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Concern Worldwide

Siti Zone, Somali Region
November, 2014

2011 was one of the driest years since 1950-51 in many pastoral zones in Ethiopia, leading to extreme food insecurity in the Somali region of the country.This assessment was conducted by Oxfam, Save the Children and Concern in order to determine the market systems' capacities to provide basic food products, including rice, pasta and sorghum, to the rural pastoralist communities during a severe drought and to judge what types of humanitarian responses might be required and feasible to ensure food security of these people during such a crisis situation. It found that all market systems studied seem to have the capacity to meet the respective needs of the population in Siti Zone – even during a severe drought. It suggests that cash based programming is a feasible alternative to in-kind distributions of food in Siti Zone. In this respect it would make sense to advocate for a policy change in the Somali region and try to motivate the responsible authorities to some pilot projects in which the government starts to distribute cash.

Report authors: 
David de Wild
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Selected Districts, Southern and Western Provinces
May, 2016

This is an emergency market assessment of the maize grain and mixed beans markets in Zambia in districts affected by poor seasonal rains as a result of the El Nino weather system in 2015/16. The report finds that the market system has not been severely disrupted by the recent poor agricultural seasons. National production figures for cereals in particular were better than expected, and the main issue is poor market demand as households in drought affected areas have minimal financial and other resources to meet their own food needs through the market. The report examines a range of intervention options and suggests that cash transfers would be the most appropriate way to address the household resource deficit, with complementary support to market actors at the retail level in order to enable them to meet any increase in demand.

Report authors: 
Simon Foster
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Since 2000, more than nine million Mozambicans have been affected by disasters caused by natural hazards, including floods and drought. Zambezia, one of the country's poorest provinces, is especially vulnerable to these hazards, which periodically displace large numbers of people and affect their usual sources of income. This market assessment adapted the EMMA methodology for the pre-crisis context and was intended to develop a baseline for seven market systems critical to EFSL as well as WaSH. The study found that the most appropriate response model for floods and hurricanes was a combination of cash for work (geared at rehabilitation of basic infrastructure for the operation of the market), complemented by unconditional cash transfers for especially vulnerable groups, along with market support actions, especially in the bleach market.

Report authors: 
Carlos Arenas
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Western Bhar el Ghazal and Warrap States
September, 2013

More than half of the population in southern Sudan lives below the poverty line. The high household reliance on cereals makes the population highly vulnerable to crop failure and abnormal price movements. This assessment applies learning from the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa to the South Sudanese context with the aim of supporting more effective, timely and appropriate responses to slow onset recurrent crisis via a pre-crisis market analysis. This study focused on the agricultural labor market system in Warrap and Western Bahr el Ghazal States. Its findings suggest that the agricultural labor market system is not sufficient to cover the gap in household income even in baseline years, let alone emergency years. The agricultural labor market is fragile, and floods, drought and insecurity all reduce the demand for labor. Given the complexity of the agricultural labor system and the high variability among states, and even counties, there is no simple solution to address the challenges noted. This assessment recommends more detailed research, including an HEA study, as well as the provision of agricultural inputs such as seeds and tools and appropriate food assistance.

Report authors: 
Not specified
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Heavy rainfall beginning in July 2010 caused flooding in most districts in Pakistan, affecting 20 million people and destroying field crops. This assessment aimed to assist agencies in identifying appropriate program interventions and focused on the wheat seed, fodder and casual agricultural labor market systems in Punjab Province. For wheat seeds, this report recommends cash transfers to restore agricultural infrastructure; vouchers to ensure quality and appropriate agricultural inputs; support to extension services; and advocacy for land rights. For the casual agricultural labor market, this report recommends unconditional cash transfers; cash for work; income support for people unable to participate in cash for work programs; and income generating activities and vocational training. For the fodder market system, this report recommends cash for work to restore agricultural infrastructure for enabling normal seasonal employment patterns; vouchers for agricultural inputs; and advocacy around land rights.

Report authors: 
Caroline Ward
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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.

Report authors: 
Not specified
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Mukuru Informal Settlements
June, 2013

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.

Report authors: 
Not specified
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Wajir County
September, 2012

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.

Report authors: 
Not specified
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Badin District, Sindh Province
August, 2015

2010 and 2011 saw the worst floods in the history of Pakistan. In Sindh Province, the floods led to loss of life and also damaged standing crops, household and livestock food stocks, health, education and road infrastructure, houses, irrigation and drainage facilities and protected drinking water sources. This report presents the findings and recommendations for a PCMMA of the rice market system in Sindh's Badin District. During and after a future flood emergency, the rice market system in Badin should be able to provide the needed volume of rice, provided that the very serious transportation and access issues can be overcome. For a future humanitarian response, this report recommends in-kind provision of locally procured rice to the most vulnerable households for the first month of intense flooding, to be replaced by unconditional cash grants to cover rice needs, along with support to selected retailers to transport rice efficiently. It also recommends several activities focused on emergency preparedness, including a mapping and communication exercise focused on identifying key transport routes and land areas that are vulnerable to flooding; the development and implementation of longer-term agricultural development/poverty eradication programst; and advocacy at the national-level food security cluster for consistent provision of the complete caloric requirements for the poorest households in emergencies.

Report authors: 
Emily Sloane and Muhammad Ali
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Badin, Ghotki and Sanghar Districts, Sindh Province
August, 2015

2010 and 2011 saw the worst floods in the history of Pakistan. In Sindh Province, the floods led to loss of life and also damaged standing crops, household and livestock food stocks, health, education and road infrastructure, houses, irrigation and drainage facilities and protected drinking water sources. This report presents the findings and recommendations for a PCMMA of the drinking water market system in Badin, Ghotki and Sanghar Districts of Sindh. It finds that markets are limited in their ability to provide adequate drinking water to make up for the 50% loss of clean water provided by wells and hand pumps during floods. This report recommends the provision of bottled water for the first month for urban and peri-urban areas, to be replaced by the provision of water vouchers for bottled/filtered water. In rural areas, it is appropriate to distribute filtered/treated drinking water by jerry can or by water tankering. In addition, the following preparedness/DRR activities are recommended: installation of hand pumps in areas where displaced communities gather during floods; pre-positioning of water tankering equipment and pre-establishing agreements with district-level water treatment plants or suppliers to fill tankers; pre-positioning agreements with water treatment and bottled water retailers to accept vouchers for drinking water during floods; the cleaning, treatment and repair of wells and hand pumps in rural areas; promoting household-level water treatment strategies; and supporting the growth of private-sector water filtration businesses.

Report authors: 
Gregory Matthews and Juergen Mika
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