IGD suggests local enterprise for international development
In a paper released by the IGD (Initiative for Global Development) it was suggested that:
“U.S. business has a core interest in the economic health of the rest of the world. Increasingly, this includes the economic development of people in poor countries.”
“By helping to create an environment where private enterprise will thrive, foreign aid is often the necessary first step in a country’s climb out of poverty and into the global marketplace. This assistance is especially important in the face of the current economic crisis, which has hit the most vulnerable hardest.”
“U.S. aid has improved the lives of millions of people by helping spur economic activity – connecting people to markets, boosting the productivity of workers, giving entrepreneurs the tools they need to scale up, and creating an environment that attracts private investment.”
The key points from the paper that drew our attention are:
Know your customers: Design assistance efforts so that they respond to local needs and priorities.
Strategic collaboration: Find more strategic ways to collaborate with the private sector to leverage impact.
Public/Private Partnerships: Leverage the investments made by U.S. development agencies with private sector commitments to catalyze greater development gains.
In the effort to improve the lives of the less fortunate we should create systems that will build upon their current skill-sets. Then we need coalitions of experts that will leverage the resources, technology and tools to better use their skills in raising and sustaining the development gains.
Providing opportunities for private enterprise to be nurtured and supported will build economic security and greater self-worth among the world’s poor. Groups like the IGD should target various value or supply chains that could have the greatest impact on international development. Then they should gather coalitions of experts together in designing some very focused assistance efforts.
We volunteer to be on the concrete supply chain coalition…
