Since 2017, the BEAM Exchange platform has been run and managed by the Secretariat of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED)
History of the BEAM Exchange
The BEAM Exchange began in 2014, with joint three-year commitment from DFID and the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC) to incubate a learning platform for market systems development. We built on their earlier experience (2010 – 2012) which also included Swedish Sida, of piloting the M4P Hub.
The BEAM website launched in October 2014. As a PwC-led alliance, the core BEAM team worked in partnership with the Institute of Development Studies and M&E specialists Itad Ltd.
Over three years (2014 – 2017), substantial backing from DFID and SDC enabled the core BEAM team to collaborate with practitioners, consultants and researchers. We delivered academic research, thought-leadership, practitioner-generated knowledge, online guidance, webinars, peer-to-peer learning events, an industry conference, and more…
In the process we received 'widespread appreciation' (external review) for building a highly regarded learning platform; and helping to galvanize a vibrant knowledge community among policy advisors, practitioners, team leaders, consultants and businesses who use the market systems approach to tackle poverty.
DFID’s and SDC’s initial commitment to the BEAM Exchange ended in September 2017, by which time we had found a more permanent home with the potential for funding from more diverse sources and stakeholders.
BEAM Exchange with the DCED
In October 2017, after a review of options, the BEAM Exchange moved into a long-term arrangement with the Donor Committee on Enterprise Development (DCED).
The BEAM Exchange is now supervised by the DCED's Working Group on MSD. The working group includes representatives of a range of bilateral donors, multilateral agencies and foundations, and meets every two - three months.
Joining forces with the DCED gave the BEAM Exchange a permanent, sustainable institutional foundation from which to operate. We are forging even closer relationships with the major donors who support poverty reduction through inclusive markets. And by enhancing knowledge exchange between programme funders and implementers, the DCED-BEAM team expects to further strengthen and extend the way that the market system approach is developed and applied.