Mapping Change: What UNDP Learned from a Participatory Pilot with CoAmana
Between November 2023 and March 2024, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Gates Foundation undertook a participatory Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation (MLE) pilot with CoAmana, a technology firm that supports traditional agricultural markets in West and East Africa. The exercise aimed to test a joint diagnostic framework that captures five structural drivers of market performance—Resilience, Inclusiveness, […]
Partnerships for Markets in Africa
When we first set out to digitize agricultural trade through Amana Market, we quickly learned something important: technology alone doesn’t fix inefficiencies. Markets are living systems—held together by trust, habits, relationships, and a constant flow of goods and people. If we were serious about making these systems stronger and more inclusive, we needed more than […]
Building Stronger Connections In African Markets
Yakubu is a hardworking farmer in Jigawa State. Every week, he loads his bags of millet and groundnuts onto a borrowed motorcycle and travels to his local market—a dusty, bustling hub that has served generations before him. There, amidst the noise and activity, Yakubu sells his produce, sometimes trading hundreds of thousands of naira in […]
The Role and Rise of Women in Trade and Leadership in Africa
Markets in Africa are built on networks of small businesses, many of which are heavily populated by women. In agricultural markets signed up on Amana Market, women make up over 56% of traders, actively shaping local economies through their entrepreneurial efforts. Yet, despite their numbers, we observed that 98% of market leadership positions in these […]