Unlocking the Private Sector: Effectively Leveraging Corporations to Support Development Goals

Around the world, donors are increasingly recognizing the need to leverage the private sector’s expertise, resources, and investments to sustainably achieve development outcomes at scale. For example, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) released a Private Sector Engagement Policy in December 2018. The policy details USAID’s commitment to deeper collaboration with the private sector to seek “market-based approaches across all areas of [their] work, from economic growth, agriculture, and global health to humanitarian assistance, women’s empowerment, education, and addressing crisis and conflict.” This includes forging strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships with corporate actors committed to development goals.

In this webinar, Abt Global' private sector experts discussed engaging corporate partners to achieve critical development goals across the health, agriculture, and economic growth sectors. The moderated panel covered lessons learned from facilitating partnerships with:

• Twinings Tea to increase access to health services for female tea farmers in Kenya;
• PepsiCo and other private sector actors to increase sourcing from smallholder farmers in Egypt; and
• Corporate partnerships to fuel inclusive economic growth through women’s economic empowerment in South East Asia.

Moderator:

• Ms. Susan Mitchell, Principal Associate/Vice President, International Development, Abt Global

Presenters:

• Mr. Mbogo Bunyi, Senior Private Sector Advisor, Abt Global
• Dr. Walid Sallam, Chief of Party, Feed the Future Egypt Rural Agribusiness Strengthening Project
• Dr. Julia Newton-Howes, Chief Executive Officer - Investing in Women, Abt Australia

Watch the video: