The Kampala Principles in Action: Case Studies in Private Sector Engagement

The need for better partnerships with the private sector has become an imperative in the quest for sustainable development and shared prosperity. Thanks to new case studies on the Kampala Principles, released this week, we now can visualize the ingredients of effective partnerships. Case studies from Bangladesh, Uganda, and Colombia demonstrate how the best of entrepreneurial spirit, business innovation, and community purpose came together to respond to the COVID-19 crisis, bring small-scale farmers into the digital world, and bridge gaps in access to health care for rural women.

What makes the Kampala Principles special is that they have been co-created, endorsed, and applied by a diverse mix of actors: business, governments, civil society, trade unions, and donors among others. I was fortunate to have a front-row seat at the creation of the principles, from idea generation in Berlin and Paris with the Business Leaders Caucus to endorsement of the principles in Kampala and their launch at the United Nations in New York. To me, the principles are compelling because they call for inclusive dialogue, open participation, and clarity of incentives and risk.

I hope you will enjoy reading these Kampala Principles cases and teasing out their lessons as much as my co-author Teodora Mihaylova and I have enjoyed writing them on behalf of the Center for International Private Enterprise. Special thanks to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) for their sponsorship of these case studies, the first of their kind.

The Global Partnership encourages you to share how your own development co-operation partnerships are aligned with the Kampala Principles. Your stories will contribute to our reflections on private sector engagement in development co-operation in the lead-up to the next High-Level Meeting in 2022. Your experiences may also possibly be featured in a future case study or through another forum. Here is the Google Form where you can tell us your #CooperationInAction story. Please circulate this link widely!

Published Date: April 29, 2021