Mike Klassen

I am an independent consultant and a part-time member of the BEAM core team. I have been working in the field of market systems development since 2010. The majority of my field experience was as a consultant and team leader with EWB Canada, in Ghana and Uganda. I have been working for BEAM for several years, and most recently have been involved in the development and roll out of the MSD Competency Framework, and the facilitation of the MSD Procurement & Contracting Clinics.

Outside of market systems, I am an active researcher in the field of Higher Education, currently a PhD Candidate working on a comparative study of engineering education in the UK, Singapore, Australia and South Africa for my thesis.

I am curious about opportunities to connect these two sets of expertise, and open to learning about programs applying MSD principles in education and training - particularly post-secondary education (in TVET institutions and universities).

Contributions

Blogs

• Why MSD4E needs more ex-post evaluations [2026]
• Cracking the incentives puzzle in MSD4E [2026]
• Apples and oranges: making sense of employment outcomes [2026]
• "Your job is f***ing hard" - the reality of MSD leadership [2025]
• From theory to practice: what we’re learning about MSD4E [2025]
• Replicating adaptive partnerships across your organisation [2024]
• Beyond the 'unicorn': creating adaptive partnerships across an organisation [2024]
• For the sake of learning: building a community around MSD for employment [2023]
• Beyond superheroes and wish lists: what makes a good MSD Team Leader? [2022]
• Skills in MSD: not just another supporting function [2022]
• Knowledge clinics offer a virtual method for synthesising best practice in MSD [2020]
• Putting BEAM’s Competency Framework to the test! [2019]
• How to boil market systems down to their essence without diluting them [2015]

Resources

• MDF Sri Lanka case study [2025]
• MSD Team Leader Competency Framework [2025]
• What support do MSD leaders need to thrive? [2025]
• Market Systems Development for Employment (MSD4E) landscape assessment [2024]
• Where do MSD leaders come from? (and where do they go?) [2023]
• Outcomes of the MSD procurement knowledge clinics [2021]
• What makes a good MSD Team Leader? [2021]
• Knowledge clinics [2020]
• Adjusting procurement processes for MSD programmes [2020]
• Decisive structures: procurement format options for MSD programmes and their different implications [2020]
• Getting off the ground: practical lessons for the launch phase of MSD programmes [2020]
• Fit for business: modifying internal procurement processes to suit adaptive MSD programmes [2020]
• Deepening the relationship: a stage-by-stage guide to strengthening partnerships between donors and implementers in MSD programmes [2020]
• Introduction to the MSD Competency Framework [2019]
• Social norms in market systems development [2017]
• Increasing the uptake of new technologies [2017]
• Market facilitation clinics: a how-to manual [2016]
• A practitioner's guide to market facilitation [2012]
• Organisational diagnostic for market facilitation: Excel tool [2011]
• Organisational diagnostic market facilitation [2011]