Making Vegetable Markets Work (MVMW), a US$5 million donor-funded initiative, brought together Mercy Corps, Swisscontact, East-West Seed and over 35 other businesses to improve the performance of Myanmar’s vegetable sector for smallholder farmers. Generating an Economic Rate of Return (ERR) of 44% over a project period of 3.75 years, MVMW increased farmer incomes by an aggregate of US$14.8 million, supported businesses to develop new services that sustained after the project concluded, and delivered key policy changes in the seed sector.

However, not all project activities gained traction.

Commissioned by Grow Asia, this case study provides an overview of the MVMW initiative, outlines the main results and challenges and - most importantly - highlights the key project and process-based learnings around running an effective multi-stakeholder, market systems-based project.