Criteria for selecting market systems
You need a basis for choosing market systems and prioritising which one(s) to investigate in more depth, to determine where you will intervene. This is the case whether your programme intends to focus on one market system or several.
Setting and applying selection criteria makes your decision-making more transparent and aids constructive dialogue between funder and implementer on why decisions have been made. It can be helpful if the funder and implementer determine these criteria collaboratively.
Each market system you consider should be assessed for its relative potential to:
- affect large numbers of poor people,
- increase the poor’s performance in markets that are growing or their access to basic services, and
- stimulate system-level changes. As noted above, these basic considerations are of equal importance. It is essential to explore opportunities and feasibility at the same time as defining your target group.
