Katalyst, is a market development project which aims to increase the income of poor men and women, thereby contributing to sustainable poverty reduction in Bangladesh. Katalyst has been working in Bangladesh since 2002.
The livelihoods of poor people depend on market systems in which they are involved as labourers, producers, entrepreneurs and consumers. Often however, the poor are systematically excluded from these markets. Katalyst uses the approach of Inclusive Markets (Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) to break this vicious cycle of poverty. This approach identifies the barriers preventing poor people’s participation in the markets and the root causes of this, and finds innovative solutions to overcome them in partnership with the public and private sectors.