Facilitative role

In depth

Within the M4P approach, facilitation is a central element to achieving sustainability. Lasting, systemic change requires that important market functions are embedded within the system, performed by market players with the capacity and incentives to undertake those roles in the long term. An M4P programme aims to stimulate private and public sector players to take on new (or adapted) functions – to ‘crowd in’ – whilst avoiding becoming an active market player itself.

The role of the development agent (or agency) in the M4P aproach is explicitly catalytic – working towards a future vision of a market which does not require aid-funded support and ensuring that any intervention is guided by a clearly defined exit strategy. Being a facilitator means also means being conscious of the distorting effects that intervention can have on markets and seeking at all times to minimise those effects. 

In practice

In the examples above, the intervening agencies faced a choice about their role: to provide solutions directly or facilitate key market players to provide solutions on a continuing basis:

  • In the financial services sector the programme might have provided the banks with market research directly, but it understood that research will always be needed in a dynamic market situation. Consequently, it worked with banks and a consumer research firm to develop a syndicated market research product, which continues to be used on a commercial basis.
  • In the radio sector, recognising that paying radio stations to broadcast development information is never sustainable, the project built on the commercial incentives of radio stations. It assisted them to respond to the unmet demand of the mass rural market and encouraged key industry stakeholders to support the shift in broadcasting approach. The project did not finance broadcasters or provide information to be broadcast.
  • In the vegetable sector, the programme saw that it wouldn’t be able to achieve scale or sustainability by training retailers directly; it needed to find a ‘leverage’ point which would enable it to achieve a larger, more lasting impact on the sector. It recognised that input suppliers had a long-term interest in better performance and capacity to reach thousands of retailers (and therefore millions of farmers). The programme’s support was technical rather than financial: it assisted input suppliers to develop and introduce more innovative, pro-poor practices in their supply chain management.