Inclusive Plug Episode 14 (Part I): Does the Market Systems Development Approach Work in Practice?

Whether the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach works in practice is a hot topic in development.

For this episode, we have interviewed:

• Maja Rüegg, who’s leading the working area Skills, Jobs and Income at Helvetas. She provides thematic support on market systems development for projects working on agricultural value chains and labour markets. Her advisory expertise also covers monitoring and evaluation (M&E). Previously, Maja worked in rural development projects in Tanzania and Madagascar. She has also done research in Kyrgyzstan and Bolivia on topics related to rural economy. She has worked in development cooperation since 2008.
• Marcus Jenal, who’s a partner at the German consultancy Mesopartner, which is a knowledge firm that specializes in economic development, territorial development, competitiveness, and innovation. His work and interest are all about how systems work and how we can influence their evolution. His approach is to stimulate the co-creation of learning strategies and change activities. Previously, Marcus worked for different development organizations focusing on Southeast Asia and East Africa, including the Western Balkans.

For this episode, we’ve asked people on LinkedIn to post their questions they’d like to ask our guests whether the MSD approach works in practice, and what it takes to shift to a systemic approach.

Thank you to all of you who have sent their questions and for contributing to Inclusive Plug! Your participation helps keep the podcast alive!

To listen to the episode on the go, the sound format is also available on Spotify, Anchor, Breaker, Google, Pocket Casts, and RadioPublic!