Business and government: building trust

Many things need to change if we are to see more meaningful public-private cooperation on meeting development goals. An important yet simple one may be public service mindsets.

Here I mean those working in the foreign aid departments of major Western donor governments. The recent mantra about engaging the private sector in development (especially as austerity constrains the aid budget) has not necessarily resulted in a greater enthusiasm or pragmatism in talking with companies whose conduct in developing countries may enhance or complement the aid agenda.

Last week I had a conversation about corporate lobbying and private sector access to government policymakers. Typically, the concern one encounters is of undue and unseen influence by some business interests while other struggle to get a decent audience with government. (It is of course a question of balance -- see previous post here.)

Here I am talking of the reverse situation: where public policymakers seek to influence corporate policy. Of course that is what regulation involves, but I mean more generally a practice of seeking out conversations with business, exploring avenues to create 'shared value' by coordinating, for example, corporate social investment spending with official aid projects -- where and to the extent appropriate.

Even where they accept or embrace the notion of securing their 'social license' to operate, many business actors might have a range of reasons to be cautious of being approached by officials for discussions about making more explicit or substantive contributions to development outcomes. For instance, the well-known 'slippery slope' fear that firms might be left to carry the bulk of the responsibility for providing public infrastructure and social services in developing country settings.

This caution about talking to business exists on the part of officials, too. But much of it may be unjustified and a missed opportunity.

A number of recent experiences reinforce a finding I made in my PhD research about the reluctance that many in the UN system display for engaging with business in post-conflict peacebuilding. That is, I think public servants working in the development field largely have a blindspot for how business can positively affect their goals. Ignorance of the commercial world, suspicion of its agendas and people, fear of being 'tainted' by association -- these are some of the reasons why policymakers' recent rhetoric on engaging more with business on issues of mutual interest is not matched by action.

Take a recent London event exploring how Japanese and UK firms and government departments can cooperate towards responsible business opportunities in Africa (see here). There Sir Malcolm Bruce MP, chair of the parliamentary committee on international development, argued that the biggest obstacle to scaling-up these sorts of relationships was that most of those working within the Department for International Development (DfID) did not perceive business as a relevant development actor that should be understood, met, partnered.

There are (and this blog has explored) myriad reasons to be sceptical or cautious about the ways that business and government interact; DfID's role is not to enhance the interests of one or other firm, but to serve UK national interests and the global development agenda. It is also important not to perpetuate myths about private sector efficiency or altruism. Nevertheless, much of the existing appropriate scope for getting more out of the developmental potential of business-government cooperation is wasted. I think this mindset problem in officialdom is a large part of that.

Jo