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 dunes that is part of the greater Sahara Desert. Access to the city, arriving from Sebha, is possible through an 182-km-long trip through Taraghin or another narrower road. Most of the population of Murzuq is reported to have been displaced to other municipalities in Libya following the 2019 civil war escalations in the region.

Under the UNDP-funded project, “Strengthening Local Capacities for Resilience and Recovery in Murzuq”, to provide a first early recovery livelihood response focusing on:

• Technical capacity-building of micro and small businesses.
• Support micro and small enterprises and returnees/vulnerable households that have lost their income-generating activities/assets to restart their livelihoods. 

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, and local suppliers in Murzuq. This report represents the findings of the Rapid Needs Assessment. Acted owns and conducts this assessment, with support from UNDP’s Local Peacebuilding and Resilience Programme and generous funding from USAID.