Corporate Engagement

Foreign Literature

Private sector engagement in fragile and conflict-affected settings

The private sector and private sector development (PSD) are considered to have a crucial
role to play in contributing to economic recovery and addressing a number of drivers of
fragility.

Key findings of the review include:

 Fragile and conflict-affected settings pose challenges for engaging with the private
sector. Significant internal and external imbalances are present, including large
fiscal and trade deficits and debt arrears.

 Despite these challenges, private sector activity continues, changing shape and
direction. Given this resilience, the private sector can be a powerful vehicle for
reconstruction and regeneration. The private sector can play a role in several
areas including:

 supporting stabilisation

 spurring long-term economic growth

 improving transparency

 fostering trade.

 The local private sector is considered to have a range of motivations for wanting to
address fragility and conflict, and when engaged appropriately, to deliver benefits:

 local private sector actors are more interested than large enterprises in
supporting peacebuilding and stabilisation as they suffer more from
conflict

 they tend to be more labour-intensive than large firms, depend less on

imports and maintain more links with other local enterprises

 they are more likely to have subnational urban centres as their base,
stimulating regional development

 Individually they represent less economic power and are easier for
national and local governments to deal with

 the local private sector is more likely to invest and expand locally.
  Support from international financial institutions, bilateral donors and other actors can
make a significant contribution to the private sector by ensuring ongoing access to
finance, imports, and exports. These efforts work best if they are coupled with
reforms to re-establish or strengthen transparency, trust, effectiveness, and
legitimacy in government institutions, which provide the framework within which the
private sector operates.

 Research suggests that a balanced strategy is necessary to support more durable

economic growth and enhance the private sector’s impact. This will combine
emergency employment, income generating activities (including private sector
development), and legal and regulatory reforms to develop an enabling
environment.

William Avis January 2016

Enquirer: Australian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade)

https://gsdrc.org/publications/private-sector-engagement-in-fragile-and-conflict-affected-settings/
Local Literature
Foreign Studies

6 Trends Shaping Corporate Engagement Today

Employee engagement efforts are one of the leading challenges and opportunities facing companies
today. In our work to advance corporate social change leadership at Points of Light, we have the
opportunity to listen to the ambitions and challenges of engagement leaders inside of companies. Each
of them is trying to understand how to best serve their companies, their colleagues and their
communities while staying at a comfortable lead ahead of others in the field or, at the very least, to
keep up with new ideas.

Rachel Hutchisson, the Vice President of Corporate Philanthropy and Citizenship at Blackbaud and I
recently had a conversation on this topic for their Champions for Social Good podcast. We started
talking about how the field of corporate engagement has changed, and what trends are shaping the
future of corporate social engagement. We discussed disaster response within a global company, the
changing world of work and how it’s changing volunteering in the workplace, and how companies are
expanding opportunities for customers and stakeholders to join their social cause support.

And like all good conversations, there was so much more to say than we had time for.

I encourage you to listen to the episode and read on to find out about three other trends shaping
corporate engagement work:

The most important pro bono service for the decade ahead will be to bring the nonprofit sector along
for the data revolution.

Business is the warehouse for technology talent and innovation. The nonprofit sector cannot and should
not compete, but neither can it be left behind. We need to develop best practices and successful
examples of how companies, of any size, can support the causes they already care about through the
skills of the tech workforce. Members of Points of Light’s Corporate Service Council, like Blackbaud, are
helping to grow this work. At UPS, drones are being used for delivery of medicines to remote clinics and
being tested to explore disaster hit communities to improve rescue and response. IBM has a
longstanding practice of building technologies to address nonprofit needs, offering pro bono consulting
contracts in partnership with nonprofits. As the city of Houston responded to hurricane Harvey, even
small collaboratives like Sketch City, jumped in to help, using their skills to develop a custom app to
coordinate volunteers, nonprofits and resources. And we all witnessed the role that tech innovators like
Tesla played in reconnecting Puerto Rico.

Data philanthropy stands to be the most transformational advancement in solving social problems.

Companies store data about our every move and use that knowledge to sell us products and services
every day. Imagine the possibilities for solving problems identified in community town halls all the way
to the Sustainable Development Goals if data were directed at social solutions. It’s energizing to envision
those same data sets helping us to understand how communities need and use support after a disaster,
which investments are having the highest impact on social outcomes, how place-based efforts actually
increase economic activity, which reduce health care expenditures or offer more diversity in food
purchasing choices in low-income communities. But the biggest opportunity will also be the biggest
threat. The nonprofit sector has neither the resources nor talents to engage, let alone capitalize, on the
data opportunity. The average community nonprofit doesn’t have the capacity to even understand what
data it might lend to these solutions or how to share, analyze and scale it. Social impact at the scale of
our problems will depend on partnerships with the business community.

Businesses are increasingly embracing and finding social and business value in their role as social change
partners and leaders – which is the next trend that’s changing the future relationship among business
and employees, customers, and partners.

Just last month, a Harvard Business Review article by Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel , heralded
the age of the CEO Activist. Leadership from the top is one of the key markers of strong community-
minded companies that Points of Light measures in our annual Civic 50 survey. Using their voice and
reach in communities around the country and around the world, companies are speaking out against
anti-LGBTQ legislation, immigration policy and more. While big brands and their CEOs can deflect the
heat, even smaller brands and privately held companies are finding and strengthening alignment with
consumers and customers when they speak up. Driven by forward thinking companies, purpose
connected employees and consumers this new clamor for a public stand will be a leadership role
companies will continue to navigate.

For the social sector, these partnerships are different from the grantor/grantee relationship and call for
fresh approaches to the roles and responsibilities of all parties as both work to share value and define
clear standards for success.

By Jenny Lawson on Mar 21, 2018

https://npengage.com/outcomes-impact/6-trends-shaping-corporate-engagement-today/
Local Studies