Katalyst - Swisscontact 4.7

ABOUT US:
Katalyst is one of the largest market development projects in Bangladesh.
It increases the income of rural farmers by integrating them better in the market systems and making them more competitive. Currently, the project is in its Phase 3, which started from March 2014 and continues till March 2018. By March 2017, 4.69 million SMEs and farmers in Bangladesh had benefited from an income increase of USD 689 million.
During 2017-2018, Katalyst is mainly focusing to consolidate and anchor the project's learning and experiences with key public and private institutions in Bangladesh.

HOW WE WORK:
The livelihoods of poor people depend on their integration into market systems as labourers, producers, entrepreneurs and consumers. Often however, the poor are systematically excluded from the markets. Katalyst uses the approach of Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) to break this vicious cycle of poverty.
M4P identifies the barriers that prevent poor people’s participation in the markets and finds solutions to overcome them in partnership
with the public and private sectors. As they start to cater more to the needs of poor people, the poor will be more involved in the
market systems and increasingly get access to better inputs, services, knowledge and products.

Empowering the poor to participate successfully in the markets thus enables them to increase their income and lift themselves out of poverty.