A short intro to the Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis (EMMA) toolkit

1. EMMA Toolkit briefing
Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis
Mike Albu, May 2010
It is vital to consider market-systems in emergency situations. However, uncertainty about how to
understand or work with traders and other market actors in an emergency
setting, and unfamiliarity with the private sector in general, means that
humanitarian practitioners have often overlooked the potential and actual role
of markets in emergency and early recovery responses. Commonly cited
challenges include not knowing what data to gather and from where (macro
versus micro levels), how to interpret basic information collected, such as
prices, or how to translate analysis into programme decisions.
Box 1 Why market-systems matter in designing emergency responses
For ensuring survival For protecting livelihoods
Market-systems could Market-systems could Market-systems could
supply food and supply or replace maintain demand for
essential items or urgent non-food items, labour, employment
services related to agricultural inputs, fuel, or production that
basic survival needs tools and vital services restores incomes
Until recently, market analysis was seen as a specialist and time-consuming
activity which could not be a high priority in emergency situations, especially
those with a sudden-onset. The EMMA toolkit changes that. It was designed
with the idea that even in the immediate aftermath of an emergency, there is
enough time to develop a ‘good-enough’ understanding of critical market-
systems. Doing so will lead to better, more appropriate programmes in the
future.
EMMA is an adaptable, rough-and-ready, speed-orientated process designed
to reflect the information constraints and urgency of decision-making required
in the first few weeks of a sudden-onset emergency situation. EMMA enables
emergency practioners, with no economic background to do a quick-and-dirty
analysis of the markets most critical to the emergency-affected population. It
can be used within two to three weeks of an emergency onset alongside other,
more traditional emergency assessments. Most importantly, EMMA provides
outputs that have a strong visual impact, making it easy for decision-makers to
quickly understand the recommendations of the analysis.
With few exceptions, crisis-affected households use markets or other forms of
exchange for acquiring food, household items and services, or for selling
products and labour to others. There is a growing realisation that unless our
responses are designed with a good understanding of key market-systems,
they may inadvertently damage livelihoods, jobs and businesses; thus
undermine recovery and prolong dependence on outside assistance.
The rationale for EMMA is that better understanding of the key market-systems
in any given situation could enable humanitarian agencies to consider a broader
range of responses. These responses might include cash-based interventions,
local procurement and other innovative forms of support to market actors (e.g.

2. traders) that enable programmes to make better use of existing market-system
capabilities. This could lead to more efficient use of humanitarian resources, as
well as also encouraging recovery and reducing dependency on outside
assistance.

3. EMMA – What is it?
The EMMA toolkit is a set of tools and guidance notes, designed to encourage
and assist front-line humanitarian staff in sudden-onset emergencies to better
understand and make use of market-systems.
Box 2 EMMA’s Scope
• Sudden-Onset Emergencies: where fast-moving events mean agencies have
little advance knowledge of markets and limited resources to
investigate.
• A Broad Range of Needs: any market system that may be critical in
addressing priority needs, including food, non-food items and
supporting services
• Rapid Assessment and Decision-making: supporting humanitarian teams to
take urgent response decisions faced in the first few weeks
The EMMA process has three basic strands, represented by the strap-line:
“People. Markets. Emergency Response.” Initially, the strands are relatively separate: like
parallel lines of enquiry in an investigation. However, as EMMA proceeds these
strands should knit together to provide a coherent analysis to support the
weight of final recommendations (see Box 3).
1. Gap analysis (a.k.a. people) strand:
Box 3 Three strands of This strand is about understanding the
emergency situation, priority needs and
preferences of those most affected by the
emergency: our target population. It also puts
these households needs (the gaps they face) in
the context of their economic profile and
livelihood strategies.
2. Market analysis strand:
This strand is about understanding each critical
market-system’s constraints, and capabilities
to play a role in the emergency response. It
develops a map and profile of the pre-crisis
baseline situation and explores how the
emergency has impacted on this in the
emergency-affected situation.
3. Response analysis strand:
This strand is about exploring different options
and opportunities for humanitarian agencies. It
looks at each option’s respective feasibility,
likely outcomes, benefits and risks, before
leading to recommendations for action.

4. More information and links about the EMMA Toolkit
• EMMA is published by Practical Action Publishing
• Read about EMMA in the Enterprise Development and Microfinance journal
• MicroLinks: Notes from the Field about recent Haiti experience of using
EMMA Toolkit
• Video presentation from the EMMA Toolkit launch event at ODI, London
• The EMMA website: www.emma-toolkit.info – for links and recent reports