drugs and information makes farmers more resilient to animal diseases; b) improved access to finance makes farmers more sustainable; c) access to information about FS+H standards and new laws makes our target group less fragile. The Alliances KK programme has a good knowledge of the agricultural sector and fragile points of the market system we are working with. We do not try to fix all problems, but we can implement the best practice and find the entry points for systemic change to have less fragile markets. Sustainability is one of the main objectives of the programme, which gives us the opportunity to have a significant impact on our target and vulnerable group.
The discussion and feedback was more about the practical examples how the programme implements the M4P approach and the tools we are using during the implementation of our interventions. Furthermore, questions were raised about how to find where fragility is and analysing of the fragile points.
Kosovo – EYE – Youth Employment
by Arjeta Byci, NPO and Nora Gola, HSI Kosovo
Aspects of fragility
Kosovo’s economy is not able to provide enough jobs for its rapidly growing workforce for the following reasons: a) Weak labour demand by the private sector that only slowly becomes more dynamic; b) inadequate skills supplied by training and education systems; and c) insufficient matching services to link supply with demand.
Kosovo has the highest unemployment rates in the EU: 45 % of the workforce is unemployed, and 3 out of 4 youth have no job (73%). Furthermore, 4 out of 5 women have no job (81%). Every year 30’000 to 40’000 youth and young adults enter the labour market.
EYE increases job opportunities for Kosovo youth by matching their competences with the market needs:
- Labour market
- Skills & Knowledge market
- Skills development: skills/competences of job seekers meet demand of employer (= Outcome 1)
- Matching and guidance: services to improve access to more job opportunities (= Outcome 2)
- Entrepreneurship: investments that lead to job creation (= Outcome 3)
PROJECT APPROACH
Market approach (M4P) aiming at systemic changes for higher outreach and sustainability
Sectoral approach; focusing on sub-sectors with relevance to target group, potential for growth and leverage
Private sector led; working with market actors ready for innovation and growth to create more job opportunities
Facilitative approach to market development; catalyst role through indirect interventions stimulating market actors for changes in business practice and behaviour
Crosscutting themes: Actively seek to include minorities and women
Points of discussion
1. Considering Kosovo’s young population, it would be important to look for the employment opportunities outside Kosovo mainly because of limited absorption capacity of the local market.
2. As this project is very young and considering the systemic approach applied, it is difficult to foresee the future project influence in the market systems.
Pakistan – Livelihood Project Hindukush
by Martin Dietz, Advisor HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation
I will present the case of the Livelihood Project Hindukush that is funded by SDC and implemented by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation. This project is being implemented in North West Pakistan in districts that run along the border with Afghanistan. The communities in this region are affected by complex and multi-layered conflicts. There is the war against militants and insurgents fought by the Pakistani and US army. A high level of criminal activities is mixed in with the militants’ activities. A large number of displaced people have settled in the area. The area is also highly susceptibility to climate change hazards which have serious impacts on people’s livelihoods and levels of their vulnerability. The impacts on the local economy are enormous: 1) Business confidence is gone and businesses shift their operations out of the area 2) Access to the region is controlled by the army 3) Army interference: e.g. cultivation of certain crops (maize, sugar cane) is banned 4) People are reluctant to go to markets, restaurants, places where many people gather
The concrete case I will present is HELVETAS’ work with poor people to support them taking up honey production. The district Karak has a flora which yields a honey for which very high prices are paid in Pakistan and in the Middle East. HELVETAS has facilitated the development of various levels of local commercially oriented institutions (Business Interest Groups, Association). Around 400 families actively participate at this moment. Bee keepers have increased their income fourfold. The institutions are financially self-sustaining. And we have reached a moment where more families join with the support of local institutions.
