Ideas for the new phase of MaFIwith a focus on the human side of facilitation

of market systems development

Version 1, 7 Sep 2017

The Market Facilitation Initiative

"Somewhere along the way, we've forgotten that organizations are human living systems, essentially a bunch of people coming together every day, [...] "We've significantly overemphasized our focus on system, process, policy, rule...and we've mostly disregarded everything that science, psychology, and neuroscience have figured out about how human beings function and what they need to be the best version of themselves."

https://www.inc.com/mandy-gilbert/why-cirque-du-soleil-has-stopped-employee-reviews-and-you-should-too.html

After a decade with the SEEP Network, MaFI is

now an independent group. This presents us

with both challenges and opportunities.

This document proposes a few ideas to give MaFI a purpose that adds value to the field of market systems development

1. A bit of background

When MaFI started, back in 2007-8, its main function was to promote market systems development (MSD) as a promising approach to achieving sustainable poverty reduction at scale. Now, MSD is widely used in agriculture and a growing number of organizations are testing it in sectors like energy, health, WASH and housing.

The mainstreaming of MSD has been characterised by a strong emphasis on market analysis and programme design and management. Unfortunately, facilitation has remained an elusive and neglected topic. This is concerning, because the impacts of MSD depend on effective facilitation.

2. Regaining MaFI’s focus on facilitation…but going deeper into it

MaFI has always defined itself as “an international learning and action-oriented network of experienced practitioners, researchers, donors and entrepreneurs working to understand how facilitation can produce cost-effective and sustainable changes in market systems to promote resilient and dignified livelihoods for marginalised producers”

For this new phase, MaFI will maintain a clear focus on facilitation of MSD but will dig deeper into what happens at the interphase between facilitators and market actors (*), with all their preconceptions, fears, biases, social and cultural nuances, etc.

(*) Market actors can be public and private and include small-holder farmers, wage workers and marginalised producers and consumers.

“[E]xploring facilitation is a great idea.

That is the essence of our work-- and not

many people on the ground actually have

facilitation skills, why? because they have

no opportunity to learn how. Our peer

learning community can be a go to place

for this.” (Mary Morgan).

3. How to reignite MaFI? Five guidelines

3.1. A focus on practitioners’ needs and experiences – really…

No more theoretical questions or issues “out of curiosity”. The facilitator will prioritise posts that come from field staff and relate to their challenges and experiences.

Note: this doesn’t mean that non-field staff (e.g. managers and HQ staff) cannot propose topics or contribute; however, the facilitator will prioritise practical issues and field practitioners’ needs.

… Ehem! And what about theory?!

Theorists and geeks out there: Despair not!

Theoretical contributions will be welcome if they:

• add value to the discussions started by practitioners

• increase the chances of generalisation or adaptation of practical experience to different contexts

• help to build evidence

• help to promote learning

3.2 “Projectise” as much as possible

• The facilitator will always be in the lookout for conversations that can be converted into practical, time-bound projects with clear deliverables.

• Members can also propose projects and the facilitator will help them to organise themselves into small teams to make them happen.

3.3. Collaborate with other organisations and networks

Does this really need an explanation?

OK, maybe a few examples of potentialcollaborators:

• The SEEP Network

• BEAM Exchange

• Microlinks

• DCED

• USAID’s Learning Lab

• Business Fights Poverty

• Business Innovation Facility

• The Latin American Network for MSD

• SDC’s e+i network

• ILO

3.4. Inform all but work with a few

The facilitator will inform all members about what is going on and what will happen. However, in depth-conversations and production of deliverables will be done by relatively small teams of people with a strong interest in the topics. The members of these teams or sub-groups will interact in appropriate platforms (possibly outside of LinkedIn, which hasn’t been ideal for quick turnaround of messages).

3.5. Connect with other disciplines

MaFI will reach out to experts from relevant disciplines and encourage them to expose us to new knowledge and challenge our assumptions and practices. For example, behavioural economists, psychologists, anthropologists, educators, communicators, complexologists, and many more ending in “tors” and “ists”.

Note: the facilitator will focus its time on convening experts who can add value to field practitioners or practical challenges that are clearly related to field practitioners’ needs.

4. Proposed projects for 2017-18

4.1. Contextualised facilitation tactics – how to be effective facilitators in different contexts?

An ongoing process of collecting examples of how field practitioners try to facilitate in specific contexts. Examples of success and failure will be discussed under the light of relevant theories and research to explain why they succeeded or failed.

These conversations will dig into the cultural nuances that field staff take into account or ignore when facilitating MSD programs.

The facilitator will curate and store the tactics so that other practitioners can find them and use them easily.

4.2. Global Index of Desired Behaviours (*)

Are we clear about the behaviour we want to enable or elicit in market actors? Do we really know what we would like them to do? For example, we say "we want actors to be more transparent" but what does transparency really look like when we think of it as a set of behaviours?

In each context the answers and desired behaviours will be different but it's incredibly important for MSD facilitators to get clarity on this before moving forward. Having a clear list of behaviours opens up a new world in terms of the types of analysis we can do and the understanding we can derive about the system itself. But it's often a neglected first step.

This is an initiative led by ACDI/VOCA. With their guidance, MaFI members will be able to contribute to an ACDI/VOCA-branded approach to behaviour change.

ACDI/VOCA aims to complete this by the end of 2017.

(*) Provisional title. In collaboration with ACDI/VOCA. Adapted from ideas by Sarah Sahlaney.

Questions? Comments? Ideas?Please share them on MaFI on LinkedIn or directly to Lucho Osorio luchokool@gmail.com

Many thanks to:

Melissa Schweisguth and

Mike Klassen

Their insights and questions contributed to improving these slides