New Ventures to Promote Clean Energy
Photo: Curt Carnemark / World Bank More than 12 million low-income people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America will gain access to clean energy following four companies’ commitments made today to the Business Call to Action, a global leadership initiative that promotes sustainable economic and social development. The companies also expect to create approximately 42,000 […]
Out of poverty and into profit: Are development partnerships a force for good?
To many people, charities and huge multi-national companies will always be strange bedfellows. As such, there can be a gossipy appetite to hear of a mighty culture clash when the two worlds come together in partnership – the sandal wearing NGO worker bewildered by their suited counterparts in the shadows of Canary Wharf. The truth […]
Are development partnerships a force for good?
To many people, charities and huge multi-national companies will always be strange bedfellows. As such, there can be a gossipy appetite to hear of a mighty culture clash when the two worlds come together in partnership – the sandal wearing NGO worker bewildered by their suited counterparts in the shadows of Canary Wharf. The truth […]
The World Bank and IFC launch the 2012 Doing Business Report
By Pauline Zalkin, Business Fights Poverty Did you know that Morocco is the most improved economy in ease of doing business this year? Or that Korea has entered the top 10 economies for ease of doing business? Would you have guessed that Singapore leads the pack as the number 1 easiest country to do business? […]
A New Private Sector Partnership to Share Business Skills
By Stephen Jordan, Founder and Executive Director, U.S. Chamber BCLC Over the last few years, BCLC has been working on different products to help companies manage their community engagement more effectively. At the recent Global Corporate Citizenship Conference (http://bclcglobal.uschamber.com), BCLC unveiled two products to do just that: our Business for Good Map and the International […]
Meeting the Challenge of Expanding Inclusive Business
Opening Plenary New Member Commitments High Level Panel Event Photos Most of us interested in inclusive business have heard the success stories: Coca-Cola has generated $550 million in additional revenues by integrating local entrepreneurs into their beverage distribution chain in markets across Africa. Vodafone – one of the world’s largest telecommunications firm – now reaches […]
Supply Chain Risk and Sustainability: Potential for Partnership
Markets and Value Chains, Private Sector and Markets Programme, Overseas Development Institute Uncertainty abounds. The global climate is changing – catastrophic … cropping up with alarming frequency. Weather patterns are increasingly unpredictable; rains fail or floods destroy whole settlements. Commodity prices are rising; energy and fuel costs are increasing, (oil-based) fertiliser is increasingly expensive and […]
Driving and Supporting Effective and Systemic Multi-Sector Collaboration
Nearly two decades ago, the UN’s Rio Declaration had the goal of “establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the creation of new levels of cooperation among States, key sectors of societies and people”. And then a decade ago, the major outcome of the Johannesburg follow-up Summit (Rio+10) was around the launching of 350 […]
DFID's New Paper On The Role Of The Private Sector In Fighting World Poverty
Business Action for Africa Over recent years, the UK has increasingly emphasized the role of the private sector in its international development strategy. The Department for International Development (DFID) has been a pioneer among its peers, championing initiatives such as the Business Call to Action, the Business Innovation Facility and the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. […]
DFID’s New Paper On The Role Of The Private Sector In Fighting World Poverty
Business Action for Africa Over recent years, the UK has increasingly emphasized the role of the private sector in its international development strategy. The Department for International Development (DFID) has been a pioneer among its peers, championing initiatives such as the Business Call to Action, the Business Innovation Facility and the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund. […]
Convergence Economy: Re-thinking International Development in a Converging World
Last week at the WEF in Cape Town, Accenture published a new point of view paper, “Convergence Economy: Re-thinking International Development in a Converging World”. The paper talks about the emergence of a marketplace for development outcomes where “silos give way to systems, competency trumps incumbency and markets matter more than historical or outdated mandates”. […]
Clare Melford: Japan Crisis: What is the Role of Business in disaster Response?
In one of the most dramatic pictures of earthquake and tsunami-hit Japan, a man is shown to pick his way through wreckage and over downed cables on his way to another shelter. He is not looking for his family, but for the 50 employees of the company he built and ran that was literally swept […]
Barclays’ commitment to the Business Call to Action (BCtA
Barclays’ commitment to the Business Call to Action (BCtA March 16, 2011 New York and London—Around 60,000 people in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda will soon have access to financial services through Barclays’ commitment to the Business Call to Action (BCtA) ―a global initiative aimed at supporting the private sector’s efforts to fight poverty. Barclays’ […]
Toolbook: Partnering with Governments Navigator
‘The Partnering with Governments Navigator – Building effective collaboration with the public sector in Africa’ is aimed at assisting donors, NGOS and practitioners from the private sector in navigating the challenges and seizing the opportunities of partnership with governments.
The UK's Department For International Development Launches New Private Sector Department
In 2010, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell announced that the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) would establish a new department to step up its engagement with the private sector. The Private Sector Department is now open. The new department intends to prompt and help catalyse change across DFID to deepen our capability to work […]
A New Era Of Private Sector-Led Development Work
In a milestone speech last night, the UK International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, placed the private sector at the heart of the new coalition government’s development agenda: “I want this department to be the place that lives and breathes the new DFID culture of private sector-led development, an example for other development bodies to follow. […]
Donor agencies publish joint statement on importance of business to development
In an historic move, 11 of the world’s largest bilateral donor agencies have published a joint statement “in support of private sector partnerships for development”. The statement, launched at the UN Private Sector Forum on 22 September, is striking in two ways. First, it is the first time that so many donor agencies have been […]
The Impact of UK Companies on the Millennium Development Goals
2010 – In its role as Secretariat for the UN Global Compact UK Network, IBLF conducted extensive surveys and interviews with UK Network member companies on how they are contributing to the achievement of the MDGs. The report was produced with financial support from the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
Jeff Raikes, CEO, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: A Message to Members of Business Fights Poverty
We spend a lot of our time trying to convince skeptics that they should care about development. Bill Gates made the case very convincingly in his report to the G20 delivered last November. He argues from the supply side: successfully developing countries can keep the price of key commodities low by boosting production – important […]
REPORT: How Partnerships Contribute to Global Development
U.S. Chamber’s BCLC Reports on How Global Partnerships are Changing and Improving Press Release The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Business Civic Leadership Center (BCLC) released a new report: Making the Connection: How Partnerships Contribute to Global Development. The report features best practices in business and lessons learned in global public-private partnerships (PPP). “Public-private partnerships are […]