Intervention design

MSD competency B2

Intervention design

Apply MSD principles to develop interventions that local partners can independently lead and own

Competency definition

Practitioners can design an intervention targeted at one or more local partners. They decide on cost-sharing, division of responsibilities, duration and end goal and measures of success. They can present the offer to partners and adapt it based on the response.

Knowledge areas

Practitioners with this competency will be knowledgeable about concepts and ideas described and explored in these resources...

Core principles and frameworks that guide effective Intervention (Chapter 4) from the M4P Operational Guide
Stages of intervention activity: the practical sequence of tasks to develop and implement interventions
A range of intervention tactics that programmes may adopt
Typical intervention challenges that managers using market systems approach encounter
Business partnership agreements: how to structure relationships with partners in MSD programmes
The market facilitator's offer arsenal: tools to support market systems programmes plan their day-to-day activities

Skills and experience

Practitioners with this competency will have acquired qualifications, skills and practical experience that may include:

Negotiation of an explicit partnership between multiple organisations that involved shared responsibilities and cost-sharing. Management of the partnership for results and outcomes.
Making difficult decisions when partnerships are not working, including terminating the partnership.

Guidance for teaching this competency

Case study
Provide practitioners with a case study and a blank cost-share template. Have them debate and discuss in small groups the type of offer and fill out the template. Get the group to present and critique each other’s ideas.

General guidance on using case studies

Role play
Choose your own adventure style game with multiple options and outcomes. Participants are given a case study of a potential intervention. They must make decisions on intervention design – after each round of decisions they learn the consequences of their choices and have to make further decisions.

General advice on scenarios and role plays

Coaching and mentoring advice

Encourage constructive criticism and use of peer feedback for intervention design to ensure that the partnership is in line with the principles of market facilitation.
Force staff to justify their decisions about interventions. Help them right-size the support.

Guidance for assessing this competency

Traditional questions
Ask participants about a time they managed a partnership. Probe about strategic choices about how to share roles, measure performance. Ask about examples where partnership was failing and how they handled it.

General advice on traditional interview questions

Presentation of case analysis
Given a case study and a goal in mind ask participants to craft an intervention including details related to activities, exit strategy and performance metrics. Probe participants on how they would present the intervention to partners.

General advice on case analysis methods

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