Yesterday was our last day in Lilongwe, Malawi. We saw all the JF’s (short term volunteers) off back to Canada, and saw all our other African Program Staff off to begin their placements. That afternoon after finding a mini-bus in the “bus station” three of us went off toward the Zambian border. We later transferred into a taxi (a hatch back that only sits 5 people safely) accompanied by one other passenger, our large backpacks, sugar cane and enough bags of grain to make the car sag a few inches. We finally crossed the border under a full moon and found our way to a guest house in Chipata, Zambia.

A Window into Market Facilitation

In this guest house, they have these super cool windows.

… and they got me thinking: Why are they there?

Of course, to let the light in and provide a view… right. But, they’re segmented and movable and unlike any exterior window I’ve seen in Canada. So I figured I’d do a quick comparison or examination of the potential reasons they ended up in the room I’m staying.

Let’s look at this window through a few lenses:

Risk: These windows are modular. Any damage to a single piece of glass does not require a replacement of the entire window, only a small pane.

Transport: To me, it makes sense to transport smaller pieces of glass here in Zambia. I don’t usually see excessively large window panes in rural areas and I wouldn’t be the first person here to invest a ton of my money into moving piece of glass that will be driven over roads that make me envious of the world’s SUV owners.

Industry: The industrial scale needed to produce high strength, high quality and large panes of glass is pretty enormous. (Thanks How Stuff’s Made) In an industry that isn’t as developed, it’s an environment that’s conducive to medium and small glass producing factories.

Scalability/Precision: Since the panes overlap and connected through these side bars. The design is easily scaled to fit any window size.

Theft: Apparently, thieves like to steal things through windows. (Who knew?) So I only saw these windows in guest houses that have some sort of security. The two guest houses I saw these window designs were protected by high fencing and locked gates.

Airflow: The lack of central heating and air conditioning in the area makes ventilation a huge need for enclosed spaces.

Esthetics: Open windows (we need big windows in Canada because we can’t open

(… of course… all of this could be wrong and the real reason why these windows were installed is because they have sentimental value to the designer)

Market Facilitation

So the reason why I thought that was relevant, is because it exposed some potential business decisions surrounding windows. Here in Zambia we’re focused on private sector development to reduce poverty.

My work will be with farming “inputs” a.k.a. seeds, fertilizers, equipment and other farming services. The key principle is “Market Facilitation”. Market facilitation is a general idea is about stimulating sustainable market growth without distorting the market.

One thing that’s key for market growth is having an “enabling environment”. An enabling environment is one that ensures that businesses can grow, trade can happen, development is seen and those in poverty are able to stabilize and grow their income.

In the above example there were many factors that immediately came up that led to that window being in front of me in the morning. When it comes to stimulating the private sector, some factors that need to be considered are:

· Public sector initiatives and policies

· International trade

· Skills and motivation of local workers and business owners

· Social norms and behavior norms

· Infrastructure

· Weather

· Non-profit sector interventions

· Access to capital

(Just to name a few… )

All of the above have the ability to strengthen or weaken the business environment and all of the above are incredibly big topics.

So there we have it. A potential answer to poverty is creating an environment conducive to poverty reduction. Unfortunately, the implementation of that is turning out to be one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever come across. Fortunately, I have a pretty solid team here to pick away at it.