Markets in Crises and Transitions London Expert Roundtable

Humanitarian action increasingly involves markets and attempts to build or strengthen connections with market actors, including businesses inside and outside of crisis affected contexts. Given the increasing emphasis being placed on markets, the Humanitarian Policy Group (HPG) at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) has launched a two-year research project on ‘Markets in Crises and Transitions’. The study, which includes field work in Mali and Pakistan, examines the following questions:

• How do markets and businesses adapt during crises, and what determines their ability to function or not during and immediately following crises?
• What influences the extent to which people derive resilience, or become vulnerable, as a result of market activity during crises?
• How does humanitarian aid affect markets in crises, and what impact does this have on different households?

As part of this project, HPG organised a one-day roundtable in London which brought together researchers and practitioners whose work relates to market analysis, market linkages, market-focused research and livelihoods in crises and humanitarian response. It aimed to address what is already known about markets and livelihoods in crises, what policies and programmes are being utilised by policymakers and practitioners and what research is still needed to further develop market-linked interventions.