DEVELOPING THE CAPACITY OF GOVERNMENTS TO PARTNER WITH BUSINESS

We strongly believe that businesses have a key role to play in driving sustainable development, and individual companies must fully embrace this role to ensure their long-term success.

By working with, rather than in place of, government, and simultaneously trying to build government capacity in areas where it is lacking, companies can avoid the pitfall of undermining governments' responsibility and ability to provide basic services.

Partnerships between the private sector and the public sector can be a highly effective mechanism to deliver the greatest value and sustainability from companies’ social investments.

For businesses, partnerships with public authorities can be a source of new and innovative opportunities – and in some cases can reduce the risk of entering previously untested markets.

However, many governments in the Southern hemisphere are cautious about or unaware of cross-sector partnerships, and partly as a result, relatively few cross sector partnerships involving Southern governments have been established. And, of those that have been formed, many have not fulfilled their potential.

To help tackle these challenges IBLF, the German sustainable development agency (GTZ) and a number of major companies have launched a new initiative which aims to help build the capacity of governments and businesses to partner more effectively.

During the initial period of 18 months, Partnering with Governments is focusing on five countries in Africa: South Africa, Madagascar, Gabon, Guinea and Zambia. Working with local partners in each country, it is facilitating multi-stakeholder groups as a source of insight, information and connections to help develop capacity building programmes.

The initiative also benefits from the experiences that some of IBLF's corporate partners have had in working in partnership with African governments (Microsoft, Rio Tinto, SAP, Shell and Shell Foundation).

“The Partnering with Governments initiative is a practical step at attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is in line with Government’s policy of encouraging partnerships. "

Zambia’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Mike Mulongoti

Some highlights so far

In October, around 120 representatives from business, government, civil society and academia joined a stakeholder forum on capacity development for partnerships in South Africa.

The forum heard that existing legal frameworks focus exclusively on traditional public-private partnerships, in which the private sector provides upfront funding for infrastructure development or the provision of public goods or services in return for an agreed level of fees.

The original legal guidelines and procedures covering these partnerships are highly complex and this has discouraged their use. However, there have since been efforts to simplify the rules significantly - and there is a growing consensus towards widening out definitions and creating guidelines for other forms of business / government collaboration including partnerships for sustainable development.

The forum also discussed issues around individual capacity and the fact that there is a lack of basic knowledge and understanding relating to all aspects of partnerships. A smaller, follow-up meeting in December will look at concrete ways in which companies, donors and government can together address these capacity issues.

A week later, a similar workshop was held in Lusaka, Zambia, to discuss how a more locally-owned process could be developed in order to create more enduring partnerships with the involvement of governments.

The meeting was an opportunity to assess some of the partnerships that have already been developed in Zambia, to examine the potential and challenges of new partnerships, and to discuss ways in which encourage more partnerships and to build partnering capacity.