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Explore 30 network visualization software tools recommended by webinar panelist Eric Derks!

Welcome to a new cycle of webinars focusing on inclusive market facilitation tools. In this special edition we have three 1-hour webinars that form a complete set. In this series, Eric Derks and Leanne Rasmussen share learning from this five-year, multi-million dollar USAID program, the objective of which is to increase Ugandan farmers’ use of good quality agro-inputs by fostering more inclusive systemic changes in the agro-inputs industry. As of late 2014, the program developed and began utilizing an M&E scheme that is expected to:

• Monitor the feedback from actors in the agro-inputs sector on the program’s interventions and use this information to improve their interventions
• Gauge systemic change in behavior and business practices—in the agro-inputs industry and explore the impacts on smallholder farmers
• Explore the limits of reasonable attribution to interventions

Network Mapping is a method to analyze the structure of relationships in a group of interconnected elements. In the context of market systems development, Network Mapping can describe patterns of how individuals, firms, or other entities regularly interact over time. It can help the project team to detect changing patterns of connection, trust, satisfaction, investment in relationships, frequency of interaction, etc. Part of the utility of network analysis lies in the ability to quantify the structure of networks and, in doing so, behavioral patterns. These patterns can then be analyzed according to parameters such as location or attributes of the individual/firm, which can be tracked across an entire system over time.

Recommended Reading and Tools

• Feed the Future M&E Scheme - This paper will give you an overview of the project, its theory of change, and its key interventions. It also describes the different tools the team used to gauge systemic change and emergent lessons.
• 30 network visualization tools recommended by webinar panelist Eric Derks

Speakers

Eric Derks

Eric Derks designs and advises on system change projects, applying concepts and tools from complexity science. He currently advises on several international market systems initiatives. He recently managed a USAID/Uganda Feed the Future agricultural inputs project, focused on shifting patterns of behavior in Uganda's agro-inputs market.

Leanne Rasmussen

Leanne Rasmussen is an Associate with Adam Smith International, where she is currently working as the Technical Advisor on the USAID Uganda Agricultural Inputs Activity, implemented by Tetra Tech. Previously, she supported various market systems facilitation projects and organizations in East and Southern Africa while working with Pollen Group/Engineers Without Borders Canada. Leanne is interested in how complexity and systems theory translates into practice on market systems and M4P projects, especially with how to measure systemic change.