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03 June 2011 UNDP Administrator: Potentials of the Private Sector for Achievement of the MDGs
Remarks by Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator I am particularly pleased to see the large number of people participating in this event, and I thank you for the commitment
you are showing to the MDGs by being here. When the MDGs were launched at the beginning of the new millennium, it was a time of hope. The eight goals were, and
still are, the most comprehensive and universally agreed development goals. For the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people,
they held out the promise of a better life. Over the last decade, we have seen impressive progress on the MDGs, including in least developed countries. That shows
that with the right policies, adequate investments, and international support, the MDGs are achievable. Yet, significant
challenges remain: many countries and people are being left behind, and the crises of recent years have placed additional
obstacles in the way. To deliver on the MDG promise of a decade ago, we need strong partnerships. In our interconnected world, the dividing
line between “their” problems and “our” problems is getting obsolete. If our neighbours are poor and struggling, our prospects
are affected too. Development is everybody's business. In these efforts, the role of governments is critical, but they can’t deliver the needed development results alone. Broad
partnerships, including with the private sector, are needed. The role of the private sector in MDG achievement Economic growth, which is essential for development, is driven largely by the private sector. In many ways, businesses
– from multinational corporations to micro, small, and medium sized enterprises generate the growth which can support MDG
achievement. For example, Mexico’s private sector created more than twelve million jobs in the decade from 1989 to 1998, and microfinance
has helped many of the world’s poorest people get a fresh start. How can businesses contribute? There are many different ways in which businesses can contribute to MDG achievement: First of all businesses can benefit the poor by including them in their core business operations, whether that
be it as producers and business partners in their supply and distribution chains; as employees in the workplace; or as consumers
in the marketplace. There are many examples of companies which have successfully integrated the poor into their business models. For example, A to Z Textile Mills of Tanzania is the sole African producer of long-lasting insecticide bed nets. Its
products help the fight against malaria, and making them provides work for more than 3,000 women. That was made possible
by a broad public-private partnership, involving, among others, the Japanese chemical company Sumitomo. In the agricultural sector, another Japanese company, Key Coffee, is training, and providing a reliable source of income
for, hundreds of Indonesian farmers, by sourcing quality Arabica coffee beans from them at fair prices. A recently published UNDP report, “The MDGs: Everyone’s Business”, whose executive summary has just been translated
into Japanese, provides many more examples of how businesses can contribute to the MDGs. These examples show how it is possible both to be profitable and to improve the lives of poor people and communities.
UNDP’s “Growing Inclusive Markets” initiative promotes exactly such business models, where the pursuit of wealth creation,
human progress, and environmental sustainability are seen as entirely compatible. In Ghana, for example, UNDP’s Green Commodities Facility facilitated a partnership between the government and Kraft-Cadbury.
The result has been strengthened extension services for cocoa farmers, enabling them to adopt sustainable agricultural practices
and increase their incomes. A second way in which the private sector can make important contributions to advancing progress on the MDGs is
through bringing low cost innovations to market. There is now low cost mobile technology to conduct life saving heart scans; as there are energy efficient LED lamps which
enable allow poor children to do their homework at night; smokeless stoves which support better health for those who labour
over them; and mobile phone and internet applications which support small farmers and fishermen get access to better prices.
Innovations like these, when accessible to the poor, definitely can contribute to MDG achievement. A third, and perhaps a more traditional way, for businesses to promote MDG achievement is by giving back to the
community through corporate social responsibility activities and philanthropy. The scope and magnitude of these kinds of
activities has multiplied in recent times – and indeed they need to be brought to scale more consistently to have wide impact.
The Business Call to Action is a global partnership of businesses, governments, and the UN which encourages and supports
companies to adopt inclusive business models to spread the benefits of development. The companies implementing the Call to Action fully appreciate that what benefits their bottom line can also benefit local
communities. By adopting inclusive business models, they have pledged to generate jobs, to help farmers increase their productivity
and incomes, and enable people to access affordable technology. For example, Sumitomo Chemical, which I mentioned earlier, joined the Business Call to Action, and committed to increase
the local production of bed nets in East and West Africa. That is generating 5,000 new jobs, and potentially saving 400,000
lives from malaria, over the next five years. Another member company, Vodafone, is providing poor communities
with basic financial services through its mobile money transfer platform ‘M-PESA’. Launched in 2007 with Safaricom in Kenya,
and now available in Afghanistan, Tanzania, and South Africa, it allows over sixteen million subscribers to transfer money
and pay bills via their cell phones. I encourage all of the businesses represented here today to join the Business Call to Action if they have not already
done so. Looking forward, one of UNDP´s ambitions is to build broader and more strategic alliances with the private sector and
other partners, around key development challenges of common concern, such as the provision of energy, job creation, and
supporting green growth. By doing so, we not only advance development, but we also unlock the potential of the unrealized markets at the bottom
of the economic ladder. UNDP’s new Istanbul International Centre for the Private Sector in Development, being established with support from the
Government of Turkey, will be promoting best practice in inclusive business models and strategic dialogue with the private
sector. Conclusion Helping to achieve the MDGs offers not only opportunities for corporate philanthropy, but also opportunities to build
new markets and incorporate new players in value chains. All that is conducive to development, and will support development
progress overall. |
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