Markets
When designing a humanitarian intervention and deciding whether to use CVA, a market analysis should be part of the overall response analysis. Supporting markets to function well has been shown to lead to faster recovery and increased resilience in disaster affected areas.
Many organizations have invested in the development of tools to support market analysis and are considering market-based programming more holistically. This includes interventions that use the market (such as cash transfers to affected populations), as well as interventions that directly support markets (such as conditional grants to traders to get their market back up and running).
Related initiatives
Featured content
Introduction to Market Analysis
Course
This 30 minute online course provides an introduction to the analysis of markets in emergency contexts, with input from some of the world’s leading thinkers on the topic.
A Practical Guide to Market Analysis in Humanitarian response
Course
A three to four hour online course designed to provide future humanitarian market assessment team members with a solid understanding of theory and steps of market assessments so that they can join assessment teams prepared with a basic understanding of what they will be doing and why.
Market Support Interventions in Humanitarian Contexts – a Tip Sheet
Guidelines and Tools
This tip sheet defines what market support programming in humanitarian contexts is, and what it can look like in practice. It enables humanitarian practitioners to systematically consider market support interventions alongside other programme activities. The scope includes support interventions focusing on supply/availability and on demand/access. The tip sheet is based on secondary data...
Market Based Programming (MBP)
Guidelines and Tools
Market Based Programming (MBP) in Oxfam’s work means we always consider existing markets – through assessments, analysis and programming – across all phases of a response and across all technical sectors. You can also watch the videos below which are available in English, Spanish, Arabic and French.
Thematic lead
Latest
Direct Cash Transfer to Post Election Violence affected Host Population: Nakuru, South Rift Valley, Kenya. Internal Evaluation
Report
Post-election violence in Kenya started in late December 2007 and led to a large-scale destruction of property, disruption of transportation and labour markets, and displacement of an estimated 250.000 to 300.000 people throughout the country. Homes and shops were burnt or looted; farms were affected as...
A Synthesis of Practical Lessons from Value Chain Projects in Conflict Affected Environments
Report
Over the last year, at the behest of USAID, 10 organizations captured results and lessons learned from projects that used value chain programming in conflict-affected environments. The goal of this paper is to extract larger lessons that emerge from these implementing organizations and the programs they...
Case Study of the Poultry and Grape/Raisin subsectors in Afghanistan: Guided case study in value chain development for conflict-affected environments
Report
Is the value chain approach effective for restoring market-based economic activity in a severely affected post-conflict environment?. The goal of this study is to gather empirical evidence to answer this question, looking at the role of the value chain approach in the work of USAID’s Rebuilding...
Market Assessment and Analysis: Learner’s notes
Guidelines and Tools
This document presents the “Learner’s Notes” that accompany a distance learning course on Market Assessment and Analysis. The course illustrates how markets operate and how they relate to and affect food security and vulnerable households. It describes market components and how they function...
Market Development in Crisis Affected Environments: Emerging lessons for achieving pro-poor economic reconstruction
Report
This paper documents practitioner experience and innovations in market development for income generation and livelihood security in crisis and post-crisis settings. War and natural disaster have devastating impacts on people’s ability to generate income and secure a sustainable livelihood that can...
Cash Transfers for Disaster Risk Reduction in Niger: A Feasibility Study
Case Study
This HPG study report, commissioned by CARE, examines the appropriateness, cost-effectiveness and feasibility of cash transfer programming as part of a disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy in Niger. It gives a general livelihood context of Niger and then looks at the feasibility and appropriateness,...
Dowa emergency cash transfer, Malawi
Case Study
This case study looks at the innovative Concern Worldwide project which provided monthly cash transfers to beneficiary households using smartcards utilising mobile ATMs to deliver the cash. The report examines the choice of programme delivery mechanism, the targeting of beneficiaries, coordination, cost...
Is cash a feasible alternative to food aid for post-drought relief in Lesotho
Case Study
This report summarises the findings from a study undertaken to assess whether or not a cash based response by World Vision to the current drought in Lesotho would be an appropriate and feasible response. It looks at the potential problems which could affect the feasibility of cash interventions and...
A Market Analysis and Decision Tree Tool for Response Analysis: Cash, Local Purchase and/or Imported Food Aid?
Report
This document provides the Decision Tree Tool, which is to be used for the analysis of response options in a food insecurity context – cash, local purchase or imported food aid (see MIFRA paper). The framework is kept simple for ease of communication with a sequence of specific questions divided into 2...
Market Analysis Tools in Rapid-Onset Emergencies: Phase one report
Report
This report was commissioned by Oxfam’s Emergency Food Security and Livelihood (EFSL) team as part of a larger exercise to develop a market analysis toolkit for rapid-onset emergency situations. The impetus for this arose from the recognition by Oxfam, other humanitarian agencies and donors that the...
Implementing cash-based interventions: A guideline for aid workers
Guidelines and Tools
This is a comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of cash-based interventions in the field, covering cash grants, vouchers, and labour-based interventions (cash for work). It also includes practical templates including examples of questionnaires, market surveys, beneficiary cards, voucher formats...
Guidelines for cash transfer programming
Guidelines and Tools
A practical guide, including guidance sheets and a section on practical tools. Building on the broad range of cash experiences within the Movement and in the humanitarian sector, these guidelines provide practical, step-by-step support to the design and implementation of cash programmes.
Market Analysis in Emergency Food Security Assessments
Guidelines and Tools
This document provides a generic overview of market analysis as an integral part of an emergency food security assessment. The main objective is to provide a basic understanding of markets, including how to gather market information, conduct a situation analysis, and
interpret the analysis to inform...
Learning from cash responses to the tsunami: Issue Paper 1: Analysing markets
Report
This is the first of six issue papers which form part of a project to document learning around cash-based responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The project was funded by the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps and Concern Worldwide. This 5-page Issue Paper explores the broad...
Learning from cash responses to the tsunami: Issue Paper 2: Disbursement mechanisms
Report
This is the second of six issue papers which form part of a project to document learning around cash-based responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The project was funded by the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps and Concern Worldwide. This 5-page Issue Paper examines the...
Learning from cash responses to the tsunami: Issue paper 3: Setting the value
Report
This is the third of six issue papers which form part of a project to document learning around cash-based responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The project was funded by the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps and Concern Worldwide. A key question in the design of cash transfer...
Learning from cash responses to the tsunami: Issue Paper 4: Cash and shelter
Report
This is the fourth of six issue papers which form part of a project to document learning around cash-based responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The project was funded by the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps and Concern Worldwide. This Issue Paper highlights some of the key...
Learning from cash responses to the tsunami: Issue Paper 5: Livelihoods recovery
Report
This is the fifth of six issue papers which form part of a project to document learning around cash-based responses to the Indian Ocean tsunami. The project was funded by the British Red Cross, Save the Children UK, Oxfam GB, Mercy Corps and Concern Worldwide. This Issue Paper looks at the use of cash in...
Independent Evaluation of Oxfam GB Malawi’s Emergency Cash – Transfer Programme
Case Study
Poor rainfall in Malawi in the 2004/2005 growing season resulted in significantly reduced cereal and non-cereal food production in the country, leaving up to 4 million people in need of assistance. In response, Oxfam planned a programme in southern Malawi, which included a ‘pilot’ cash-transfer...
No small change: Oxfam GB Malawi and Zambia emergency cash transfer projects: A synthesis of key learning
Case Study
This learning document uses Oxfam GB’s experience of emergency cash transfer programming in Malawi and Zambia to draw out some important lessons in using cash. It examines the two programmes and the findings of the evaluations and asks the question, “Is cash more cost-effective than food aid?”...
