Resilience is defined as the capacity to learn, cope, adapt, and transform in the face of shocks and stresses, including immediate and slow-onset crisis, natural disasters, conflict and instability. Communities around the globe are faced with recurring shocks and stresses that are increasing in frequency and magnitude. Overall, two billion people now live in countries where development outcomes are affected by fragility, conflict and violence. The share of extreme poor living in conflict-affected situations is expected to rise from 17% today to almost 50% by 2030. While the nature and incidences of these crises vary significantly, they affect millions of people, particularly the most vulnerable.
SEEP aims to expand the scale and effectiveness of strategies that use the power of the market to support people, business and systems that are highly vulnerable to the shock-stress-shock cycle. Through the engagement of a large and diverse range of organizations in the humanitarian and economic development fields - practitioners, financial service providers, donors, governments, technology providers – we work collectively to develop and promote improved standards of practice, foster collaboration, and create opportunities for learning and access to relevant tools and technical resources.
The Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS) articulate the minimum level of assistance required to support the economic recovery of vulnerable populations in the wake of crises.
The Markets in Crises Community of Practice (MiC) provides a forum for practitioners engaging with markets in emergency and recovery contexts to share ideas, experiences, resources and learning with the aim of improving market-sensitive programming in practice.
The USAID-funded Lebanon Livelihoods Inclusive Finance Expansion (LIFE) will link vulnerable entrepreneurs at the bottom of the economic pyramid with business training and financial services, improving livelihoods, creating jobs, and reducing poverty while facilitating growth and consolidation of the microfinance sector in Lebanon.
Disaster preparedness and response is exceptionally important in the context of financial inclusion. The DRR project equips financial service providers with tools and knowledge to effectively plan and cope with disasters and crises--thus reducing economic losses for financial institutions and the clients they serve.
2021 | Arthur Acolin, Richard Green and Marja Hoek-Smit (Habitat for Humanity)
Authored by the same team that prepared the Cornerstone of Recovery report - i.e., our coalition’s very own Arthur Acolin, Richard Green, and Marja Hoek-Smit - A ladder up evidences the…
2021 | MEDA
Tangu 1953, MEDA imekuwa ikiandaa na kutekeleza mipango inayozingatia soko na hivyo kusaidia mamilioni ya watu kote ulimwenguni katika kufikia matarajio yao ya kiuchumi na kijamii. MEDA ina…
2021 | MEDA
Since 1953, MEDA has been developing and implementing effective market-driven programs that assist millions of people around the world realize their economic and social aspirations. MEDA co…
2021 | MEDA
MEDA’s Strengthening Small Business Value Chains (SSBVC) is working with over 25,000 men and women small entrepreneurs (SEs) and 30 lead firms in the manufacturing, agriculture, and…
2021 | Swisscontact
Technological innovation, demographic shifts, climate change, pandemics, migration, globalization and, above all, increasing fragility redefine the nature of work and the labor skills. To cope…
2021 | Cordaid
This working paper aims to describe and analyse the approach to innovation adopted by the STARS (Strengthening African Rural Smallholders) programme, presenting case studies across diverse val…
2021 | Cordaid
The STARS program, Strengthening African Rural Smallholders, was a five-year program (2017-2021) aimed at improving the livelihoods of rural people sustainably. This resource examines…
2021 | Swisscontact
A new Ecosystem Health Check for your Startup Community Swisscontact and Startup Heatmap Europe* have joined forces to develop a self-serving toolkit that empowers startup hubs all around the…
2021 | Diane Bommart and Kim Beevers, with contributions from Marco Venier, ÉLAN RDC
With crises plaguing the DRC for the last 25 years, the aid industry has become a key player in the Congolese economy and an attractive market segment for businesses. This is particularly t…
2021 | The SEEP Network
Check out this TEDx style video that discusses bridging the humanitarian-development divide using the Minimum Economic Recovery Standards (MERS).
2021 | Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities MEAL Learning Hub
MEAL and faith in the development and humanitarian sector
Faith actors have long been involved in initiatives aimed at improving the wellbeing
and health of communities. While much of…
2021 | Mercy Corps
This report synthesizes the state of knowledge on the linkages between psychosocial factors and resilience through the lens of Self Help Groups (SHGs). The objective of the report is two-fold.…
2020 | Markets in Crises Community of Practice
2020 | Mercy Corps
The purpose of Guidance Note 7, Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) in Resilience Programming, is to provide a resource for policymakers and implementing organizations looking to identify cost-effecti…
2020 | Save the Children
In rural Zimbabwe, the Amalima project implemented a project promoting Community Health Clubs (CHC) in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health to facilitate sanitation and hygiene b…
2020 | Mercy Corps
As global crises increase in number, duration, and complexity, COVID-19 promises to further decimate local economies, erode public trust, and upend social networks in conflict-affected setting…
2020 | CAMEALEON and AUB
The two year study assessed the impact of multi-purpose cash (MPC) on the well-being of over 11,000 Syrian refugee households living in the Bekaa, North and Mount Lebanon. The study finds that…
2020 | Catholic Relief Services
Why monitor markets? Markets play a key role in the response to and recovery from a crisis. Understanding how local, national and international markets function and interact is therefore a cri…
2020 | Catholic Relief Services
Pourquoi faire un suivi des marchés? Les marchés jouent un rôle clé dans la réponse à une crise et le relèvement après celle-ci. Comprend…
2020 | Sphere
The Sphere Handbook and the other Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP) initiatives offer guidance on the minimum response all crisis-affected people have the right to expect. They establis…
2020 | The SEEP Network
The Markets in Crises (MiC) Community of Practice includes almost 2,000 people with varying experience of market analysis and market-based programming. Members are welcome to post on the DGrou…
2020 | Elena Ferrari (UNHCR)
The case study explores, from a personal perspective, the relationship between Protection and Livelihoods interventions in a refugee context in Chad. The study uses three standards from the Mi…
2020 | Nada Omeira (UNHCR)
This case study lays out the plan for a participatory market system analysis in the Sahrawi refugee camps in southwest Algeria. The analysis is informed by the guidance articulated in the Mini…
2020 | Oxfam
Before, during and after a crisis hits, communities around the world are buying and selling. Markets are places where these buyers and sellers come together to exchange goods and services. It…
2020 | The SEEP Network
These 10 tips are a product of the SEEP Network’s peer learning group on Savings Groups for Refugees – composed of representatives from the Danish Refugee Council, the Fletcher Sch…
2019 | Simon Levine and Grace Becton (Mercy Corps)
“Facing Up to the Challenges: Blending Market and Humanitarian Support for Refugees in Uganda” reflects on the reality that as aid agencies look to help crisis-affected people by…
2019 | Sphere
Thematic sheets provide more detailed guidance and reflections on themes relevant to the Sphere Handbook. They are based on inputs received throughout the 2017-18 Handbook revision and further…
2019 | Mercy Corps
Record numbers of displaced people and growing humanitarian needs require our sector to change the way aid is funded and delivered. This challenge was globally recognised at the 2016 World Hum…
2019 | Humanitarian Policy Group
Humanitarian aid is largely concentrated in crises that are protracted or recurrent. In 2016, 60% of global humanitarian financing went to just 10 countries. Almost three-quarters of this aid…
2019 | Moving Energy Initiative
The Moving Energy Initiative (MEI) has garnered insights and lessons that are widely applicable to interventions in various protracted displacement situations. This paper is based on interview…
2019 | The SEEP Network
This case study shows how the MERS were applied to a 2018 market study conducted by Catholic Relief Services, following displacement in Congo-Brazzaville. In May of 2016, conflict triggered by…
2019 | Mercy Corps
The purpose of this report is to give aid actors insights into localized social protection and support systems in South Sudan and the ways in which humanitarian aid, including cash transfer pr…
2018 | CARE
For the people we work with and for, the divisions and brick walls between humanitarian and development work do often not make sense. So why does the sector keep this division as the norm, rat…
2018 | Sphere
The Sphere Handbook is marking its 20th anniversary with the publication of this fourth edition. It is the result of an intense year-long mobilization of humanitarian actors around the globe a…
2018 | Mercy Corps
This study aims to understand whether households living in Nepalese communities benefiting from combined market-based and traditional DRR activities (MRED’s nexus model) were better off…
2018 | FHI360
A range of economic interventions focused on vulnerable households and individuals – here collectively referred to as household economic strengthening (HES) – aim to address econom…
2018 | The SEEP Network
والمنظمات الحكومية الدولية ، والسكان المحليين والإدارات الحكومية لتعزيز فعالية ونوعية المساعدات الاقتصادية المقدمة ، وبالتالي إحداث فرق كبير في حياة الأشخاص المتأثرين بالكوارث. يقدم MERS إرشاد…
2018 | The SEEP Network
El MERS ofrece herramientas para agencias humanitarias, organizaciones intergubernamentales, poblaciones locales y departamentos gubernamentales para mejorar la efectividad y calidad de la asi…
2018 | The SEEP Network
Le MERS offre des outils aux agences humanitaires, aux organisations intergouvernementales, aux populations locales et aux départements gouvernementaux pour améliorer l'efficacit…
2018 | CRS, Start Network
This report presents recommendations for the ongoing development and improvement of CTP in emergency preparedness and response in Vietnam. It is hoped that these best practices, lessons learne…
2018 | CRS
Using desk research, qualitative and quantitative data collection, this learning study looks specifically at the appropriateness and effectiveness of the CTs, the vendor’s experiences, t…
2018 | Mercy Corps
In April 2015, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal, killing over 9,000 people, destroying or badly damaging more than 800,000 homes and displacing approximately 2.8 million people. Where s…
2018 | Concern Worldwide
This is an emergency market assessment of maize grain and mixed beans markets in Zambia in districts affected by poor seasonal rains as a result of the El Nino weather system in 2015/16. The r…
2018 | Mercy Corps
This study builds on an emerging body of evidence that examines the strategies conflict-affected Syrians employ to protect and adapt their lives and livelihoods and how they feed, clothe and s…
2018 | Women's Refugee Commission
This document is an overview of Toolkit for Optimizing Cash-based Interventions for Protection from Gender-based Violence: Mainstreaming GBV Considerations in CBIs and Utilizing Cash in GBV Re…
2018 | Mercy Corps, USAID
Mercy Corps, in conjunction with Action Against Hunger, Cooperazione Internazionale, Catholic Relief Services, the International Rescue Committee and Oxfam, undertook a livelihoods and market…
2018 | Oxfam, USAID, IRC
The purpose of this guide is to provide field practitioners with a practical step-by-step process of how to plan, carry out, and update pre-crisis market mapping and analysis, leading to respo…
2018 | Mercy Corps
Markets are vital to our well-being, yet they falter when war, violence, and natural disaster rip through communities. Goods become less accessible, incomes fall, and uncertain futures limit w…
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