The Commission on the Private Sector & Development, co-chaired by Prime Minister Paul Martin of Canada and Ernesto Zedillo, Mexico's former president, was convened by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in July 2003 in an effort to identify and address the legal, financial and structural obstacles blocking the expansion of the indigenous private sector in developing nations - especially in the poorest regions and communities in those countries. The Commission focuses on how business can create domestic employment and wealth, free local entrepreneurial energies, and help achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
In July 2003, when the Secretary-General first announced the establishment of the Commission on the Private Sector & Development, he pointedly noted: "Our experience has shown that a large part of the work for development is about preparing the ground for sufficient private sector activity to provide the jobs and income needed to build a more equitable and prosperous society. Yet the UN has only sporadically tapped the power that can be drawn from engaging the private sector in the work of development."
BULDING A CONSENSUS
The Secretary-General challenged Co-Chairmen Martin and Zedillo at the outset to answer two basic questions:
“How can the potential of the private sector and entrepreneurship be unleashed in developing countries?
And how can the existing private sector be engaged in meeting that challenge?”
The Commission responded to these questions in Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for the Poor -- a report presented on March 1, 2004 to the Secretary-General. This report not only suggests policy reforms and other initiatives that can spur entrepreneurial ventures to serve and employ the poor in developing countries; it underscores that such enterprises are critical to the eradication of poverty in the developing world.
The report's strength lies not in primary research - for considerable expertise already exists in private sector development - but in having built an unprecedented consensus amongst international organizations, governments of developing and developed countries, the worldwide development community, academics, as well as key private sector leaders. Not least of all, the Commission's work has the full support of Secretary-General Kofi Annan as well as the recent G8 public endorsement of the report in the G8 Action Plan: Applying the Power of Entrepreneurship to the Eradication of Poverty announced at the Sea Island Summit.
back to top CALL TO ACTION
UNDP is responding to the Secretary General's Call To Action through a multi-pronged strategy for implementing the recommendations of the Commission's Report. The strategy involves: (i) Global, regional and country dissemination of the Commission's work and conclusions; (ii) Creating partnerships with development institutions, the private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) to facilitate dissemination and to incorporate the Commission's thinking on a wider basis in the operations and actions of multiple stakeholders; (iii) Development and implementation of country programs that begin with dissemination and then move on to creation of coalitions and action plans to address relevant policy and operational needs at the country-specific level; and (iv) Launching of Global Initiatives and Follow-up Actions that flow from the recommendations of the Commission.
Global, Regional & Country Dissemination. Widespread dissemination of the Report's content is an integral component of an ongoing strategy which is designed to ensure that the Report becomes an important focal point in discussions on catalyzing private sector development and expanding the contribution of the private sector to the Millennium Development Goals. This dissemination has taken place through the direct participation of Commission Members and/or senior UNDP staff in a wide rage of high profile global and regional events, as well as in an accelerating program of launching the report at the country level in a process managed by UNDP country offices.
Since the launch of the Report on March 1, 2004, major events that involved discussion of the Report included the following: the Second Rwanda Investment Conference in Kigali (May 2004); the European Development Finance Institutions Annual Meeting in Paris (May 2004); the Asia Africa Public-Private Joint Forum in Kuala Lumpur (May 2004); the European Foundations Center's 15 th Annual General Assembly and Conference in Athens (June 2004); the NEPAD/World Economic Forum (WEF) Africa Economic Summit in Maputo (June 2004); the CIDA and IDRC-Conference de Montreal- Private Sector, Sustainable Development & Corporate Social Responsibility (June 2004); the G8 Summit at Sea Island (June 2004), UNCTAD XI in Sao Paulo (June 2004); Global Compact Leaders Summit in New York at the UN (June 2004); the EBRD Early Transition Countries Strategic Review Meeting for Donors in London, (June 2004); ECOSOC 2004 at the UN (June 2004); the UN General Assembly (September 2004); and the UNDP Roundtable in Washington DC (September 2004).
Forthcoming events where the Report may be discussed include: the Commonwealth Business Council in New York/Washington DC (November 2004), the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting & CEO Summit in Santiago (November 2004); the World Resources Institute Conference on Eradicating Poverty Through Profit: Making Business Work for the Poor in San Francisco (December 2004); and the World Economic Forum 2005 in Davos (January 2005).
UNDP's country offices are also actively engaged in disseminating the report in launch events in a number of countries, expected to exceed twenty-five by the end of the year. Also under way are major regional launch events for South Asia in New Delhi (in December 2004) and in Manila for East Asia early in 2005. More details on country and regional launches will be posted here additional information is available.
Creating Partnerships. An important objective of the follow-up strategy is to create multiple partnerships at different levels with the stakeholders identified in the report to assist in the dissemination of the Report's messages and to influence the actions and operational strategies of such stakeholders. The structure of these partnerships can vary depending upon the partners in question and the objectives to be agreed upon and UNDP looks forward to hearing from groups and institutions interested in working further to help implement the Commission's recommendations on the ground.
Developing & Implementing Country Programs. The country launch events mentioned above are designed to use the Commission Report to promote and facilitate national policy dialogue on the role of the indigenous private sector in development and to induce policy, legal and regulatory reform to support private sector development. It is also designed to catalyze active private sector involvement in the reform process and to create partnerships to build further on the opportunities offered by bottom-of-pyramid markets and the potential that exists in private sector eco-systems.
UNDP's convening of such national policy dialogues (in partnership where appropriate with the World Bank and other regional and bilateral development agencies) is based on leveraging its role as an "honest broker" between developing country governments, international donors and the private sector and lends strong credibility to its private sector development initiatives. The UNDP's objective is to catalyze the establishment of sustainable country programs to promote, implement and follow-up on the initiatives and recommendations contained in the Commission's Report. The main roles, however, will need to be played by the various groups of stakeholders identified in the Report, i.e. developing and developed country governments, development institutions, the private sector and civil society.
Broad topics on which such country programs could be developed include regulatory reform, addressing informality, improving access to credit for SMEs, broadening the reach of micro-finance, creating greater interest in bottom of pyramid markets, using the capacity of private eco-systems to improve the competitiveness of SMEs, improving the access to training and business education and management training for local entrepreneurs.
Launching Global Initiatives in the Commission's Recommended Focus Areas. UNDP is working with multiple partners to develop global initiatives that would provide tools for implementation at the country level when country programs are put into place. These tools could cover areas such as regulatory reform, addressing informality, brokerage for SME development and microfinance technology. In addition, work is underway to develop an Annual Report on the private sector and its progress in contributing to the MDGs. Progress on each of these global initiatives will be posted on this site at the appropriate time. As in the case of the Partnerships outlined above, UNDP is interested in working with multiple stakeholders in developing specific actionable initiatives to implement the Commission's recommendations on the ground.
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