Private Sector

Establishing the Policy and Institutional Infrastructure

 

Focus Area

In many UNDP programme countries, policies to support the development of inclusive markets are weak or non-existent with the result that markets, where they function at all, often reinforce existing inequalities and patterns of social exclusion. For this reason it is crucial that governments integrate carefully targeted policies into their poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) and other national policy frameworks to ensure that the expansion of private sector activity contributes not only to aggregate economic growth, but also to enhanced employment and consumption opportunities for the poor.

Addressing these problems requires a commitment from Governments and donors to work together with the private sector to identify policy reforms that promote employment-intensive growth and stimulate new markets for affordable goods and services at the ‘bottom of the pyramid.’ This in turn requires not only new policies and more-inclusive policy making processes, including policy reforms to promote the competitiveness of indigenous industries and their ability to trade, but also a renewed emphasis on capacity building and strengthening measures for supporting market institutions. 

UNDP Role

UNDP is committed to working in partnership with other UN agencies and international development organizations to achieve these objectives. We are actively promoting policy coherence in the inclusive markets sector, including at the country level, through renewed cooperation with the specialist UN Agencies and the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED). Substantive priorities include sectoral policies to promote employment led growth, private sector development in post-conflict environments, capacity-building support for effective legal and market regulatory institutions and targeted support to strengthen to voice of poor entrepreneurs and producers in national policy reform processes. We will also continue to advocate for policies, institutions and mechanisms that facilitate the empowerment of women entrepreneurs.