BDS market development guide.pdf - PACA

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Beyond SMEs—Unchanged Indicators
The emergence of the market development approach to BDS does not affect the ultimate
objectives of interventions or the indicators applied to them. 44 However, in practice, because
of the difficulty of measuring these, greater acceptance of proxy indicators may be necessary.
For example, growing usage of BDS by SMEs owned by priority groups (such as women—
characteristically relatively poor) may be used as proxy indicator for poverty reduction.
Market-based monitoring and evaluation means greater use and acceptance of proxy
indicators. Underpinning the entire approach to performance measurement in BDS is a
practical recognition that greater reliance on proxy indicators is inevitable, necessary, and to
be welcomed. Proxies are, of course, not new in development—they are an inherent part of
the flow of cause and effect that interventions seek to initiate. 45 However, here we place
proxy market-based indicators at the forefront of monitoring and evaluation because:
• The analysis at the heart of BDS market development is explicit—better-functioning
markets are good for business and ultimately good for the poor; and
• There is growing acceptance that either (1) we can’t or (2) it’s too expensive to know
directly the final impact of interventions on business and on people.
For many in development agencies, this assertion may be difficult to accept. But anything
else is less than realistic.
WHAT’S NEW IN MONITORING AND EVALUATION: HOW WE MEASURE
Differences in approaches to measurement follow on from the different emphasis in
indicators, as shown in Figure 16. Some of factors should be noted.
Market-Level—The Same Tools in Evaluation as in Design
A market focus requires that we use the same kind of tools—UAI, FGDs, etc.—throughout
the cycle of an intervention (see Chapter Two).
Providers—Using Standard Business-Analysis Tools
Assessing the performance in-depth of providers—as commercial players in a marketplace—requires
use of the kind of approaches used in “normal” business (outside the
44
Development agencies increasingly agree on what these are through the DAC.
45
This causal flow is, of course, the logic at the heart of key planning tools such as the logframe.
Chapter Five—How do We Assess Our Performance?—
Monitoring and Evaluation BDS Interventions