Can Market Systems Development Build Resilience In Fragile Contexts? A Case Study of Making Vegetable Markets Work in Myanmar

To better understand where and how practitioners can apply market systems development approaches to resilience-building in fragile contexts, Mercy Corps’ research set out to assess the relationship between the two models in three MSD-focused programmes in South and Southeast Asia. All three programmes - Making Vegetable Markets Work for the Poor (MVMW) in Burma (Myanmar), Effective Seed Storage (ESS) in Timor-Leste and Managing Risk Through Economic Development (M-RED) in Nepal - operated in fragile contexts characterized by weak governance, thin markets and frequent exposure to a range of economic, ecological and social shocks and stresses.