Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

Scaling Impact in Inclusive Market Systems

One in three people in the world live in poverty. One in five live in extreme poverty. Transformative solutions with potential for large-scale impact are needed. Inclusive pro-poor market systems—including financial markets—offer pathways out of poverty to large numbers of poor and vulnerable people. Market-based solutions build on a holistic understanding of market systems with an emphasis on the opportunities that can be leveraged to overcome underlying constraints that impede economic development for disadvantaged groups. The application of efficient and scalable mechanisms to enhance impact is inherent to a market systems approach and thereby to its contribution to significant and sustainable poverty reduction.

The SEEP Network’s 2014 Annual Conference will serve as a platform to promote learning and exchange around proven and emerging approaches, strategies and models for reaching substantial numbers of poor and vulnerable populations on a sustainable basis. The conference will explore scalable solutions that involve inclusive business models, private sector partnerships, technology applications, and new investment and financing models. The conference will organize learning around overarching questions such as: How do we define scale? What are the greatest challenges to scaling development impact? Which innovations in products, delivery and partnerships promise the greatest results and are likely to endure? How can market facilitators be more effective in this context?

Technical Tracks:

Technology—Facilitating Pro-Poor Market Development

Basic Services—Market-based Solutions to Expand Access, Efficiency, and Quality

Combining 'Push and Pull' Strategies for Greater Scale and Poverty Outreach

Research and Evidence for Scaling Up Inclusive Solutions