Beyond aid in private sector engagement

A mapping of the opportunities and challenges of development and commercially-oriented public support to private sector engagement Developing countries increasingly promote inwards investment and global value-chain integration as strategies to create more and better jobs. At the ‘other end’ of the value chain, partner countries increasingly aim to work with businesses to achieve both commercial and development objectives.  Linked to this, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for greater policy coherence towards sustainable development, so that the pursuit of economic interests should not be delinked from sustainability and development objectives. This paper maps out the key instruments used by donor country governments to engage the private sector, both for development and for commercial purposes. Categorising different types of support, including both financial and non-financial means of working with firms, it looks at the potential opportunities and challenges for using these for development, and the potential synergies between developmental and commercial approaches. By looking at the overlaps in these approaches and some specific donor-country examples, the paper aims to outline where further policy dialogue and research might be useful.