Heifer invited GKI to serve as a strategic partner in designing and facilitating the Heifer Global Leadership Summit. In November 2018, over 140 Heifer International leaders from across the globe arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas for the 3-day summit. GKI designed sessions to equip participants with an understanding of market systems and the mindset and tools to disrupt those systems to benefit the poor. First, participants were led through a general overview of market systems development. Then, GKI utilized the case learning approach to draw from the experiences of several Heifer country teams. GKI presented several interactive sessions to help participants understand how to analyze a market system and implement inclusive, facilitative interventions using adaptive management approaches.

“Market systems analysis poses many challenges…[But], the bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity.” ~Pierre Ferrari, President and Chief Executive Officer, Heifer International

To turn learning into practice, participants went through a half-day action planning process. Participants mapped out their priority goals to determine what actions needed to be taken when and by whom to hold one another accountable for reaching those goals. Over the course of the Summit, participants (1) learned about the foundational concepts of market systems development; (2) tested new ways of analyzing market systems; and (3) developed detailed, time-bound action plans to guide their use of market systems development in their programming in the coming weeks, months, and years to come.