How to Conduct a Trader Survey?

The purpose of this technical guidance sheet is to provide guidance to WFP Country Office and partner staff in conducting a simple trader survey with limited or no external technical support. For complex trader surveys, or in situations where local capacity is insufficient, experienced WFP staff in the food security units at the Regional Bureaux and Headquarters may provide further guidance, training or additional capacity. Also, training modules have been developed on the basis of this guidance sheet, which can be used during training sessions.

The starting point of this guidance sheet is that trader surveys are an integral part of food security analysis, contributing to answering basic questions about food security and response strategies. This implies that trader surveys focus on the actual markets delivering services to the population of interest, instead of a stand-alone overview of the structure, conduct and performance of markets in general.

This guidance sheet provides practical guidance on how to organize a trader survey in order to produce meaningful results. It offers a concise discussion of basic concepts, complemented by references to more in-depth guidance on food security analysis and advanced methods for conducting market analysis.

To access the training modules please click here