What is Making Markets Work for the Poor Approach?

Making Market Work Better for the Poor (M4P) is an approach that aims to accelerate pro-poor growth by improving outcomes that matter to the poor in their roles as entrepreneurs, employees or consumers of markets. M4P focuses on changing the structure and characteristics of markets to increase participation by the poor on terms that are of benefit to them. It addresses the behaviour of the private sector, through a combination of changes to government policies and support to development of new business models that are more inclusive of the poor. Therefore they reinforce and strengthen market systems, rather than undermining these systems. For a more detailed description see the “what is M4P” tab on the project website: www.markets4poor.org.