Market Actors Report from the Fieldwork in Uganda: Market-Based Solutions for the Extreme Poor Project

This document presents the analysis of interviews conducted with market actors — with whom persons with disabilities work — at two locations in Uganda. The research explores (a) the different sectors and market systems in which persons with disabilities find work and (b) the issues and challenges that they face while operating in these market systems. The analysis of the interviews provides key implications and considerations for policy makers, donors and other stakeholders interested in making market systems more inclusive. This research is part of a broader project, Market-based Solutions for the Extreme Poor, funded by The Rockefeller Foundation under the thematic area of Inclusive Economies. The research project, implemented in partnership with ADD International, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) and the Coady International Institute (Coady), has three core components. The first component consists of a literature review and development of a typology of market-based approaches for extremely marginalised populations. In collaboration with Coady, IDS has produced the typology and several case studies to illustrate the types of intervention categorised. The second and third components of the project cover fieldwork in Uganda led by IDS and Coady in collaboration with ADD International’s Uganda office. The second component, facilitated by IDS, consists of life stories collected from 102 persons with disabilities (52 for the rural context of Gulu District and 50 for the urban context of Kawempe, a division of Kampala), and an analysis of the issues that emerge from these stories. The third and final component of the research is led by Coady and consists of two parts: livelihoods mapping (Participatory Livelihoods Mapping with Persons with Disabilities in Uganda), and an analysis of the market actors – i.e. this report. While all three components of the research are connected to the broader goal of the project, the two field components are closely interlinked. The 102 life stories collected during the second phase provided the basis for the identification of economic sectors and markets for the third phase of the research. Further, the preliminary results from the two field components were deliberated upon by peer researchers and grassroots stakeholders in a five-day workshop that took place in July 2016 in Kampala, Uganda. The third phase of the research was facilitated by Yogesh Ghore from Coady. The selection of persons with disabilities, economic sectors and markets was done in consultation with IDS and ADD International Uganda. The fieldwork was coordinated by Josephine Alidri from ADD International Uganda