BP4GG High Level Event 2 - Partnerships for building back better and greener from the Pandemic

Business Partnerships for Global Goals COVID-19 Vulnerable Supply Chain Facility Business Partnerships as a Force for Good Learning Series

Business Partnerships as a Force for Good: Partnerships for building back better and greener from the Pandemic

High Level Event 2: Summary Briefing

Fl Ph ow ot er o w cr or ed ke it: r p Ka ac re ki n ng Sm r ith ose ,B si P4 n K G en G y

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May 26, 2021

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Business Partnerships for Global Goals is a UK Aid funded programme implemented by Mott MacDonald, with support from Accenture Development Partnerships and IIED. We partner with UK and international retail brands, not-for-profit organisations, farms, and factories to provide economic, social, environmental, and health benefits to around 1 million vulnerable women and men impacted by COVID-19 in 7 countries across Africa and Asia.

BP4GG, in partnership with Business Fights Poverty organised a high level event called the Rebuild Summit on 26 May 2021. The key themes included: Business partnerships as a modality for building back better, Greener and More Responsible Trade, Transparency in supply chains and Digitial innovation.

Details and highlights are available at Rebuild Better | Partnerships 2021 (businessfightspoverty.org).

Our video on greener and more responsible trade was also released at this event and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yNmOfX_G2c

Keynote by Helen King, Head of Department, Economic Cooperation and Growth, FCDO Awareness raising sessions on nutrition in a factory in Bangladesh Photo credit: CARE International

I am pleased to celebrate the success of our Business Partnerships for Global Goals Programme. The programme has demonstrated the impact that business partnerships can have. The message I want to leave you with is the critical importance of our collective effort in building back better from Covid-19, and the importance of building up resilience.

I’d like to start with the overall big picture for the UK Government. Through the pandemic we’ve been able to increase social and environmental sustainability, whilst maintaining jobs, and keeping products on the shelves in the UK. The UK Government recently published the Integrated Review of security, defense, development and foreign policy.

The Government’s top priorities are around working with a full range of partners to support the biggest global challenge of our time: catastrophic climate change and biodiversity loss, and helping the world to beat Covid-19 by accelerating equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and through the investment behind the development of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.’

The UK is enabling inclusive growth and mutual prosperity by championing the free flow of trade.

The UK Government is committed to strengthening the UK trade system and working with business to update international standards and norms, especially on the environment, on services, and in the digital and tech sector where the rules of the game have not yet been written. The UK Government and business can act together to be a force for good in the world, defending democracy and human rights. Gender equality is also a top priority for the UK Government.

Strong partnerships with business and civil society are absolutely crucial. Business action, supported by government, has a crucial role to play in tackling global challenges and creating high quality green jobs and economy, coupled with renewable energy to drive a transition to a low-carbon economy. We want to ensure that local communities benefit from this green transition and that their land rights are protected, their working conditions are improved, and that we embed approaches to gender and women throughout everything that we do.

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The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the challenge of financing. The OECD estimates that the financing gap for achieving the SDGs could increase by up to 50% following the pandemic. That makes the gap USD 3.7 trillion. Government, business, and civil society have a role in working together to respond to the immediate crisis and to bridge the long-term financing gap, including through private sector investment. Multinational corporations have a really crucial part to play in all of this, and in creating sustainable livelihoods for the world’s poorest. With their global presence and collective employment of millions of people worldwide, the power of the private sector is enormous. The power in particular of big brands and household names, if directed as a force for good, can also have a transformational effect in developing countries.

We’re proud to have established partnerships with 16 of the UK’s largest retailers and wholesalers, employing around 4 million people worldwide.

Through these partnerships the programme has already provided support to almost 400,000 people with direct access to a wide variety of services including food support and information about Covid-19, as well as improving working conditions.

What is really encouraging is that matched funding from partners has exceeded UK Government funding. This shows the real commitment to the partnerships modality and we can build on this success.

Over the course of the programme up to one million people in wider communities are expected to benefit indirectly from the programme through strengthened and more resilient supply chains, working in 7 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Myanmar, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Thank you to Business Fights Poverty for organising this event and for covering this critical aspect of the process of building back better.

Thank you to every one of you for attending, it’s great to see so many engaged in this responsible and inclusive business agenda.

So, my ask for you today is that the UK Government and business work even closer together to harness the power of our collective influence internationally.

Here are some of the examples of the great work that we have been doing on the BP4GG programme, amidst the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Vulnerable Supply Chains Facility has demonstrated the impact that business partnerships can have. Through the pandemic we’ve been able to increase social and environmental sustainability, whilst maintaining jobs, and keeping products on the shelves in the UK.

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Key takeaways

2. What should partnerships focus on in the future?

Public and private actors need to continue to build pre-competitive environments that encourage collaboration.

In responding to the pandemic, many competitors have worked together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

The pandemic has uncovered existing weaknesses and vulnerabilities throughout supply chains that are challenging government and business to change their ‘business as usual’ practices.

Companies and governments have been called upon to uphold higher standards in human rights, equality, diversity, and environmental conservation.

Governments are under more pressure than ever to fund to social protection measures. Businesses are being asked to go beyond philanthropy and take more responsibility for workers and suppliers in their supply chain.

1. What makes an effective and resilient partnership?

Where possible, partnerships need to be long-term, This enables partners to make systemic changes, rather than short-term cycles with low impact and high opportunity cost.

Building Back Better will need collaboration.

The ambitious goals needed to achieve a ‘Build Back Better’ agenda will depend on broad coalitions that involve private and public actors.

Partnerships need to have full clarity Over what ‘gap’ they are looking to fill, goals they are looking to achieve, and what success means for each partner.

Different partners bring different strategic advantages.

The private sector has long-term vested interests in the resilience of supply chains and is not bound by project cycles; whilst local civil society organisations and local government are invaluable to understand the impact on the ground (harder than ever during a crisis like Covid-19) and be able to implement effectively at grass-roots level.

Partnerships should focus on having workers and the impact on their lives at the heart of any new solutions.

Partnerships should support workers both at work and at home, training within factories creates advocates in the wider community.

Longer-term resilience is an important focus Such as; progress and empowerment to provide access to more secure and better paid jobs, empowering women, making our global food system less damaging to the environment, complying with living wages throughout supply chains, financial literacy, diversification of incomes. and investing in long-term relationships with suppliers.

Momentum has built around change and must not be lost.

The existing structural problems in supply chains exposed by the pandemic are still there but momentum has been built to address these, and an urgency to do so. This momentum needs to be maintained.

Partnerships will need to invest in improving the capacity and capabilities of their partners Especially those with more limited resources, to make the wider stakeholder ecosystem better equipped to withstand future shocks.

New partnerships have been established and new tools, these must continue to be built on.

For example, new digital tools have been developed to monitor the ongoing situation of vulnerable workers and better meet their needs.

Partnerships need trust, flexibility, and transparency.

They also to have an obvious value proposition, a clear definition of roles and responsibilities, and periodic health checks of the state of relationships between partners.

Practical challenges must be taken seriously and openly discussed.

For instance, issues of internal capacity and expertise, the timelines for specific projects, and how funding is being managed.

It is important to build on multiple pre-existing partnerships Build on existing relationships within and beyond individual sectors, to be able to rapidly respond in times of crisis and for the purposes of future resilience.

Focus on outcomes and be flexible to accommodate different approaches.

The best partnerships can leave individual missions aside to be mutually impact and objective driven, as opposed to a focus on process and inputs which stifles innovation.

It is also important to seek new partnerships The ‘unusual suspects’ can be the most effective.

Covid-19 has challenged people to do things differently, including innovating with new solutions and new partnerships to achieve them.

Partnerships must deploy smart communication tactics.

Be transparent with stakeholders and have an open approach to learning from others.

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3. What role could governments and the FCDO play?

Regulation There’s a role for government in creating robust regulatory frameworks, strengthening labour standards and environmental protection. Global compliance principles that encompass suppliers, intermediaries, and vendors ensure that each link of the supply chain is clear on how the other links should work. Integrated guidelines facilitate communication, promote transparency, diminish costs, and help both due diligence procedures and the mapping of supply chains. There is space for companies to collaborate in the design of these policies and regulations.

Helping other stakeholders see the ‘bigger picture’ Government can play a part in communicating to various stakeholders how the whole system functions, how issues interrelate, and how partners in other areas of the system can be used to fix more deep-rooted problems.

Convening competitors Establishing supplier platforms encourages learning and competition between companies over how responsible their business practices are. Creating these platforms also helps business leaders to form allies across industry and to be inspired by the initiatives of others.

Funding to underwrite risk Once governments have set the right frameworks, they have an important role to play in incentivising new collaborations and more innovation.

Lessons from the VSCF on building back better For Building Back Better the most vulnerable people need targeted and smart action. Three key lessons are

1. Balance immediate support with longer term benefits

In the case of a pandemic, time is of the essence and it is critical to deliver support to those who need it most, when they need it most.

But what is equally important is not to get lost in the immediate needs alone.

Building back better requires balancing immediate response with an eye on the longer term so that the benefits of recovery are not lost over time. Recovery should lead to resilience to sustainable development.

Therefore, the need to not only provide food, safety and health packages but also to provide the tools, skills and means whereby the most vulnerable people can continue to improve their lives over the long term.

Good ideas that stick and can sustainably add value to improving lives of the most vulnerable people is a critical element of building back better.

2. Listen, learn and adapt

Evidence is central to designing relevant projects. But what is even more important is to be able to continue to deliver relevant projects.

During a pandemic, the context changes very rapidly, on a monthly, weekly and, in some cases, on a daily basis.

What could be a relevant intervention at the start of the project may not remain so relevant after a few weeks or months into delivery.

Hence the need to continually check in with the target population during the implementation is greater for emergency response projects that aim to build back better.

Listening to the most vulnerable people during the project delivery helps undertake adaptive management and responsive course corrections which keep project activities relevant, leading to real results and impact.

3. Partnerships do more with less

Resources are scarce in an emergency situation. And urgent action is critical. There is a tenuous relationship between these two competing asks.

To be able to build back better, the modality used for delivery needs to be one which can deliver more with less.

Partnerships are, therefore, central to building back better. The need for coordinated action is even more relevant during times of crises like the pandemic.

When the government, private sector and the not for profit entities come together through partnerships, they deliver faster, wider and deeper impact which is critical for building back better. The sum total of a partnership is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

Since partnerships between a range of players need time to build trust, leveraging existing relationships and using those as building blocks to a strong and lasting relationship can help reduce time to impact while delivering more with less.

Our Conclusion By bringing capacity, commitment and expertise together, partnerships offer huge potential for building back better. There can be no 'one size fits all approach' to partnership. Staying flexible, responsive and adaptive to an ever-changing context against the backdrop of the pandemic can help enhance impact for the most vulnerable people including women.

Female farmers at CMS Mutira receiving seeds for kitchen garden Photo credit: Partner Africa 6

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Online Written Discussion

Private Sector Roundtable Participants • Clive Allison, Global Sustainability Director, Unilever

Speakers/Participants Opening Remarks: Kate Cooper, Impact Investing and Responsible Business Advisor, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)

Helen King, Head of Department, Economic Cooperation and Growth, FCDO

Panellists: Richard Fox, Director of Sustainability, Flamingo Horticulture Ltd

Aisha Aswani, Ethical Trading Manager, The Co-operative

Hannah Bruce, Practice, Evidence and Learning Senior Manager, Ethical Trading Initiative

Lindsay Block, Head of Partnerships and Capacity Building, Primark

Ravikant Sharma, Assistant Manager, Sustainable Operations, South Asia, VF Corporation

Fiona Sadler, Global Head of Ethical Trading, M&S

Cathy Pieters, Senior Director Sustainable Ingredients & Cocoa Life, Mondelez

Giles Bolton, Responsible Sourcing Director, Tesco

Katharine Stewart, Group Corporate Responsibility Director, Associated British Foods plc

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Matthias Altmann, Policy Officer Corporate Sustainability, European Commission

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Christina Archer, Strategic Advisor for Private Sector and Stakeholder engagement, UNDP

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Catherine Arnold, Social Development Advisor, FCDO

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Aisha Aswani, Ethical Trading Manager, Co-op

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Mehnaz Bhaur, Project Director, BP4GG / Mott MacDonald

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Lindsey Block, Head of Partnership and Capacity Building, Primark

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Daryl Burnaby, Director, Global Health, GSK

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‘Business partnerships as a force for good: a tool for rapid collaboration?’

Contributers • Jahirul Azad, Head of Urban Health, CARE Bangladesh •

Taposh Barua, Programme Coordinator, Ethical Trading Initiative, Bangladesh

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Abil Bin Amin, Bangladesh Country Manager, Ethical Trading Initiative

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Kathleen Brenninkmeijer, Programmes Manager, Win-Win Strategies, Women Win

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David Cox, ISMA Regional Managing Director, Mott MacDonald

Hannah Bruce, Practice, Evidence and Learning Senior Manager, Ethical Trading Initiative

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Isabel Dimitrov, Corporate Responsibility & Community Engagement Manager, Cargill

Caroline Downey, Sustainable Sourcing Manager, MM Flowers

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Ian Finlayson, Managing Director, Practical Solutions International SI Advantage

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Elle Harrison, Senior Programme Delivery and Relationship Manager, The Fairtrade Foundation

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Sinead Duffy, Head of NGO Engagement, Bayer

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Paul Ellingstad, Social Innovation Director, Pearson

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Ian Felton, Team Lead, FCDO

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Anne Gadegaard, Director Global TBL Management, Novo Nordisk A/S

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Nahidul Hasan Nayan, Operations Director, Awaj Foundation

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Nirosha Gaminiratne, Economic Advisor, FCDO

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Claire Grant, Social Development Adviser, FCDO

Keith Kibirango, Director of Philanthropy and Private Sector Engagement, Crown Agents

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Louise James, Managing Director, Accenture

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Jack McMahon, Director, Strategy and Partnerships, Group Sustainability, Standard Chartered

Sarah Moser, Partnership Development Consultant, CARE International UK

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Emilie Paradiso, Head of Advisory Responsible Business, Partner Africa

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Cathy Pieters, Senior Director Sustainable Ingredients & Cocoa Life, Mondelez

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Linda Patentas, Senior Program Manager, Apparel, GoodWeave International

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Sophie Preisig, Sustainability Manager, Monsoon

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Nic Ramsden, Team Leader, BP4GG / Mott MacDonald

Sara Petersson, Social Dialogue Programme Manager, Ethical Trading Initiative

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Fiona Sadler, Global Head of Ethical trading, M&S

Kyawe Phyo Phyo Aye, Ethical Trade Executive, Primark

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Jolene Shepherd, Global Relationship Director, Absa Securities United Kingdom Limited

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Mosfequr Rahman, Bangladesh Project Manager, GoodWeave International

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Adam Tomasek, Global Private Sector Engagement Lead, USAID

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Munir Shamim, Ethical Trading Initiative, Bangladesh

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Zahid Torres-Rahman, Founder, Business Fights Poverty

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Myriam Sidibe, Founder, Brands on a Mission

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Yennie Tse, Associate Director, Office of Strategic Partnerships, MCC

Naomi Somerville-Large, Senior Technical Adviser, The Fairtrade Foundation

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Marc Van Der Stouwe, Inclusive Growth Portfolio Manager, Mott MacDonald

Darian Stibbe, Executive Director, The Partnering Initiative

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Ikhtiar Uddin, CARE Bangladesh

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VSCF Vision “To enable vulnerable people and supply chains to recover from and remain resilient to the economic and social impacts of COVID-19, by leveraging the reach and influence of responsible businesses through partnerships.”

VSCF Mission “To enable recovery and resilience from the COVID-19 pandemic by forming strategic partnerships with global businesses. Working within supply chains in Africa and Asia, we will test and scale approaches to provide additional health and safety support, increase incomes, safeguard jobs, and ensure continuing access to markets.

We will support vulnerable people within supply chains to recover from COVID-19, and support responsible businesses to build on these experiences to become more sustainable.”

Business Partnerships for Global Goals is a UKAid funded programme implemented by Mott MacDonald, with support from Accenture Development Partnerships and IIED. We partner with UK and international retail brands, not-for-profit organisations, farms, and factories to provide economic, social, and health benefits to around 1 million vulnerable women and men impacted

by COVID-19 in Africa and Asia.

Mott MacDonald Limited.

Registered in England and Wales no. 1243967.

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