Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis Toolkit

South Sudan faces chronic food insecurity. This study of markets in three South Sudanese states looks at the appropriateness of cash transfer programming in food security responses and assesses whether markets could respond adequately to increased demand without causing inflation. During the emergency year, vulnerable households in all three states faced a severe deficit in their ability to purchase basic foods due to severely reduced yields and decreased income levels. The sorghum market saw higher prices, lower demand and high inflation. The report suggests that supporting purchasing power alone will not be sufficient to meet people’s needs because of the risk of inflation. Therefore, this assessment suggests activities designed to improve the functioning of the market in addition to improving consumers' purchasing power. Contingency funds and other flexible funding are recommended to limit risks associated with this volatile environment. It is also advised that short-term programs need to be coherent with longer-term ones that focus on addressing the chronic issues that inhibit resilience building.

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is expected to exceed one million by the end of 2013. Tensions between host and refugee populations are expected to rise as competition over jobs and resources becomes even more important to the survival of both communities. This EMMA assessment was launched to analyze the key market systems upon which refugees and vulnerable host communities rely for income in the North and Bekaa Governorates of Lebanon in order to identify opportunities for humanitarian agencies to promote market-based income-earning possibilities for host and refugee populations. This report provides a summary of the findings for three market systems that are critical for refugee and Lebanese host communities as source of income, namely construction labor, agricultural labor, and service-sector labor. The opportunities for promoting or strengthening livelihoods related to the construction, services, or agricultural labor sectors are very limited. Each of these sectors has been significantly impacted by the crisis in Syria and is not capable of absorbing additional workers at a livable wage. Despite this bleak outlook, the EMMA makes several recommendations for narrowing the household income gap through vocational training, market-smart humanitarian programs, household financial assistance programs and the strengthening of local labor markets.

The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is expected to exceed one million by the end of 2013. Tensions between host and refugee populations are expected to rise as competition over jobs and resources becomes even more important to the survival of both communities. This EMMA assessment was launched to analyze the key market systems upon which refugees and vulnerable host communities rely for income in the North and Bekaa Governorates of Lebanon in order to identify opportunities for humanitarian agencies to promote market-based income-earning possibilities for host and refugee populations. This report focuses specifically on construction labor and finds that this market system has been drastically impacted by the crisis in Syria and that construction-related income-earning opportunities are now very limited. It recommends building construction-related livelihood opportunities into humanitarian programs, particularly shelter and rehabilitation programs with construction components. It also suggests linking refugees and Lebanese workers with employment services and training.

Years of blockades and the depletion of natural resources have severely impacted prospects for economic development of the Gaza Strip. As of 2012, more than one million people in Gaza were living below the poverty line. This report presents the results of an early PCMMA of the wheat flour market system, which is very important in the local economy and local diets. The study considers the likely impact of two hypothetical but possible scenarios on the wheat flour market system. Because of low purchasing power and high food prices, poor households in Gaza are heavily reliant on aid agencies to supply most of their wheat flour needs. This report suggests two additional critical issues that need to be considered: price adaptations in case of increases in private demand and the purchasing power of the food aid beneficiaries. It recommends providing cash and/or vouchers for wheat flour to increase household purchasing power and creating strategic grain reserves in Gaza to control wheat flour prices.

More than three decades of armed conflict in Sri Lanka led to a steady deterioration of the food security situation along with social and economic infrastructure in Sri Lanka's Northern Province. Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu are two districts in the north that were severely affected in the final phase of the war during January to May 2009. In mid-2009, resettlement programs began returning those displaced in the war to their home communities in these two districts. This report presents the results and recommendations of an EMMA of the credit market system that sought to build on the findings of previous assessments looking at household asset holdings and losses by mapping out the various sources of credit available in the targeted region. While there is a wide array of credit options available to households in the two districts, the services do not reach the majority of the resettled people, particularly the recent returnees. The report recommends increasing loan funds available to CBOs and cooperative societies; improving the organizational capacity of cooperative organizations; using financial literacy workshops/training as a tool to link households with financial institutions; and advocacy for changes in the collateral and loan structure requirements of the formal banking system and for the expansion of credit.

More than three decades of armed conflict in Sri Lanka led to a steady deterioration of the food security situation along with social and economic infrastructure in Sri Lanka's Northern Province. Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu are two districts in the north that were severely affected in the final phase of the war during January to May 2009. In mid-2009, resettlement programs began returning those displaced in the war to their home communities in these two districts. This report presents the results and recommendations of an EMMA of the red rice market system to better understand the availability of red rice in local markets and any constraints facing the market system. This analysis shows that the supply in these regions is sufficient to meet the need of the target population, but that consumers have limited access to this supply due to low purchasing power. Its recommendations include cash for work activities, indirect interventions, and advocacy to strengthen the red rice supply market system in the two districts.

This report covers the second pilot test of the EMMA Toolkit, conducted in Ayeyarwady Delta during July 2008, in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. It provides key findings on the fishing net and roofing material market systems before providing an in-depth discussion of lessons learned and recommendations for using the EMMA methodology in the future.

This document presents the key findings and lessons learned from a pre-crisis market assessment that Oxfam conducted in Guatemala that attempted to look at how both emergency and long-term development needs can be addressed through markets programming. The impact of the assessment has been predominantly positive. It has led to been increased interest from other agencies in the region to both promoting and using cash transfer programs. Key successes included beginning the process with an HEA analysis, conducting a vulnerability and risk assessment and conducting a power analysis. Though both the GEM and EMMA approaches gave huge added value to the joint market analysis, there is still thinking to be done of better ways to integrate these for maximum impact. This integrated process can certainly help to approach programs that support sustainable livelihoods and resilience building. Yet agencies must be realistic in matching aspirations with capacity. Likewise, they must be ready – programmatically and financially – to take a long term approach to working with communities.

When a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, an estimated 220,000 people died, and a further 1.5 million people were displaced. This case study looks at the EMMA that was undertaken in Haiti three weeks after the earthquake and the emergency responses implemented as a result by both the IRC and Oxfam, before sharing key successes and lessons learned about how to make EMMAs as effective as possible.

This document presents a brief overview of an EMMA conducted in the Domincan Republic following Hurricane Sandy. The study focused on the chlorine market system and the capacity of governmental institutions to supply the population in the case of emergency.