With the commitment to strengthen democratic and market reforms in Pakistan, CIPE, with the support of its partners, continues to provide tools to serve as a catalyst for institutional reform for private sector and state owned enterprises. The 2012 Activities Report highlights the impact of CIPE programs and the achievements of our partners in Pakistan.
Posted in South Asia
Tagged advocacy, business associations, corporate governance, Pakistan, state owned enterprises
Participants in CIPE’s 2010 program in Cote d’Ivoire. (Photo: CIPE staff)
Part of my mandate as Program Officer for West and Central Africa is to establish a sustainable CIPE presence in Francophone Africa, a group of countries where CIPE appears to have a light footprint. So, it was with a solid sense of purpose that I embarked on my most recent CIPE mission to Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, only to realize that my CIPE predecessors had already done fantastic work, which accounts for CIPE’s popularity within civil society circles in many Francophone countries.
You can imagine Neil Armstrong and his crew, possessed by that light mix of excitement and apprehension in their underbelly as they headed for the moon, anticipating being the first humans to acquaint themselves with it, only to get there and be welcomed by a bunch of encamped Russians: “Ah, Americans … you finally made it.” — I would be untruthful not to admit that a part of me felt outflanked by my CIPE predecessors.
Andrew Wilson of CIPE speaks at the 7th Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
The seventh ministerial meeting for the Community of Democracies (CD) was held last month in Ulaanbaator, Mongolia. This year, for only the second time, the business community met as the Corporate Democracy Forum (CDF) to share its views with the CD ministerial, and CIPE was invited to participate.
The Community of Democracies is an intergovernmental coalition of over 100 democratic nations established by Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek and U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright in 2000 to promote democratic rules and strengthen democratic norms and institutions.
In conducting its work the CD actively seeks input from a number of stakeholder groups including women, youth, parliamentarians, and civil society, who also gather during the ministerial meetings to provide their own viewpoints and recommendations on what the organization’s priorities should be and how to achieve its goals. The CDF represents the private sector’s voice in that discussion.
The overriding theme that dominated the CDF’s discussions was the concept of companies exercising a stronger sense of corporate citizenship, in which they recognize the broader role and leadership position they have within democracies as wealth creators, employers, taxpayers, and leaders. For their part, governments need to encourage companies to take a stronger role, and welcome them in partnership.
Organized by the Mongolian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the meeting highlighted steps that both the public and private sector can take to promote democracy through actions in three areas: improving public-private dialogue, promoting anti-corruption actions, and corporate social responsibility.
The CDF recognized that sustainable economic development must be based on private sector growth, and, as a stakeholder in this process, business requires an equal seat at the policy table. While sounding simple this task often requires a commitment from both sides of the dialogue that sometimes signals a change in the way things are done. Government officials have to get used to the idea of business as a policy partner, and businesspeople must be prepared to enter into dialogue in a thoughtful and constructive fashion.
Recognizing that the business community is not a monolith the CDF called on CD members to ensure inclusiveness by extending their dialogue to the broader business community including, national, regional, sectoral, and women’s business groups.
In terms of the fight against corruption, the CDF recognized that businesses are part of the “supply and demand” equation that allows corruption to flourish, and as such the business community has an obligation to lead through example. The CDF highlighted the work of programs such as the World economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), and other efforts led by business associations and NGOs that seek to help companies improve ethical standards and implement anti-corruption initiatives. The CDF called on CD governments to encourage the establishment of such efforts.
In the field of corporate social responsibility, the meeting highlighted the important role business has to play in promoting sustainable development. To this end, the CDF’s deliberations put the emphasis on private sector action in finding ways to support the implementation of all 10 Millennium Development Goals in a fashion that encourages sustainable and “green” development in transitional and aspiring democracies. As with the other topics for discussion, emphasis was placed on the need for effective public-private dialogue on how to achieve these goals.
The overall sense at the CDF was one that appreciated the opportunity the CD has extended to all the stakeholder groups to provide their input on a more visible and equal footing, showing that sustainable democracy is built on consensus and inclusion. It is a lesson other international inter-governmental bodies could more effectively learn.
Andrew Wilson is Regional Director for Eastern Europe & Eurasia and South Asia at CIPE.
Posted in Global
Tagged business associations, combating corruption, democracy, economic reform, growth, private sector
“The sessions in Dhaka and Kathmandu helped develop structure and set direction and proper governance guidance to our business associations, which usually tend to be run according to individual chairperson’s goals. Setting vision and mission based on a membership needs assessment is such a simple idea that we learned…so basic but yet hardly used as we tend to overlook membership requirements in our day to day chamber activities and operations” – Rezani Aziz, Sri Lanka
Despite severe challenges, women’s business associations are playing effective roles in promoting interests of their members. However, CIPE has observed that most women’s business associations in South Asia are struggling to perform optimally.
CIPE took this challenge as an opportunity to work with a selected group of eleven business associations in the South Asia region, aiming at strengthening institutional capacity to help them become stronger advocates for their members. In the first phase of this project, CIPE organized a two-day session for the group in Dhaka in January 2013.
The second workshop for the same group was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 22 and 23 April. After the Dhaka session, the Peshawar Women Chamber of Commerce & Industry embarked upon an advocacy project to identify barriers to women’s entrepreneurship in the terror-affected Khyber Pakhtoon Khawa region, while the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry conducted a survey focusing on their 600 women members. These two case studies from Pakistan were presented to participants in Kathmandu.
Posted in South Asia
Tagged Bangladesh, business associations, nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, women
My recent visit to Dakar, Senegal, where I met with longtime CIPE partner, l’Union National des Commercants et Industriels du Senegal (UNACOIS) was very informative and revealed how much impact a good CIPE partnership can bring to bear.
The decade-long partnership between CIPE and UNACOIS – a Senegalese private sector association with 70,000 members who operate small and medium enterprises, mainly in the informal sector — is proving increasingly consequential within Senegal’s civil society circles. CIPE and UNACOIS have partnered on three programs whose core objective was to enhance UNACOIS’ internal governance capacity.
Posted in Africa
Tagged business associations, capacity building, informal sector, public-private dialogue, Senegal, SMEs, tax reform
Does your association or chamber of commerce aspire to better serve your members?
Do you wish you could manage your organization differently so that things would improve?
Or are you looking for ways to help make your association more sustainable?
If you said yes to any of these questions, then sign up for CIPE’s KnowHow Mentorship program! CIPE is recruiting for business associations and chambers of commerce from around the world looking for free technical assistance.
Posted in Global
Tagged business associations, capacity building, chambers of commerce, KnowHow Exchange, mentorship
In 2013, the world faces many challenges, ranging from youth unemployment to the destruction of the environment to armed conflicts that continue to take lives and devastate countries. This week, more than 2,000 representatives of Chambers of Commerce from around the world gathered to discuss these issues — and the role of the private sector in addressing them — at the 8th World Chambers Congress in Doha, Qatar.
The themes were as diverse as the participants, but one common thread emerged: the business community needs to be involved in helping to solve these pressing problems. And private sector voices are most effective in a democratic context.
Indeed, many of these issues are linked, often to issues of economic exclusion, which can incite violence and perpetuate cycles of conflict and poverty. “Enemy number one to economic development is armed conflict,” said Joost Hintermann of the International Crisis Group, quoting IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde.
Posted in Global
Tagged business associations, chambers of commerce, economic inclusion, entrepreneurship, kenya, Pakistan, private sector, syria, WCC 2013, youth
The CIPE Development Blog provides coverage of the Center for International Private Enterprise and its partner network at work -- highlighting successes, drawing out lessons from failure, and exploring the broader issues of political and economic development. For more information visit CIPE.org.
