Stakeholders involved

• Government representatives (national and local),
• Buyers and exporters,  
• Private sector cooperatives,
• Producers 

Guidelines

Pull approaches seek to connect marginalized groups to existing or untapped market opportunities, while stimulating the market and its actors to increase the quantity and quality of opportunities available.

• There are various ways to collaborate with market actors. For example, in the agriculture sector:
  • work with agricultural input suppliers and off-takers to introduce modern greenhouse technology on horticulture farms – as was done in Lebanon, with demonstration plots on 12 farms as proof of concept. By enhancing the productivity and working conditions of horticulture farmers, PROSPECTS Lebanon helped protect livelihood opportunities for Syrian refugee agriculture workers that might otherwise have been lost or significantly reduced amid Lebanon's ongoing crises;
  • partner with agri-businesses to strengthen extension services and market linkage along the value chain. This can include interventions that encourage off-takers to buy collective produce from small-scale farmers. For example, see details in the Uganda case study;
  • consider village agent models that bring extension services and markets closer to refugee and host communities;
  • support the formation of producer cooperatives and connect them with off-takers for export markets, hence generating more profit margins for producers. 

Pull-only strategies risk excluding less market-ready individuals, such as vulnerable groups with limited skills and assets. They are more effective, therefore, when combined with push strategies.

Stakeholders involved

• INGOs,
• Private sector,
• Government representatives (local),
• Cooperatives,
• Producers,
• Refugee and host community members

Guidelines

Push interventions focuses on developing and strengthening the capacities of producer groups, including to form cooperatives; enhancing technical skills for improved production quality and quantity; improving financial literacy and access to financial products, such as loans; and building infrastructure to improve connectivity to markets. 

• Help form cooperative groups to address the limited production and bargaining power of individuals, introducing ILO tools such as ILO COOP training, including Start.COOP, SIYB, Think.COOP and GET Ahead. For example, in Sudan, the programme team supported the formation of cooperatives in groundnut production and the ILO COOP training materials were adapted for that activity and translated into Arabic, so that, collectively, refugees and host community members could access land and take full ownership of their collective production.
• Build infrastructure to improve production quality and connectivity to market, using EIIP to address the driving factor of pool quality in production or inadequate storage. For example, see the Kenya case study.
• Improve financial literacy and access to financial products, such as loans. For example, in Lebanon, the Improve Your Agricultural Business (IYAB) tool was adapted from the ILO’s SIYB methods and materials to support horticulture farmers’ engagement in the value chain. It addresses sector-specific business management skills, such as managing aggregation processes, finances, cashflow and loan settlements – knowledge and skills that were not readily apparent among the rural farmers with whom the programme team engaged and which took time to instil.

Push-only strategies can be costly and they fail to address the fundamental challenge of creating and expanding economic opportunities. They are more effective when combined with pull strategies.

Stakeholders involved 

• Government representatives,
• Buyers and exporters,
• Private sector,
• Producers,
• Cooperatives,
• Refugee and host community members

Guidelines

• Sometimes, pull and push interventions can be implemented with the same private sector partner, see the Uganda case study. In other cases, these interventions can involve different organizations that take the lead for specific actions.
• Push and pull interventions take different time frames to develop and take root, so they may not “meet in the middle” at the same time. A few years may be needed to iron out sequencing problems, such as unmet off-taker expectations, oversupply and lower than expected profits. This is further complicated where off-takers and buyers were not previously present and thus had not yet established trust.
• Value-chain development and influencing markets through pull approaches take time and are easily offset by contextual changes. Refugees and host community members may also need new knowledge and skills to make the most of the market opportunities. One year can be too short a time within which to demonstrate value addition, given the unpredictable external factors that influence the market, such as inflation, supply-chain disruptions or weather conditions.
• There is a tendency to focus too much on push and too little on pull. Be aware of the long-term sustainable impact of pull interventions, though push may be easier to implement in the short term.