The 2016 BEAM Conference brought nearly 200 people to Lusaka, Zambia, sparking critical debate and reflection about the experience of market systems development approaches, and the future of our field. The conference agenda was broad, but a clear focus grew around three crucial issues:
- the paucity of rigorous evidence about impact: What do we...
...know about the scale, sustainability of poverty-reducing impacts achieved using market systems approaches? What works and what doesn't? How confident should we be of the results, and how can we improve our evidence base? 
- implementation bottlenecks: What have we understood from the practical experience of programmes that have used market systems approaches over the past decade? What were the persistent challenges and their most effective solutions. What are the keys to success?
- the operational environment for aid programming: What are we learning from initiatives applying market systems approaches to long-standing and complex challenges. How are practitioners adapting concepts, methods and tools to improve access to basic services, address economic exclusion and gender inequality, or achieve results in more challenging environments such as cities?
BEAM Exchange is a one-stop shop for sharing knowledge and learning about how market systems approaches can be used to reduce poverty. SDC has been present at the conference in many ways: first of all as co-funder of BEAM Exchange (together with DFID), secondly in form of presentations and contributions to various sessions, and thirdly through project case examples presented by implementing partner organisations.
One SDC E+I contribution found particular interest: based on four case examples from the West Balkan region, a one-day training was provided on the topic of 'youth employment and employability: applying a systemic approach to labour market development', offered by HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation. Inputs such as these ensured a high degree of visibility of the Swiss development community and allows SDC to play a leading role in the discussions on global development topics.
Please go here to find out more about what happened during the conference.
