& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Can businesses 'do' development?

David Jackman
**There is the need to demonstrate the benefits to business of new approaches and if they can be shown to be profitable and feasible, businesses should follow. It must also be rigorously evaluated from a pro-poor perspective and cannot be another case of rhetoric and hype, with little impact on the ground. Let's see whether the private sector and NGOs can "do "
WHEN we ask ourselves who "does" development in Bangladesh who do we think of? Perhaps the answer seems obvious. Isn’t it the innumerable NGOs, the international agencies, donors, and national government? Clearly they're the ones with the projects, programmes, declarations, commitments, beneficiary groups, conferences and logos. They're also the ones who write articles like this. But what about other groups in society — the private sector for example -- can they also "do" development? A new movement is asking exacdy this question, challenging the status quo, and exploring how businesses can better direcdy contribute
towards poverty reduction in Bangladesh.
The movement is part of a global discussion that takes many forms, with buzzwords like "inclusive business" and "base of the pyramid" thrown around, but the essential proposition is that it's possible for businesses to change their core operations in ways that are both profitable and explicitiy pro-poor as well as develop new models that meet both of these objectives -- a "win-win" proposition.
In a sense this discussion of "pro-poor business" is
old news in Bangladesh where the line between profit/non-profit models is blurred by the likes of Brae and Grameen, both of whom have at points developed interesting models that intertwine profit and poverty alleviation, and Dr. Yunus has also been pivotal in developing the "social business" agenda. So what's new about this conversation?
Whereas the "social business" concept is in ideal about achieving a social objective using a business approach, this conversation is about recognising the profit motivation of businesses and aligning their interests with pro-poor ones. This can happen throughout the value chain — from improving supply chains, creating employment linkages or developing innovative distribution models for products, for example. In practice, these approaches are often developed through cross sector partnerships or facilitated by NGOs, utilising the knowledge and skills of both types of organisations towards a common objective.
One example is a recent partnership between a footwear manufacturer and a national NGO which has linked extreme poor women from Gaibandha, a climac-tically vulnerable area, to a footwear factory in Gazipur. The NGO has supported skill training and movement costs and the footwear manufacturers have committed to employing 800 women. The project is funded by a joint DFID and GoB initiative, which is one among many organisations trying to promote these ideas and partnerships.
The approach is new and inevitably
faces many challenges. One challenge is awareness and understanding. While it's healthy for NGOs to remain cautious, many must move beyond an almost ideological distrust of the private sector. Similarly, businesses must have the openness and foresight to work with different types of organisations and models. There are also legitimate questions of capacity with NGOs hardwired to operate in
certain ways, perhaps without an eye to efficiency. That said, Bangladesh's NGO sector is certainly competitive, so perhaps that spirit could be drawn upon.
Ultimately, the approach must prove itself. There is the need to demonstrate the benefits to business of new approaches and if they can be shown to be profitable and feasible, businesses should follow. It must also be rigorously evaluated from a pro-poor perspective and cannot be another case of rhetoric and hype, with little impact on the ground.
If there's any country in the world where new and innovative ideas can be developed, it's surely Bangladesh. Let's see whether the private sector and NGOs can "do" development together.
The writer is a professional at shiree. E-mail: david@shiree.org