In February 2017,  the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the World Bank, SIDA and iDE are organizing the Market Transformation Workshop, an innovative peer-to-peer learning event on Market Systems Transformation, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Given that the first and second generation of market development programs in Bangladesh have been implemented and are (in some cases) in the final phase of their implementation cycle, it is important that limitations are acknowledged and practical experiences are gathered, shared and codified in current and future applications of the Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) approach, in order that the sector continues to learn and innovate in improving on the general theory that remains a highly compelling approach.

The objective of the proposed learning workshop is as follows:

• Create a platform for practitioners, implementers, policy makers and investors to bring together their ideas and experiences particularly around the application of market development and market transformation approaches in Bangladesh.
• Provide focused learning and reflection opportunities on some of the challenging yet critical cross cutting issues such as women’s economic empowerment, decent jobs (labor productivity and living wages), inclusive finance, value chain governance (power dynamics), measurement and attribution and scaling models etc.
• Connect with global networks of practitioners such as BEAM Exchange, SEEP and other initiatives to draw upon international learning and provide opportunities for local practitioners to engage with their global peers.
• Provide inputs for adapting on-going projects or in the design and development of innovative projects.

The overall event will be designed to facilitate experiential learning as well as reflective sessions balancing both practical applications of market systems approaches as well as theoretical understanding of the subject. The event will start off with the experiential learning event in the field and culminate with the Dhaka based workshop.

The Experiential Learning event will comprise of the following activities:

• Two and half-day field event in Barisal, which will showcase some of the participating project’s field activities and engagement.
• A facilitated learning session where participants can engage with market systems actors and analyze, more closely, the project activities.

The Experiential Learning event will be followed by the Reflection Session, based within a  Workshop in Dhaka, and will comprise of the following:

• Registration and networking session
• Plenary session with a key note address by an international practitioner, focused on analyzing some of the recent learning, challenges and best practices in this sector
• Multiple breakaway sessions, thematically organized. Each of these sessions will have 2-4 practitioners who will engage as panel members. In order to include a wider range of participants, the breakaway sessions could be designed innovatively and include the following:
  • Session facilitated in Bangla for successful farm business (wo)men to share their experience and challenges working with development programs;
  • Sessions that incorporate stakeholders from Public service agencies (such as Depart of Agriculture Extension Services) focused on building a deeper understanding of systems thinking through the enabling environment; and
  • Match-making and learning events with private sector firms, such as input sellers, agro retailers, buyers and processing firms in order to understand their incentives and motivations as well as challenges in engaging with BOP clients.
  • Clinics in which organizations or projects can show how they train or facilitate business planning or engage private sector actors, etc.
• These sessions will be facilitated to solicit ideas, experiences and thoughts from the panelists and will be open for group discussions and questions from participants.
• The workshop in Dhaka will also include a market-place event which will be innovatively designed as to ensure that the nature of the pluralistic participants can equally access the information.
• Post event evaluation as well as review is necessary to investigate the interest of the participants on which of the thematic areas generated the most interest and also to find out different methodologies for further engagement with the participants as a follow-up to this event.

Please, download the brochure (PDF) of the Market tranformation workshop.