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Leading an EMMA

This page focuses on the processes of preparing for and facilitating assessment team workshops, gathering and analysing data and writing reports; however, there are numerous additonal tasks involved in organizing an EMMA exercise, such as getting agency buy-in, defining the scope and objectives of the exercise, assembling the assessment team, developing a communications plan and arranging the logistical aspects of the assessment. Since the person responsible for these tasks is often not the same person who will be facilitating the EMMA exercise with the assessment team, these other aspects are discussed further on the Planning an EMMA page. 

The best way to prepare to lead an EMMA is undoubtedly to first participate in an EMMA (or PCMA that uses the EMMA methodology) as a critical market team leader, under the supervision of a more experienced EMMA leader. If you don't have EMMA/PCMA experience but are comfortable with basic concepts of market analysis and have signficant experience in leading humanitarian assessments, you may be able to lead an EMMA on your own, though it's best to start with an assessment of limited scope (e.g., a relatively small geographic area and one or two fairly simple critical market systems). 

At the moment, there is no comprehensive guidance document specifically for EMMA and PCMA leaders; that said, both the EMMA Toolkit and the PCMA guidance document contain a great deal of relevant information, especially regarding the technical elements of the analysis. Another resource that may be useful is the initial version of the EMMA Leader's Guide, which was released in October 2011. The Leader’s Guide is a compilation of lessons learned from early EMMAs exercises, tips from EMMA leaders and some basic document templates. Though there are no immediate plans to update the guide, there is always the possibility of doing this in the future. If you have input you would like to see reflected in the guide, or if you have any tips from your own experiences you'd like to share on this page, please contact emmawebmaster [at] rescue.org

Additional resources that may be useful for people planning to lead an EMMA/PCMA include agendas and materials used for previous EMMA/PCMA trainings on the Training page) and templates for questionnaires, market maps, reports and more on the Resources page. 

For one example of an EMMA leader in action, watch this 2-part video of a market mapping exercise in Myanmar:

part 1

part 2