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A project to develop the capacity of African governments to form partnerships with business on sustainable development has been announced by the International Business Leaders' Forum (IBLF).
The Partnering with Governments programme, which is being run with the German government's international sustainable development agency GTZ, will spend its first 18 months encouraging the governments of Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, South Africa and Zambia to build private sector partnerships.
The IBLF, which operates in more than 90 countries, says many African governments 'are cautious about, or unaware of, cross-sector partnerships' that advance sustainable development. It will therefore try to persuade officials and politicians of the value of the partnership approach by putting forward the positive experiences of Microsoft, Rio Tinto, Shell and other IBLF corporate partners that have worked with African governments.
The programme has already brought together 120 representatives from business, government and civil society in South Africa to discuss capacity building, and last month held a similar event in Lusaka, Zambia.
The IBLF and GTZ will work with local partners in each country, including the Centre for Corporate Citizenship, which is part of the College of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of South Africa, and the Partnership Forum in Zambia.
l The IBLF has launched an appeal to raise money for a $25million (£12.5m) endowment fund to build on the legacy of its founder, Robert Davies, who died in 2007 (EP9, issue 5, p2). The Crossing Borders fund will invest in three areas that IBLF says are central to its work: partnerships on youth, access to information and communications technology and 'innovative approaches to sustainable development'.
The Partnering with Governments programme, which is being run with the German government's international sustainable development agency GTZ, will spend its first 18 months encouraging the governments of Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar, South Africa and Zambia to build private sector partnerships.
The IBLF, which operates in more than 90 countries, says many African governments 'are cautious about, or unaware of, cross-sector partnerships' that advance sustainable development. It will therefore try to persuade officials and politicians of the value of the partnership approach by putting forward the positive experiences of Microsoft, Rio Tinto, Shell and other IBLF corporate partners that have worked with African governments.
The programme has already brought together 120 representatives from business, government and civil society in South Africa to discuss capacity building, and last month held a similar event in Lusaka, Zambia.
The IBLF and GTZ will work with local partners in each country, including the Centre for Corporate Citizenship, which is part of the College of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of South Africa, and the Partnership Forum in Zambia.
l The IBLF has launched an appeal to raise money for a $25million (£12.5m) endowment fund to build on the legacy of its founder, Robert Davies, who died in 2007 (EP9, issue 5, p2). The Crossing Borders fund will invest in three areas that IBLF says are central to its work: partnerships on youth, access to information and communications technology and 'innovative approaches to sustainable development'.
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