A handout that should be used with the step 8 training materials, which can be found at http://www.slideshare.net/pmsd-map/step8training-guide The handout should be used in the Multi-Actor Forums and Market Opportunity Groups session. Print one copy per participant.

1. TRAINING MATERIALS: MODULE 8
Market Opportunity Groups handout
Market opportunity groups are small groups (5-10 people) of representatives of marginalised producers.
They are normally selected democratically or through consensus amongst larger numbers of peers.
Market opportunity groups act as mobilisers of wider groups of marginalised producers, and as a bridge
between these and the members of the participatory market mapping workshops and in subsequent
groups or forums such as the interest forum, designed to take action on areas of mutual interest. The
degree to which they can be effective in these two functions will have a significant effect on how
inclusive and scalable the process of market development is.
The first phase of working with a market opportunity group will involve capacity building exercises to
prepare them to make the most of the Participatory Market Mapping Workshops (see Step 4:
Empowering Marginalised Actors); the second phase will be facilitating their involvement in the forums
as well as identifying additional opportunities to pursue. Throughout this time it is essential that
communication between the market opportunity group and the producers they represent is frequent and
effective.
Top Tips, lessons and recommendations for Market Opportunity Groups:
Members of the market opportunity group should be clear about its purpose: it exists to focus market
literacy and interaction skills to a manageable group of representatives who can engage with other
market actors, and to help other producers take advantage of opportunities and overcome emerging
challenges. The market opportunity group is not expected to become an exclusive group that allows a
small number of individuals to capture benefits from new arrangements for themselves and widen
the marginalisation of others in their community. Project facilitators should make it clear to the
market opportunity groups that this is what they will support them with, and engage in adequate
monitoring to track whether benefits from interaction with market actors is reaching producers who
are not part of the market opportunity groups.
Members of the market opportunity group should be appointed through a process that suits both the
community it represents and the project facilitators. The project facilitators should encourage the
appointment of market opportunity group members who lead by example and who are confident and
articulate. On the other hand, the project facilitators should ensure that community members,
including disadvantaged groups, have their say in who should be appointed and feel comfortable with
the decisions that are made. The project facilitators should therefore not enforce a particular
appointment or election approach. Communities often know who their trusted leaders are and
project-imposed ways of selecting the market opportunity groups can sometimes result in the right
individual not making the group. In any case, it is very important that the communities are also very
clear about the purpose of the market opportunity groups so that they can elect / appoint the best
people “for the job”
Women’s inclusion: Seek to involve women in the process of selection and have the market
opportunity group include as many women as is appropriate. The case of the guar bean market
system in Zimbabwe, the project team were able to achieve a women’s membership of the market
opportunity groups of 90 %. Many of these women were entirely new to this type of process, but
proved in time to be very resourceful, strategic, committed, and as a result effective in their market
opportunity group roles.
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2. TRAINING MATERIALS: MODULE 8
Examples from the field: Cajamarca cheese: reputational risks mobilise cheese producers to form an association:
Cheese producers in the Cajamarca region in Peru are mainly small-holder farmers, who used to see themselves
and were seen by others as the decisive factor in the quality of cheese. Consequently, they tried to improve their
know-how, technologies and processes on their own or with the help of the government and NGOs. However they
realised that their individual actions were not enough to improve and maintain the quality of their cheese, because
the product was being contaminated and mishandled by other actors over whom they had no control (e.g.
inappropriate refrigeration and transport). To tackle this problem (and sense of powerlessness), they decided to
form their own association: the Asociación de Productores de Derivados Lácteos (Association of Dairy Producers).
The association advocated for a project called Competitive Cajamarca Cheese which contributed to raising quality
standards in increase sales. They also participated in the Codelac meetings that led to the creation of the annual
Dairy Festival.
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