Rapid Market Assessment: Strengthening Local Capacities for Resilience and Recovery in Murzuq

Murzuq is an oasis town and the capital of the Murzuq District in the Fezzan region of southwest Libya. It lies on the northern edge of the Murzuq Desert, an extremely arid region of great sand dunes which is part of the greater Sahara Desert. Access to the city, arriving from Sebha, is possible through a 182 km long trip through Taraghin or through another narrower road. Most of the population of Murzuq is reported to be displaced to the other municipalities in Libya following the 2019 civil war escalations in the region.

Not being well integrated into Libya’s economy, the private sector is weak and access to jobs, especially for vulnerable categories such as youth and women, is challenging. Under the UNDP-funded project, “Strengthening Local Capacities for Resilience and Recovery in Murzuq”, Acted aims to provide a first early recovery livelihood response focusing on:

1) technical capacity-building of micro and small businesses;

2) support of micro, small enterprises and returnee/vulnerable households who lost their income-generated activities/assets to restart their livelihoods.

To being able to tailor the assistance to the context, Acted conducted a Rapid Market Assessment (RMA), to identify commonly used economically productive assets, the characteristics and availability of (skilled) labour as well as local suppliers in Murzuq.