The world is now waiting for the last week of September when top-level representatives of 160 nations of the world will formally launch the post-2015 development agenda in the United Nations (UN). Officially dubbed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the 15-year work-plan to reduce poverty and make the world more liveable environmentally has already created mixed reactions. For the adoption of the SDGs the UN organises the Sustainable Development Summit on 25-27 September 2015, in New York. A high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly will formalise the adoption.
There are 17 broader goals, divided in 169 achievable targets supported by 304 specific indicators. Countries of the world will drive their development process to reach these goals by the end of 2030. The optimism is, by reaching these goals, even partially, the face of the world will change considerably. It will be a greener world with less poor people where children will suffer very little from malnutrition and maximum number of the youth will find decent jobs. At the same time, there is the apprehension whether required financing will be available to make the change. Financing for development at this time, however, is focussed on active participation of the private sector.
IMPORTANCE OF PRIVATE SECTOR: THE Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the development agenda for 2000-2015, relied on public financing mostly. The presumption was that the governments, with support from international donors, would lead the process to achieve the goals in poor countries. Importance of private sector was not adequately recognised at that time although private sector mainly drives the global economy. Globally, private sector is generating major portion of employments and its contribution to national economy is much higher.
There was, however, a reason for not engaging the private sector actively in the MDGs process. The increasing dominance of neo-liberal policies made the major international financial institutions (IFIs) - The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) - to set the tone of development on the basis of free market. But bitter experiences in many poor countries forced the global bodies to rationalise the role of the IFIs. Thus, UN came with the MDGs.
Although the MDG kept the private sector in the sideline, it failed to replace market-oriented framework. In fact, the MDG process acknowledges the free market principle across the world. A document of UN, acknowledging the contribution of private sector, said: "For their own part, private enterprises can contribute directly to the goals (MDGs) through core pursuits such as increasing productivity and job creation or seeking opportunities for service delivery through public-private partnerships." So, a kind of contradictory approach appeared.
But in the last 15 years, it has become clear that without active engagement of the private sector, no development initiative will be sustainable. Despite limitation of the market-based development philosophy, it is difficult to make a reversal. Instead, a compromised or mixed strategy can be devised where the role of private sector will be widely acknowledged along with more responsibilities.
ENGAGEMENT WITH SDGs: In the formulation process of MDGs, input from private sectors was limited. But this time representative of the corporate sector and companies were invited for consultation. So, private sector was able to provide some ideas and thoughts in the formulation process of the SDGs. It is, however, not clear to what extent private sector was able to contribute and in what proportion their ideas and suggestions were accommodated. Moreover, there are some misperceptions regarding the engagement of the private sector. Many people think that it is the financing process where the private sector should contribute more.
The financing plan for the SDGs will be guided by the 134-point Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA). The action agenda was adopted in July this year at the Third International Conference on Financing for Development. The document mentions 'private sector' or 'private' investment or initiatives as many as 41 times, underscoring the important role of the private sector.
Problem with Addis Ababa action agenda is that it is not a binding commitment. Thus all the affirmations and reaffirmations, stated in the text, are basically reflections of a strong desire without obligation. Though it is difficult to make comprehensive compulsion, some specific binding commitment should be there to ensure responsibilities of different parties.
Regarding the engagement and responsibility of the private sector, the Addis action agenda basically underscore joint initiatives with public sector. Public-Private Partnership (PPP) will be instrumental in the financing SDGs related infrastructure as reflected in the Addis text. It said: "We recognise that both public and private investment have key roles to play in infrastructure financing, including through development banks, development finance institutions and tools and mechanisms such as public private partnerships, blended finance, which combines concessional public finance with non-concessional private finance and expertise from the public and private sector, special purpose vehicles, nonrecourse project financing, risk mitigation instruments and pooled funding structures."
While the idea of PPP is hailed by many, experience of PPP is yet to bring greater optimism especially in the developing countries. For instance, Bangladesh has been trying to operationalise PPP for the last five years. In August 2010, the government issued the PPP guideline and in the budget for fiscal year 2009-10, Tk 25 billion was allocated for the first time. But over the next three years no amount was spent from the allocation although the government increased the allocation to Tk 30 billion. A separate PPP office was, however, established to facilitate the process. In the budget for FY16, government reallocate Tk 20 billion additionally. 42 new projects have also been approved and some 11 projects are being implemented. And in the last week, PPP bill was passed in the national parliament which gives the process a full legal framework.
BANGLADESH CASE: While the SDGs process is laying importance of the private sector, it is disappointing that businesses in Bangladesh, like many other developing countries, are not well aware of the 15-year global development agenda. Even leading trade bodies have no observations on the SDGs, let alone conducting any study. They were not properly invited to national level consultations. The government made little effort to engage the private sector actively in the process. It is learnt that Bangladesh Employers Federation (BEF) had participated in few consultations in a limited scale. Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has no clear idea about this. The apex trade body is yet to develop any analysis or observation to explore business opportunities through the SDGs process. At the early formation stage of SDGs, Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) provided few inputs. But no detail work has been done.
In fact, there are a lot of business opportunities private sector can explore in the coming years. Moreover, business compliance in regard to SDGs will also be very important in the coming days. BUILD has already taken an initiative to work on this area which will help the private sector of Bangladesh to link itself with SDGs. Another move is now there. Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) has launched a study on 'Inclusive Business' or IB. There is a scope to explore the possible linkage of IB with SDGs.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
