Description of the sector/context and its distinctive elements
- High levels of transience and instability – the underlying drivers of this depend on the context. Political, economic or climate drivers.
- Extreme power dynamics between extreme vulnerability/poverty of displaced peoples and the permanent actors with resources and power.
- An underlying culture of direct support and asset transfer – which can be important but also debilitating for the evolution of local markets.
- Significant stigma towards refugee communities from local/host communities that creates a barrier to useful transactions and relationships forming within/without refugee camps.
Key adaptations to PMSD use cases
- Market analysis: Treat humanitarian agencies as market actors (when they are taking on market roles themselves). Perform sufficient end market analyses to shift the perception of refugees or displaced people as ‘poor’ – showing what they have resources for, and where they are willing to pay for key services and products.
- Facilitating interventions: Convince legitimate market actors to take action without external subsidy or direct purchasing of goods. Influence humanitarian agencies to act in a more facilitative manner.
Links to case studies: Solar products for refugees in Burkina Faso