Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis Toolkit

This report presents learning from the first pilot study that used the EMMA toolkit to assess an emergency market system. It analyzes how the toolkit was used, what did and did not work well, the training given to participants, the exercise's organization and recommendations for adapting the toolkit for future use. Participants felt that EMMA is an appropriate tool if used not too long after a crisis and that it highlights issues relating to market analysis that are not always well understood by emergency aid workers. However, team members also said that they did not have enough time to understand the toolkit before going into the field and suggested allowing more time for training, analysis and reflection during future assessments.

As a result of post-election violence (PEV), a large number of small-scale farming households in the Endebess area of Kwanza District were displaced. In the process of displacement and violence, households lost key productive assets and structures as well as savings and access to income. This report presents the results of a pilot of the nascent EMMA approach with two main purposes: better understanding critical market systems for the population directly and indirectly affected by PEV, and gaining experience that could be used to improve the toolkit itself. The study examined the impact of the crisis on the area's microfinance market system in order to evaluate the appropriateness of a cash-based response to support poor, small-scale farming households and to identify any necessary additional market support interventions. This assessment recommends the implementation of Cash-for-Work programs for poor, small-scale farming households and cash grants for business re-startup for poor households who are excluded from the government debt relief programs, accompanied by advocacy to government and microfinance institutions.

In recent years, the high frequency of severe droughts in the Horn of Africa has undermined the ability of households in the region to recover from these crises. This document summarizes the findings from an EMMA carried out on the water market system in Kenya's Wajir County from August-September 2012, before detailing the report's response recommendations. This report makes the following recommendations for market-based programming: supporting water access through water vouchers in villages with no borehole and through water vouchers for free water provision directly at boreholes where they exist; integrating cash for water into food security-focused cash transfer programs; improving the capacity of water points; and supporting the operation and maintenance of boreholes. The report recommends a number of complementary activities to improve the market environment, infrastructure and services.

In the second half of 2011, Kenya witnessed one of the worst droughts in the recent past, which was exacerbated by high inflation, rising fuel prices and a weakened economy. Though poor households in Nairobi's informal settlements are vulnerable during emergencies, they are often ignored by the government and relief agencies. Oxfam conducted this market baseline assessment to identify the crisis' impacts on the maize, water and credit markets. To help ensure adequate maize consumption by vulnerable households, this assessment suggests cash grants for small shops, posho mills and food vendors, cooked food vouchers for vulnerable households, cash grants for very poor households (with in-kind food aid as a fallback) and advocacy for social protection programming and increased transparency regarding maize market activity. For the water market system, the report recommends increasing the water supply, improving household-level water storage, improving household purchasing power, creating more CBOs, pressuring NWSC to enforce its rules and regulations, offering cash grants and vouchers, water tankering, providing water treatment options and constructing pipelines from boreholes to water vendors. For the credit market system, this assessment recommends advocating for safety nets and ID registration for poor households, linking with institutions that could provide grants for the poor, promoting savings groups and providing cash grants to poor households and small traders.

The Horn of Africa is experiencing the most severe food crisis in the world today following two consecutive seasons of significantly below-average rainfall. Crops have failed, substantial livestock mortality has occurred and local cereal prices are extremely high. In Kenya's northern and north-eastern districts, there are currently 2.4 million people needing food assistance, and this number is expected to increase. Mercy Corps conducted this EMMA assessment in August 2011 on three market systems that are critical to food security in Wajir - rice, maize and beans. For the immediate response, this report recommends vouchers and cash transfers for households to increase their access to food. Increased purchasing power will allow households to access food, repay debts and rebuild local credit systems, and vouchers for households and traders can improve dietary diversity by increasing supplies of milk, fruits, and vegetables. For mid-term interventions, this report recommends rebuilding productive assets in order to strengthen and diversify local livelihoods.

Drought cycles in the Horn of Africa are now progressively shorter, with droughts occurring every 5 years or less. In a context where 80% of the population are poor or very poor, and have experienced both high food prices and restrictions on traditional livelihood strategies, the frequency of these droughts has seriously undermined the ability of the local population to recover from these shocks. This EMMA assessment aimed to shed light on the water market system in Wajir County. While water is available to meet the needs of the target population, during dry times, access to water is sometimes limited by a lack of permanent water sources and by their lack of purchasing power. This report makes the following recommendations for market-based programming: supporting water access through water vouchers in villages with no borehole and through water vouchers for free water provision directly at boreholes where they exist; integrating cash for water into food security-focused cash transfer programs; improving the capacity of water points; and supporting the operation and maintenance of boreholes. The report recommends a number of complementary activities to improve the market environment, infrastructure and services.