Improving the Measurement of Market Systems Resilience in Kenya

Description

Program OverviewThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), Global Programs (GP) seeks the provision of technical assistance to improve its understanding of market system resilience. Specifically, USDA/FAS and USAID/Kenya and East Africa (KEA) seek to support exploratory research to develop, field test, refine hypotheses, and draft indicators and tools for measuring critical factors that enable market systems to adapt and transform in the face of shocks and stresses. As such, it will support the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future aim of improving agricultural market system resilience leading to more secure economic opportunities for vulnerable populations facing shocks and stresses in northern Kenya.Field level data collection should take place in one county in Northern Kenya and one county in Eastern Kenya, to be selected by USDA based on ongoing U.S. government programming. USDA will ensure that there are no security concerns with the county to be selected, and will consider recommendations from the applicant. Data collection should involve mixed methods (e.g. focus groups, individual interviews and/or mini surveys) with approximately 70-100 market players and 20-30 experts/key informants. Applicants should plan for approximately 50 percent of the effort to be primary data collection and approximately 50 percent of the effort to be desk reviews, analysis, and writing.Outcomes of ResearchFollowing the hypothesis that resilient market systems have capacities that enable the systems to adapt and transform over time in the face of shocks and stresses, the outcomes of this research will be to:To improve USG’s body of knowledge on the effects of shocks and stresses on market systems (e.g., their magnitude, interactions, frequency, whether their impacts are permanent or temporary); To improve USG’s body of knowledge on the effects of shocks and stresses on market systems (e.g., their magnitude, interactions, frequency, whether their impacts are permanent or temporary);Further develop operational definitions of proactive characteristics1 of agricultural, livestock and dairy market systems in Kenya;Refine/validate indicators and protocols for measuring proactive characteristics of market systems;Develop sub hypotheses based on existing hypotheses to guide future research on market systems resilience in Kenya, and develop market systems resilience measurement tools based on the research findings;Identify innovative but practical ways to apply the tools in program design, implementation and evaluation.

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