Reimagining the Role of the Private Sector in Development

The private sector is willing to contribute more to sustainable development, but companies lack models of what to do and how to engage in partnerships with the public sector. The private sector is needed to develop and take to scale new patterns of sustainable production. But for it to do so, it needs to form new partnerships with aid agencies and other public financial institutions. These partnerships should focus on:

• Mobilizing long-term private finance for sustainable development;
• Generating more innovation in technologies and business models;
• Building mechanisms to hold the private sector accountable for development results.

Every high-level development report and project now has private sector involvement. The time is ripe to systematize this approach and experiment with new forms of public-private partnerships.