This spotlight illustrates two ways how SDC contributes to building capacities on MSD – on the one hand, a training offer in Switzerland, and on the other hand, through BEAM Exchange's capacity building advisory group.

MSD training at NADEL of ETH Zurich, Switzerland

The Centre for Development and Cooperation (NADEL) of ETH Zurich has started to offer training courses on M4P/MSD in 2015. It responded to a strong demand for capacity building in this area by SDC, implementing organisations and consultants. HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation and Swisscontact have partnered with NADEL to establish and facilitate this institutionalized training offer. SDC's e+I focal point has co-financed the initial investment in the development of the course concept, training material and short case studies through its backstopping mandate. The training is based on the revised operational guide on MSD.

The training has taken place two times in 2015 – March and October – with a total number of 50 participants. About half of the participants came from the three partnering institutions SDC, Swisscontact and HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation. These practitioners contributed to keep the focus of the training practice-oriented. Telling from the course evaluation, participants appreciated the training a lot (average score 4.5 out of 5 for both courses). 

The next training will take place at NADEL in Zurich from 4 to 8 April.

BEAM Exchange: Capacity buidling advisory group ⁽¹⁾

One of BEAM Exchange's aims is to increase the availability of informed and capable market systems development professionals at all levels in the field.

As the use of market systems approaches in development grows, the vibrancy of our field has to be celebrated. Greater demand for relevant skills means that more people want to learn how to design, implement and evaluate these programmes.

The need for capacity building has encouraged the emergence of new tools, platforms and processes for increasing skills and improving capabilities. However, many stakeholders in our industry have concerns about the effectiveness and efficiency of the training and skills development system. There is a perception of:

• unnecessary re-invention of training materials, tools and methods
• production of courses with low relevance to the needs of field practitioners and project managers
• inefficient allocation of resources for research and innovation in tools and methods
• missed opportunities for synergies amongst donors, users and providers

We must find the root causes of these problems and propose viable solutions. On the other hand, we must also learn from the individuals and organisations that are examples of good practice and innovation.

The capacity building initiative
The BEAM Exchange has convened a small group of experts in market development approaches and capacity building to learn from examples of good practice and innovation and to propose viable solutions to gaps and weaknesses in capacity building practices. The advisory group's first objective is to ensure we have a good understanding of the capacity building system – diagnosing how and why it is failing to serve the needs of our field but also what is working and why.

BEAM is therefore commissioning a study of the capacity building system for market development practitioners (conducted by Debora Randall). The study will approach this as a market system analysis.

The capacity building system is composed of a variety of public and private providers that deliver training and capacity building services to individuals working or seeking to work in the market development field. The supply and demand for these services is influenced by a variety of institutional factors (rules and norms) such as CV expectations, recruitment policy, employers' attitudes to learning and skills development, and training standards. There may also be an important role for supporting services / functions in this market system: such as the development of open-source training materials and core curricula.

Objectives of the capacity building study
The study will provide a systematic analysis of the root causes of weaknesses, gaps and missed opportunities in the training and capacity building system for practitioners of market system development approaches. Whenever possible, it should also produce useful lessons and insights from successful examples of good practice and innovation.

This study should enable the capacity building advisory group to develop a realistic vision for a better functioning system, and propose feasible areas for intervention and collaboration with stakeholders to achieve systemic change – with results that are both sustainable and at a meaningful scale.

How SDC is contributing
BEAM Exchange is a global platform for exchange around market systems approaches co-funded by SDC and DFID. In this capacity SDC is represented in the capacity building advisory group through the E+I backstopping team (Matthias Herr) in close coordination with the E+I focal point (Peter Beez).

Furthermore, SDC-funded projects will actively contribute to the capacity building study conducted by Debora Randall (e.g. EYE in Kosovo and MarketMakers in Bosnia), thus ensuring that experiences and lessons learnt by the Swiss development community are appropriately reflected in the advisory group`s future work.

In doing so, SDC actively contributes to the development of new formats and tools that will fill gaps in the need for more capacity building on the market systems approach.  

ADDITIONAL NEWS FROM BEAM EXCHANGE
The second edition of the Operational Guide for the Making Markets Work for the Poor (or market systems/systemic approach) is now available both in print and electronic version. The print version can be acquired from the E+I focal point or backstopping team.  

(1) Source: Lucho Osorio-Cortes, Inclusive Market Systems Specialist, Policy Practitioner and Learing, BEAM Exchange. Lucho leads the platform`s initiative on capacity building.