Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI): Cross-crisis analysis of price trends and market functionality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, in conjunction with Cash Working Groups worldwide, REACH has been collecting market data through its Joint Market Monitoring Initiatives (JMMIs): response-level monitoring platforms that bring together many actors working in humanitarian CVA to jointly collect data on key commodities and marketplaces. These JMMIs are generally constructed around the commodities and services included in local Minimum Expenditure Baskets (MEBs) and Survival Minimum Expenditure Baskets (SMEBs), calculating MEB or SMEB costs over time and tracking changes in key indicators on market functionality.

This factsheet aims to use historical JMMI data to quantify some of the major changes observed in markets in humanitarian contexts between January 2020 and August 2021. The analysis revolves around cross-crisis comparisons of key indicators with the goal of discovering common trends, as well as developing initial, non-causational hypotheses around which of these trends may be connected with the global COVID-19 pandemic and which are more likely to stem from local or national dynamics.