Anti-Fragile Market Systems Training
June 14 – 15, 2023 at Chemonics International in Washington, DC
Robust systems resist shocks and resilient systems flex under stress and return to their former state. In contrast, anti-fragile systems improve when stressed due to their capacities to adapt and grow stronger.
Anti-fragility is a concept that has become increasingly influential in many disciplines since it was first introduced by systems theorist Nassim Taleb in his Incerto series of books that includes The Black Swan, Anti-Fragile, and Skin the Game. Taleb’s key argument is that, as the world enters a period of rapid change, increasing uncertainty renders accurate predictions about the future less reliable. Instead of optimizing systems in anticipation of any particular threat, the best approach is to study those systems that have survived, adapted and become stronger under stressors and shocks to identify the shared characteristics that promote their anti-fragility.
- Optionality – Systems that are locked into specific ways of working are, by nature, fragile while anti-fragile systems integrate multiple circuits of commerce and points of access for capital, technologies, partnerships and dependable data.
- Innovation – Anti-fragile systems hinge on the adoption of certain beneficial attitudes that promote innovation as well as the availability of tools that enable controlled risk taking;
- Variation – Anti-fragile systems include a variety of stakeholders, including women, youth and others that can provide diverse resources and new ways of thinking.
- Learning – Systems actors need reliable, verifiable data to make good decisions. Data platforms should be designed to cut through noise and help system actors understand emerging opportunities and threats and make reasonable, timely decisions.
- Trust – Well-conceptualized contracting, well aligned risk-reward dynamics and a commitment to “win-win” equity, transparency and accountability are all central to establishing an atmosphere of trust between systems actors.
During this 2-day training, we will explore five key domains of anti-fragility that relate to systems approaches in development work. Connexus’ trainers will show how they have used these concepts to build upon USAID’s market resilience framework to strengthen anti-fragile agricultural market systems in Senegal. This training will also show how anti-fragility concepts can be broadly applied to other systems (e.g. global health systems) and used to create effective tools for project assessments, strategic planning and day to day management in development.
Trainers
Todd Crosby is Vice President of Programs for Connexus. Todd has led the development of the anti-fragile systems approach, which is being used by the Feed the Future Senegal Nafoore Warsaaji (Gardens of Abundance) project. Todd holds an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and has over 27 years of experience working in community development in West Africa, including Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and Ghana. His technical expertise focuses on the use of private sector business approaches such as value chains, last mile agents, social marketing, and social franchising for community-based rural development. He is fluent in English and French.
Olivier Massart is an agricultural finance specialist with over 25 years of experience strengthening finance for agro-industries and MSMEs globally. He is experienced in building cross-sectoral relationships between the private sector and public development sector having worked in more than 30 countries, including in Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda and Afghanistan. Olivier has worked with many different finance institutions on strategic planning, training and restructuring finance programs. He has been advising Connexus on strategy and helping to conduct anti-fragility assessments of horticultural hubs in Senegal. Olivier holds an MBA from the University of Birmingham in the UK and a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Louvain, Belgium. He in fluent in French and English.
