Marketing and Development: A study of 5 SDC projects, by Urs Heierli, 2000
| Implementing agency(ies) | SDC | |
|---|---|---|
| Funding agency(ies) | SDC | |
| Date completed | April 2000 | |
| Geographic setting(s) | Rural | |
| Target Group(s) | Farmers, Micro | |
| Issues/challenges | The market creation approach to development is a strategy which combines two aims: - To supply to poor people useful and affordable products with a high poverty alleviation impact and - To create a viable business as a private delivery channel, preferably run by poor people. In the market creation approach to development, there are 3 key elements: - need-based product development for products with a high impact on poverty alleviation, putting the accent on affordability and high returns on investment; - the promotion and marketing of these products, so that the poor can learn about their existence and - the creation of a market for these products to the extent that it becomes viable for the private sector to deliver these products as a business. | |
| Country(ies) | Bangladesh, Honduras, India, Nepal |
- Description
This Paper contains an analysis of 5 programmes of SDC, all relating to 'appropriate technology'. Because of a number of well-publicised failures, this approach has gone out of fashion. Yet the success stories presented here show that the approach can also score very impressive achievements, particularly in terms of ultimate impact (which happens to be relatively easy to measure in this case).
The Paper shows that donors must support such interventions in the long term - impacts in the initial period may even appear negative, before the new products 'catch on'. There are also other very useful insights into the experiences, from the point of view of a marketing professional.
| Associated Activities and Documents | |
| Synthesis Documents | |
| » | Hanoi DC Conference, 2000 |
The case study in pdf (493 kB)