This Learning Agenda provides an overview of the Feed the Future Market Systems and Partnerships (MSP) Activity’s learning priorities and a sample of activities that contribute to MSP’s overall goal of advancing learning and good practice in private sector engagement (PSE) and market systems development (MSD). This is a living document that establishes the learning priorities for MSP over the course of the activity, advanced through both targeted learning actions and learning-by-doing in MSP’s private sector partnership Facility and other activities.

There are five core areas of learning prioritized and detailed in the agenda:

• Transformational PSE: MSP’s strategic goals for this area are to make PSE more accessible and integrated throughout USAID’s portfolio by expanding the diversity of PSE use cases and engagement models, drive strengths-based synergies between PSE and MSD to advance transformational aims and facilitate a more robust understanding of private sector learning systems. 

• Practical Application of MSD: MSP’s strategic goals for this area are to demystify MSD, drive uptake of curated MSD frameworks and tools, and expand the MSD “orbit” beyond its current network of champions. 

• Market Systems Resilience (MSR): MSP’s strategic goals for this area are to embed MSR as a commonly understood, widely integrated lens into MSD, expand and deepen interest in and practice of MSR, strengthen learning for prove and improve elements of applying MSR and increase capacity to apply MSR in a variety of expertise and functional levels. 

• Social Inclusion: MSP’s strategic goals for this area are to increase the evidence base that inclusion leads to increased firm-level competitiveness and that PSE can empower and benefit marginalized populations and drive pro-poor growth, enhance transformational benefits of social inclusion initiatives by addressing biases/norms and how they enable/constrain systemic change and drive uptake of social inclusion in PSE and MSD.

• Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) and Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA): MSP’s strategic goals for this area are to validate MSD’s influence on scaled, sustainable outcomes, enhance resources for evaluating systemic change and MSD activity performance, facilitate more consistent application of core MEL for MSD practices and inform and support uptake of enhanced PSE impact metrics. MSP groups Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and CLA in one Learning Stream to capitalize on synergies between them. 

MSP also has an intentional focus on learning around promoting the adoption of knowledge and behavior change. MSP is developing a structured, human-centered and systems-informed strategy to drive needed behavior change informed by a segmented learning systems study to better understand the learning incentives and learning systems of our stakeholders (diverse private sector actors from multinational companies to small and medium enterprises, implementing partners and USAID). This study will inform MSP’s approach to adoption and influence across learning areas.

This Learning Agenda was developed through a series of stakeholder consultations and will continue to be refined with stakeholder feedback and insights gained during implementation. We welcome your reflections and input as we implement and evolve the Learning Agenda. Reach us at [email protected] to share your reactions and feedback.  We look forward to learning together for meaningful insights, evidence and improved practice. 

The Feed the Future MSP activity is advancing learning and good practice in market systems development and private sector engagement within USAID, USAID partners and market actors. For more information, access to technical resources and opportunities to engage, visit www.agrilinks.org/msp.