Engaging the Private Sector in Development: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Prosem: 151HS-801G-4 Engaging the Private Sector in Development: The good, the bad and the ugly Prof. David Boyer 2016

Introduction Increasingly the corporate sector is forming partnerships with NGOs and development agencies as part of their corporate social responsibility and creating shared value with communities where they work; these have gone far beyond the past corporate focus on philanthropy. The concept of partnership and collaboration is familiar in development practices and proven to be an effective way to delivering sustainable projects. However, forging effective partnerships among NGOs and the corporate sector is still emerging though at a faster rate and can be very complicated and challenging. NGOs and corporate companies have diverse interests and often different motivations for development partnerships and it takes time to build trust as well as partnership structures. Likewise private sector approaches are increasingly being brought into the development arena from private-public partnerships to social entrepreneurship to impact investing. Many bilateral donors are also aligning their international aid with their national business interests, linking the two together and often requiring private sector partners as part of the development package. These include USAID (USA), DFTAD (Canada), DFID (United Kingdom) and AusAid (Australia). Knowing just the government and non-profit world is no longer sufficient for the development professional and an understanding of how to engage with the private sector has become critical to promote a full spectrum of development activities in the countries where we work. This Prosem will explore two of these areas through selected readings and in class dialogue and debate. The first session will explore NGO/Corporate partnerships with a particular focus on extractive industries, one of the more challenging types of partnerships for NGOs. The second session will explore the fast emerging area of impact investing and its relationship to social entrepreneurship. David Boyer has taught at SID for 15 years, he has worked on extractive industry work with Oxfam, International Institute for Sustainable Development, and the Aga Khan Foundation. He recently has spent several years working with impact investors and seeking investments to leverage development impacts.

Class 1: Saturday March 19, 2016 Hours: 10:30 to 16:00 Required Readings:  Guidelines for NGO-Extractive Industry Partnerships  RepRisk Report of 10 Most Controversial Companies in 2014 The Review of NGO-Extractive Partnerships by Medicines San Frontiers is Optional Assignment: Choose an extractive industry company (suggestions will be given) and conduct a due diligence review of this company and do a 3 page write-up for strengthens and weaknesses of this company as a potential partner for an NGO is your client.

Day 2: Sunday, March 20, 2016 Hours: 10:00 to 3:30 Required Readings:  Credit Suisse Report on Investing for Impact  The Havard Business Review-The Emerging Capital Market for Nonprofits,  The two case studies. The much longer Impact Investing and emerging asset class is optional.