Feed the Future Bangladesh Agricultural Value Chains project

This case study presents an overview of USAID Feed the Future Bangladesh Agricultural Value Chains (AVC) systemic change framework.

AVC aims to develop long-term food security in the Southern Delta Region of Bangladesh by applying a market systems approach to improve availability of diverse and nutritious fruits, vegetables, and pulses in local, regional, and national markets.

To contribute to its Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) agenda, the project brought on two researchers to conduct an assessment of the systemic change effects to which AVC interventions have contributed. 

AVC sees systemic change as changing the drivers and biases that direct the way the market system self-organises. This definition focuses on how a system changes and not just the results of such changes. Using this framework, the case study documents both the successes and sustainability of AVC’s interventions in the agricultural inputs market system.

• Read the blog: Capturing Systemic Change in Bangladesh

Intervention description

This study captures early indications of systemic change arising from selected AVC interventions after two years of MSD implementation. Building on the AVC view of systemic change, the authors analyse three broad indicators, or 'change markers', to identify the existence of systemic change:

• Directionality
• Dynamism
• Durability

i.e. changes in strategies, interactions and in institutionalisation.

Evidence methodology

The team carried out two field visits and individual and group interviews with the AVC team and partner firms.