Identify practical shifts to strengthen your approaches under pressure.
As international NGOs face increasing funding volatility, many are urgently seeking new income streams. Recent funding shocks, including the impact of the USAID crisis, have accelerated interest in market development, but often without the structures, clarity, or internal alignment needed to make it sustainable.
This workshop explores why market development is frequently misunderstood and rushed, and what organisations need to get right if this strategy is to deliver long-term, locally-generated income. Drawing on real-world experience from Central and Eastern Europe, where several markets have evolved from emerging contexts into top performers when it comes to local income, the session highlights both success factors and common failure points.
You will be invited to reflect on your own organisational readiness, share challenges with your peers, and identify practical shifts that can strengthen market development approaches under pressure.
Learning outcomes
- Identify the most common pitfalls that limit the success of market development efforts when organisations pursue new income streams under funding pressure
- Assess your organisation’s readiness for market development, including strategy, governance, roles, and internal alignment across global, regional, and local levels
- Define practical shifts and priority actions to strengthen sustainable, locally-generated income without relying on short-term or reactive approaches