Why resilience is important and current trends

The international development sector is moving toward placing more emphasis on resilience and also measuring the effectiveness of interventions — particularly their sustainability and resilience to climate shocks and stresses to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As an organization that uses market-based approaches to building development, iDE has developed a tool to measure the resilience of market systems. iDE’s Market Systems Resilience Index (MSRI) is at the forefront of the academic and thought leadership around resilience measurement and how to operationalize it into an actionable and usable tool for wide use. MSRI has been successfully piloted in Nepal, Bangladesh and Mozambique, and we will be rolling out the tool in additional locations to better understand the context that we work in, how effective our interventions are and how we can improve our future work. Employing MSRI will also allow us to have greater insights across our country offices and encourage better learning.

What else is out there?

Existing literature on resilience theory and previously developed frameworks were reviewed during the development of MSRI. Two tranches of resilience measurement tools were observed, (1) those primarily focused on the causal elements of shocks and (2) those that are based on defined principles of resilience. Multiple tools exist that look to quantify resilience; however, a challenge some face is that rather than being a tool of measurement, they end up as frameworks of descriptive principles lacking in analytical qualities and needing significant adaptation to be operational on the ground. Almost all tools acknowledge the need for modification to be context specific. This requires a balance between easy applicability and being overly generalized, or being too narrowly context specific as to not be comparable at scale. When measurement tools are overly detailed, they become burdensome to carry out or devolve into information overload with an unwieldy number of data points.

Resilience is not a static trait; complexity theory posits that the only way to test thresholds is to cross them. How architects of resilience measurement tools answer the essential questions of resilience — for whom, to what, through what and to what end — dictates the composition and applicability of the resilience measurement tool. For example, the One Acre Fund frames these questions through the lens of the individual farmer; therefore, "diversity" is crop diversity; however, if one is interested in nutrition and food security, then diversity could relate to dietary and food consumption of households (and not just farmers), which is not identical to crop diversity. Tools tend to be focused at either the household and community level or focused on the enabling environment in the much larger political spheres; fewer are designed at the meso level of markets. MSRI was developed to fill the gap between market system and household resilience tools to meaningfully measure and better understand how shocks and stresses impact these systems, as well as the individuals reliant on them.

In recent years, there has been more focus on market system resilience. Although the resilience of what may be answered the same (e.g., market systems), the other fundamental questions of resilience (such as through what) can still be answered in a number of ways. Guidance issued by USAID for assessing market system resilience recognizes the positive synergies of enhancing participation between market resilience and market inclusion, but delineates the two as separate entities to be measured and worked toward. In contrast, iDE explicitly embeds inclusivity into MSRI from the standpoint of incorporating social dimensions and vulnerabilities into our market resiliency measurements.  

Evolution of MSRI 

The development of MSRI began over three years ago and was first implemented in Bangladesh under the Suchana: Ending the Cycle of Undernutrition in Bangladesh project as a tool to measure system-wide resilience. The goal in this setting was to understand the systemic changes the project initiated in the market system. MSRI was initially composed of three principles with three determinants each; however, this first iteration of MSRI was found to lack a household-level resilience measure.

1. Structure of the market: (i) redundancy, (ii) diversity and (iii) functionality;
2. Connectivity of the market: (i) inclusion, (ii) integration and (iii) collaboration; and
3. Support of the market: (i) feedback loops, (ii) enabling environment and (iii) preparedness.

To remedy the lack of household-level resilience, iDE explored contemporaneous resilience tools for inspiration. The Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Self-Evaluation and Holistic Assessment of Climate Resilience of Farmers and Pastoralists (SHARP) was identified as having household-level resilience measures that could be integrated into the MSRI framework. iDE took SHARP and the initial MSRI tool to create a more customizable and contextual market systems resilience tool that has both a market-level and household-level approach. While MSRI initially included three principles and nine determinants, we later took the 13 agroecological principles of the SHARP tool and the nine determinants of the original MSRI tool and merged them to ultimately create the 11 determinants of MSRI. These additional principles and determinants are: 

1. Environment: (i) physical environment; and 
2. Financial: (ii) ability to access financial services.

 

These determinants represent proxies for measuring resilience rather than directly measuring resilience, which is generally recognized as not being feasible. By grouping these determinants or components of resilience, we are able to see broadly where resilience levels are low or high. In each case, it is important to delve deeper into the results and, ultimately, the specific answers to individual questions in order to understand what has contributed to the resilience scores and provide more concrete information on what could be addressed to improve these scores in the future.

What are the components of MSRI?

MSRI project teams use a multistep process flow to develop field-ready data collection instruments and context-specific question response scores. As stated previously, it is important to adapt MSRI to the context, so the first step is conducting a market systems assessment. The aim of this assessment is to identify all relevant market actors and their interconnected relationships to one another and help us delineate the boundaries of the market system. 

 

levels of actors within the market system

MSRI is a tool to help better understand the context in which projects are situated and provide a standard metric from which to assess performance. To do this, we also identify which types of market actors will be theoretically changing from the project’s interventions. Once these initial steps are taken, country teams deploy the mandatory MSRI data modules and additional optional questions for each type of actor. Optional questions can be both quantitative or qualitative to allow for more nuanced and contextual information so that questions garner deeper, more specific answers. Asking these questions is predicated on time and the nature of the individual survey, thus providing flexibility and specificity without becoming cumbersome. Answers from these optional questions can also be used for other programmatic purposes, as needed.

Example of results from Bangladesh

Answers from the mandatory question responses are tallied to calculate the market system resilience. The aggregate MSRI scores are calculated based on the customized response options on a scale of 0-100 through a summation of the 11 weighted determinants following set formulas. The resulting MSRI score is a composite index computed as the weighted average of the determinants. An example from Bangladesh is included as a spider diagram where the different colors represent scores analyzed from different phases of the project.

The primary goal of using MSRI in any project is to be able to examine how projects are contributing to improved resilience at both the systems level and household level, as well as providing more detailed information regarding future program scale up and expansion. The concept of market systems resilience is a relatively new one; however, it provides comprehensive evidence to project managers to inform future decisions related to project implementation, while also providing the project team with evidence related to the impacts the project has on resilience. By using MSRI to measure the resilience of the market system at multiple points in the implementation period, needed project adjustments can be identified after the first iteration of surveys; moreover, it provides evidence whether project interventions led to changes in resilience at either or both the household and systems levels. Data collected from households and other market actors help identify areas of improvement across the key dimensions linked to systems resilience and make recommendations for improvements to be implemented between each measurement cycle.

How we will use MSRI and what are the next steps

iDE is using MSRI for continual improvement through adaptive management by comparing results across time and country programs. In both Nepal and Bangladesh, the MSRI questionnaire was adapted to fit the context of the country and the program being monitored. This included simple changes, such as language translation, the inclusion of local crops and livestock and incorporation of appropriate and key market actors active in the context. Surveys were conducted and data collected from various populations based on geographic location, sector and gender. Although the surveys were specific to Nepal and Bangladesh, the questions mapped to the MSRI indicators, determinants and principles so that results could be analyzed in the same framework. The adaptable nature of MSRI allows users to pinpoint where systems may not be working within different populations and inform future strategies to build and reinforce resilience. Adaptability within monitoring systems encourages adaptive management strategies, which ultimately builds more efficient and productive programs in resilience. 

 

iDE will continue to roll out MSRI in our programs to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the market systems our programs inhabit. Data collected through MSRI will be used to adjust project implementation strategies to meet the identified needs of various actors across the market and household systems.

From lessons learned in Nepal, Bangladesh and Mozambique, iDE will continue to evolve MSRI. In the future, iDE plans to incorporate power dynamics more directly into MSRI. Power dynamics influence factors like an enabling environment from governance, the creation of a useful preparation/warning system, more pro-poor inclusion and pro-value cooperation and business behavior. A more direct measurement of power would provide more specific insights into where and how resilience could be improved.

With time and increased usage across program countries, MSRI can be used to compare countries' resilience scores and help identify regional and country-specific areas of strength and weakness. Within countries themselves, iDE wants to use MSRI to analyze resilience over time to better judge program success and pinpoint areas for improvement. 

We welcome feedback and questions as we further develop the MSRI tool. Please contact us at [email protected] 

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This blogpost was made possible by a grant from the Implementer-Led Design, Evidence, Analysis and Learning (IDEAL) activity. The IDEAL Small Grants Program is made possible by the generous support and contribution of the American people through USAID. The contents of the materials produced through the IDEAL Small Grants Program do not necessarily reflect the views of IDEAL, USAID or the U.S. government.

iDE Global

 Authored by Lindsay Van Beck, Victoria Seekman and John Choptiany