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Good practice Imported

Katalyst — Swisscontact's Market-Systems Programme for Bangladesh's SMEs and Smallholder Farmers

Bangladesh · Dhaka · See the Bangladesh profile · See the Dhaka profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 10% 86/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Bangladesh's largest market-systems programme, Katalyst, worked with private firms to reach 4.75 million SMEs and farmers by 2018, generating a documented USD 724 million in added income and passing two independent DCED Standard audits of its results-measurement system.

4.75 million
SMEs and farmers reached (2002–2018)
724 USD million
Additional income generated (2002–2018)
309
Market interventions completed (2002–2018)
76 %
Beneficiaries below the upper poverty line
Katalyst — Swisscontact's Market-Systems Programme for Bangladesh's SMEs and Smallholder Farmers

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Swisscontact (Katalyst Project)
Period
2000–2017 (Phases I–III)
Keywords
SME development, market systems development, agriculture, inclusive growth

Context

Katalyst is a market systems development programme implemented in Bangladesh by the Swiss foundation Swisscontact, running in three phases from 2000 to 2017. Rather than delivering aid or subsidies directly, it works with private lead firms, business associations and service providers to fix structural constraints in specific product markets such as seed, poultry, tailoring and agro-inputs.

Objectives

The aim is for improved market practices to spread through normal commercial relationships after the programme withdraws, rather than depending on continued donor support. Interventions such as the seed mini-pack were designed to get smallholder farmers to test new seed varieties in small, affordable packets.

Activities

Between 2002 and 2018 the programme carried out 309 market interventions and was funded across its phases by a rotating group of donors including the UK, Switzerland and the Bangladesh government. Its monitoring and results measurement system was the first in the world to be independently audited against the DCED Standard for Results Measurement, in 2011, and was re-audited with improved results in 2013.

Results

The programme reported reaching 4.75 million SMEs and farmers and generating USD 724 million in additional income between 2002 and 2018. Swisscontact states that 76% of beneficiaries lived below the upper poverty line (under USD 2.50/day) and 23% below the lower poverty line, and in 2014 the programme won the OECD DAC Prize for Taking Development Innovation to Scale.

Conclusions

Independent DCED reviewers described the monitoring system as comprehensive and robust but flagged, in earlier rounds, the need for stronger downstream attribution evidence — a caution worth keeping in mind when reading market systems income-gain figures generally, since a facilitator that never touches money directly is inherently hard to link causally to income gains.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Multi-phase, multi-donor funded programme (UK, Switzerland, Bangladesh government) running 2000–2017, continued in scaled-down form after 2017.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Three phases from 2000 to 2017 (17 years), reaching a reported scale of 4.75 million beneficiaries by 2018.
Staffing & skills
Swisscontact (Swiss foundation, lead implementer), Private lead firms, business associations and service providers, Multi-donor coalition: UK, Switzerland, Bangladesh government

Conditions for success

  • Working through mainstream private-sector market actors rather than direct subsidies
  • Independently audited monitoring and results measurement system (DCED Standard)
  • Sustained multi-phase donor funding over 17 years

Common failure modes

  • Difficulty attributing income gains to a facilitator that never touches money directly
  • DCED reviewers flagged the need for stronger downstream attribution evidence in earlier rounds

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