The Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity is supporting USAID to bring about a major cultural and operational transformation by integrating private sector engagement (PSE) across all activities, while at the same time deepening market systems development and facilitative approaches across the program cycle. While the specific MSP activities will be demand-driven, they could include facilitating private sector partnerships such as helping USAID to establish new blended finance mechanisms or develop partnerships that create shared value from the alignment of core business objectives and development goals; supporting USAID in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of MSD and PSE activities; advancing learning through developing theoretical frameworks and practical implementation tools; and, building capacity of USAID and implementers to design, implement, monitor, evaluate, and learn from MSD and PSE activities.

MSP has four core, interdependent objectives: 

Through synergistic implementation of these four objectives and a highly collaborative, adaptive approach, MSP will ultimately result in improved effectiveness of Feed the Future and USAID programs to bring about sustained development outcomes at scale in agriculture-led economic growth, improved food security and nutrition, and strengthened resilience.

MSP has a diverse set of stakeholders: some already have deep expertise in PSE, MSD, and CLA and are looking to advance learning and best practice and further develop the evidence base. Others still must be convinced that PSE and MSD approaches really do increase the scale and sustainability of impact more than other ways of doing development. The MSP team also recognizes that not all stakeholders need to become deep experts in PSE and MSD and might only need to know when to engage expertise to design, implement, or evaluate an activity. MSP will tailor its activities and tools to the interests and objectives of these stakeholders.

Who is MSP? MSP is funded by USAID and implemented by DAI with our core partners MarketShare Associates, TechnoServe, EcoVentures International, Global Knowledge Initiative, and ISF Advisors.

USAID COR: Kristin O’Planick

MSP Chief of Party: Bronwyn Irwin

Contact us at: [email protected]

MSP has identified five core learning agenda priorities, around which key technical learning products and resources are organized. Though early in implementation, initial activities are underway. The MSP Learning Agenda communicates overall strategic goals and illustrative activities for each priority area.

• Transformational Private Sector Engagement
• Practical Application of Market Systems Development
• Market Systems Resilience
• Social Inclusion
• Monitoring, Evaluation and Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (M&E and CLA)

This page will be regularly updated as learning products and other publications are available – coming soon!  Or, check out the Posts tab for recent publications. 

There are multiple ways to engage with MSP:

Partner With Us:  MSP co-invests with the private sector, through milestone-based partnerships, to create shared value from the alignment of core business interests and development goals. MSP mitigates the risk of the private sector to invest, innovate, and engage in areas outside their normal business practices to unlock market-led solutions for addressing specific USAID development objectives at scale. Through a competitive process, MSP evaluates partnership grant activities for their ability to mobilize significant and responsible private investment; to pilot or expand an innovation or practice that can address a development problem; and to contribute to industry-influencing learning. Following a consultative co-development process to refine initial concepts, MSP issues performance-based grants to implement ​two to three-year partnerships. Central to MSP's approach is an upfront strategic focus ​on opportunity identification; a drive to use and to iterate on relationship management best practices; and an emphasis on brokering productive relationships between its corporate partners and other market actors to ensure continuity and scale of the piloted investment or business practice beyond the partnership lifecycle.  MSP also looks to maximize learn-by-doing synergies with MSP’s global learning agenda.  For a list of open opportunities and instructions on how to apply, visit www.mspgrants.com. Or, check out this flyer for more on our Partnership approach.

Learn with Us:  MSP adopts a highly collaborative approach as part of our goal to support a dispersed network of local leaders in MSD and PSE.  We learn alongside the private sector, vulnerable communities, implementers, donors, and other thought and practice leaders. Check the “Posts” section for upcoming events, and stay tuned as MSP rolls out a newsletter, communities of practice, and other mechanisms (technical advisory groups for discrete initiatives, beta tests and field-based pilots of tools and analytical frameworks) that support iterative peer learning and real-world contextualization.

Work With Us — USAID Buy-Ins: MSP is a demand-driven mechanism. USAID Missions and Operating Units can buy into MSP to support any stage of the program cycle where they seek to deploy market systems development (MSD) or private sector engagement (PSE) approaches. MSP prioritizes Feed the Future target and aligned countries and offers a range of core services including private sector partnership development (see more under “Partner With Us” below), analytical and other services, generating evidence and learning, and capacity building around MSD and PSE. MSP is managed by the Bureau for Resilience and Food Security’s Center for Agriculture-Led Growth. If you are an interested Mission or Operating Unit, contact the MSP COR Kristin O’Planick or Alternate COR Katie Hauser to discuss our consultative scope development process.