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In this first webinar of the Learning with the Toolmakers series, we begin with an implementation focus, as it emerged as one of the top choices in responses to a survey of MaFI members. Amir Allana, of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) Canada will talk about their market facilitation Offer Arsenal: why it was designed, the assumptions and principles behind it, its advantages, and the challenges they have faced in its application. The Learning with the Toolmakers webinar series, supported by USAID's LEO project and hosted by SEEP's Market Facilitation Initiative (MaFI).

Key questions include:

• How has this tool been used by EWB?
• How does it contribute to the team's work in terms of promoting learning and impact on the ground?
• Has the tool been used in different contexts?

Speaker:

Amir Allana - Program Manager, Engineers without Borders Canada

Amir Allana and his team provide embedded, context-specific support to programs implementing market facilitation. This support ranges from targeted skill-building and training in the tactics of working with market actors, to one-on-one coaching with field staff and managers to develop and implement strategies, to working alongside senior management to build a culture of learning and adaptation (both the hard processes and softer, organic elements). Allana has worked across several programs implementing market facilitation, including the USAID LEAD project and more recently USAID Uganda's Feed the Future Agriculture Inputs Activity - both implemented by Tetra Tech. He has also been working extensively with two programs run by Mercy Corps, who is employing market facilitation in very tough, post-conflict environments in Northern Uganda. The team also currently has partnerships with Kenya Markets Trust and Swisscontact Uganda. He holds a degree in Engineering Science (Systems Engineering) and a Certificate in Business from the University of Toronto.

Moderator:

Luis (Lucho) Osorio - facilitator of MaFI, The SEEP Network

Luis E. (Lucho) Osorio-Cortes is an International Markets Systems Specialist at Practical Action Consulting, UK. He has more than 15 years' experience in international development and specializes in the facilitation of market systems development and organizational learning. Lucho also coordinates MaFI (The Market Facilitation Initiative), a SEEP-supported action and learning network that specializes in helping practitioners to become more effective facilitators of inclusive market development programs. MaFI is currently promoting learning and advocacy around changes to the international development cooperation system to make it more "facilitation-friendly" (The MaFI-festo). It also is promoting the application of complexity science in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of inclusive market systems development (Complexity Dialogues and Systemic M&E).

Learning with the Toolmakersis a webinar series featuring discussions that highlight why the tools were designed and how they have been used to operationalize the principles of inclusive market systems development. You can explore all of the tools here.