Priortiy Themes

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The face of international development cooperation is changing at a rapid pace and the question of how to engage the private sector to address the most pressing development challenges of our time has taken center stage in recent policy discussions, both domestically and internationally. In this context, Switzerland is working together with the private sector on both a bilateral and multilateral level to advance the goals of its international development cooperation. In the multilateral arena, there are three broad areas in which we support our multilateral priority organizations in order to effectively work together with the private sector to achieve sustainable development goals:

First, private sector development broadly summarizes initiatives and activities of multilateral actors that aim at strengthening the local private sector in developing countries, often with a focus on SMEs, markets for the poor, or employment programs. Second, the realm of public private development partnerships includes in its broadest definition all kinds of partnerships where the public and private sector work towards achieving a development goal, whereby the contribution of the private sector can encompass the financing or delivery of the development service, or both. Lastly, corporate responsibility is the voluntary contribution of the private sector to sustainable development by ensuring that business practices are in line with (or, at a minimum not counter to) responsible social and environmental development.

​As SDC’s resource center for multilateral development cooperation, in the realm of its private sector work, the UN & MDB Section aims at: 

1. strengthening the private sector engagement of SDC priority organizations;

2. contributing to policy discussions and the creation of an enabling environment for private sector engagement within multilateral organizations; and

3. supporting private sector initiatives that are in line with the strategic objectives of the division.​

   
   

​Focus and Contribution from the SDC UN & MDB Section

• Support the UN Global Compact in the implementation of its 2016-2019 strategy with a particular focus on expanding the concept of corporate responsibility in developing countries, including fragile countries, and in particular in Africa.

• Support the mainstreaming of a value based UN Business partnership agenda across the UN System and in key UN agencies and support private sector engagement in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the financing for development process.

• Accompany projects and policies in international financial institutions related to increased private sector involvement in delivery and financing of development goals.

• Promote the global Blended Finance Agenda with the goal to increase investments in developing countries with a social or environmental focus as a means to implement the sustainable development goals. In particular, SDC UN&MDB is supporting the WEF / OECD-DAC “Redesigning Development Finance” initiative; the OECD work stream on social impact investing in developing countries, as well as the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the most important global platform to promote financial inclusion.

• Support the UNDP African Facility for Inclusive Markets, a regional program that aims at strengthening UNDP's private sector work in the areas of inclusive business, regional integration of value chains, youth entrepreneurship and impact investing.
  

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