This handout outlines a sustainability matrix in market systems development, which links functions and players.

1. Key M4P principles and framework: sustainability matrix
Definition of sustainability: the market system capability to ensure that relevant, differentiated goods and services
continue to be produced and/or consumed by poor people beyond the period of intervention.
Putting it into practice: key steps
Step 1: Recognise sustainability as part of market assessment - as facilitators’ understanding of a market system
develops they need to think through how the market might work more effectively in the future
Step 2: Understand the current picture of the market - what functions – core, rules and supporting functions – are
being performed by different players and who is paying for them?
Step 3: Identify and analyse interconnected markets - understanding the current market picture often leads to the
identification of an interconnected market as a supporting function
Step 4: Take account of the ‘given’ factors influencing a future view of market systems - the nature of the market,
its historical context and the innovation landscape beyond the market in question
Step 5: Take account of the ‘open’ factors shaping a future view of market systems - capacity and incentives,
which can be shaped directly by interventions
Most market development facilitators have a strong intuitive sense of sustainability – M4P’s emphasis on
stimulating local ownership and light touch facilitation stems from a concern with sustainability. The matrix is a
more formal way of operationalizing this concern. The purpose of the sustainability matrix is to link functions and
players, as shown by the figure below: