Integrating Gender into Emergency Market Assessments: Lessons Learned from the IRC’s PCMMA Pilot in Niger

The study was conducted in Niger's Tillaberi Region from June 29 to July 15, 2015, and focused on the cabbage and goat market systems. The team examined how past floods had impacted these market systems to predict the likely impact of future floods and propose market-based preparedness and response interventions. The study identified the different roles that women and men play in the market systems, analyzed the factors that determine these roles, and examined how these roles change in a crisis. The assessment team used this information to develop gendered response options. The PCMMA approach, loosely based on the Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis (EMMA) Toolkit, emphasizes the importance of integrating gender considerations into market assessments. To integrate gender considerations into the assessment, the team assigned a gender focal point, a member of the team whose role was to consider gender as a main aspect of the study. The team also systematized gender within the study by incorporating it into the key analytical questions that guided the overall study. Survey tools were designed to ask about the roles that men and women played in the market system in the baseline and crisis periods and the impact of flooding on men and women's respective income and assets. The study found that using various types of data collection techniques, such as household and vendor questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions, aided the team in getting a more robust picture of gender roles within the market systems. The team also recognized the importance of considering gender in each step of the assessment, from essential preparation to response analysis. The study's findings and recommendations highlight the need for a gender-balanced assessment team, the appointment of a gender focal point, and the integration of gender-specific questions into assessment tools. The study also emphasizes the importance of ensuring a safe environment for participants, particularly women, during interviews and focus group discussions. The PCMMA approach provides a framework for integrating gender considerations into emergency market assessments, which can inform livelihoods programming and guide response efforts in crisis situations. The study's recommendations include considering gender in critical market selection and the development of key analytical questions, including key information about gender roles in preliminary market maps and seasonal calendars, and integrating appropriate gender-specific questions into assessment tools. The study also emphasizes the importance of supervising and coaching field staff to reinforce understanding of gender aspects, facilitating potentially sensitive household interviews and focus group discussions with women, and sharing gender-disaggregated data with team members on a daily basis. The study's findings and recommendations have implications for humanitarian market assessments and response efforts. By integrating gender considerations into market assessments, humanitarian organizations can better understand the needs and roles of women and men in crisis situations and develop more effective response strategies. The PCMMA approach provides a framework for integrating gender considerations into emergency market assessments, which can inform livelihoods programming and guide response efforts in crisis situations.