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makingit_16_pp22-27_keynote_print 24/07/2014 22:37 Page 23
In the last two decades, increasing economic growth rates in many developing countries have reshaped the global economy and opened up new opportunities for learning and entering into new activities and sectors. Developing countries are not only accumulating valuable sources of capital and labour but they are also improving their skills and capacities to innovate. Such continuous changes in the global economic landscape have been characterized by a shift of wealth towards the East and South, shaping new forms of promoting, as well as financing, development. However, leading technology and knowledge towards sustainable growth and moving up the value chain is still a challenge for most of the developing world. Productive business activities are central to development. A strong private sector is a key driver of local economic growth, knowledge and technology generation, job creation and the provision of fundamental goods and services. Therefore, both developed and developing economies are increasingly realizing the necessity of engaging the private sector as an integral and dynamic agent of development, in order to sustainably address the most pressing global and national challenges. This is central to continuing negotiations for the development agenda that is to replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) beyond 2015. The problems facing our world today are too massive and too interconnected for unilateral approaches. Complex development priorities require systematic and vibrant global partnerships that succeed in connecting funding and expertise with local resources, implementation capacities and ownership – all essential for advancing towards our shared goals. The development landscape contains many aspirational partnerships which fall short of implementing their bold objectives of bringing together public sector, private sector, and civil society entities to improve the lives of people living in poverty. Common pitfalls include misalignments between the global strategy and the local execution; a lack of common measurement systems for monitoring and assessing progress; inadequate structures to manage complexity; inability to create shared value; and insufficient resources to guarantee sustainability.
Despite the collective development discourse about the essential role of partnerships with the private sector in advancing development at multiple levels, good practices remain elusive; many are ad hoc or rather limited, and often focus on corporate social responsibility and philanthropy, rather than core business activities. Businesses also usually face obstacles to contributing to the longer-term sustainability of any development effort, mainly due to the lack of an enabling regulatory environment or the necessary infrastructure that allows them to grow. Undoubtedly, achieving key outcomes in economic development, environmental sustainability and inclusive growth entails working together across sectors and industries in new and more effective ways. Isolated and disaggregated efforts frequently fail to generate the desired results due to partnership approaches which are incompatible with the complexity of the challenges. As we reflect upon how to better engage the private sector as a key partner for sustainable global development beyond 2015, one cannot over-emphasize the need for multi-stakeholder dialogue mobilizing the full resources of the international community, if we are to deliver measurable results on the ground. How does an ambitious post-2015 development agenda create a business partnership strategy and structure that works at the global, regional, and local levels? Meeting this challenge effectively will go a long way towards ensuring progress in the current post-2015 negotiations. This entails identifying new forms of partnership that put forward innovative business models that respond to commercial imperatives, while also delivering on the development front. Whereas private revenue streams for development are highly sought-after by donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and national governments as a means of mobilizing alternative sources of funding, budget concerns alone are not the main imperative. When partnerships build on the resources, capabilities and influence of a range of stakeholders to tackle complex challenges, they become powerful mechanisms to accelerate development. Today, transformative development solutions through business exist with the capabilities to âžÂ¤
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