Investing in the business of development

Donors from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are increasingly looking to the private sector as a key partner for achieving sustainable development results. Private firms and foundations are seen as a source of innovation, expertise and finance to be harnessed in addressing development challenges. At the same time, private sector actors are playing an increasing role in their own right both as funders of development interventions and as important business partners. The private sector is also playing a greater role in international discussions on aid effectiveness and in the establishment of the post-2015 framework that will follow the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Donors have put their weight behind statements supporting the private sector at the United Nations (UN) Millennium Summit in 2010 and more recently at the 2011 Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness (HLF4) held in Busan, South Korea. These trends signal an important shift where by the private sector is not only being afforded greater space to contribute to international and national policy discussions on development cooperation, but is also expected to serve as an important development partner. While donors have promoted private sector development for a number of years, the more recent focus on partnerships with the private sector, and its implications for development policy and practice, is an emerging trend.