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Effective cross-sector partnerships for business and development in complex and high-risk environments

01.01.2015

On 16 October, 2014, Spark, the Conflict Research Unit (CRU) of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’, and the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law hosted a workshop on ‘Effective cross-sector partnerships for business and development in complex and high-risk environments’ at the Africa Works! Conference in Leiden.

The workshop, moderated by Mr. Rens Twijnstra (African Diaspora Policy Centre), brought together speakers from different backgrounds – donor government (The Netherlands), host government (Sierra Leone), local business (Farmers & Co, Burundi), local NGO (Mobinc, Burundi) – with a view to raise the prospects that the increasing interest in partnering up will be translated into significant and sustained changes in the practices of actors on the ground.

Abubakarr Bangura, chairman of Sierra Leone Central Union, well established in government circles but most of all an entrepreneur himself, provided introductory remarks. Apart from addressing common challenges such as the absence of adequate data, he also highlighted some key factors which he believes are essential to build effective cross-sector partnerships: mutual trust and understanding, expectation management, clear rules of engagement, realism and flexibility. In his view, cross-sector partnerships should focus on maximizing the gains and minimizing the pains.

Sjoerd Smit, Department for Sustainable Economic Development, The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Mr. Ibrahim Sorie Kamara,Ambassador of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the Kingdom of Belgium and Head of Mission to the European Union, emphasized the importance of the ‘New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States’. Both indicated how New Deal principles are currently being incorporated in their development policies and strategies. Mr. Smit explained how cross-sector partnerships play a major role in Dutch development cooperation based on a model that is known as the Dutch Diamond Approach. He used the examples of the Dutch role in the IFC’s Conflict Affected States Initiative (CASA) and the Dutch Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security (FDOV) to underline his point. The Netherlands portray their own role in cross-sector partnerships particularly as a broker of initiatives that converge peacebuilding and economic development.

The Ambassador indicated that Sierra Leone, as one of the seven countries that pilot the New Deal, is currently focusing on incorporation of the New Deal principles, for example in the country’s Agenda for Prosperity. By implementing legislation that enhances transparency, promotes the rule of law, and combats corruption and that facilitates partnerships between actors from different sectors, it invests in establishing reliable partnerships between the government and businesses. Successful partnerships have been built in the energy sector, in port development, in the shipping industry and more recently in the fight against Ebola.

NGO perspective
By using the case study of the Sorgum value chain in Burundi, Mr Seleus Nezerwe discussed the achievements and challenges of a cross-sector partnership that involved many different stakeholders, ranging from the Netherlands Embassy to the local farmers, from international NGOs like SPARK to local investors like BARUDI. Despite the successes of this partnership, there are still significant challenges ahead to make it even more effective. A very basic but telling example is the fact that the Burundese national government, as one of the partners involved, has adopted a national policy on agricultural investment which was in and of itself very helpful for the partnership, but it is written in French in a country where a very large majority of the people only speak Kirundi.

Private sector perspective
Adidjah Makangira, founder and owner of Farmers & Co, a Marketing and Sales organization involved in the export of coffee, presented a clear entry point where business and development outcomes could be mutually reinforcing. She gave us insight into the very specific challenges of the coffee sector in Burundi to all actors involved: the high degree of seasonality in the coffee industry and the much-needed rejuvenation of coffee trees, bring short term livelihood risks to a large group of local smallholders, for which coffee is their main source of income and on which her business is dependent. She made a plea for partnerships with other actors that help her business and the local community to address these challenges, as the private sector in Burundi, including her own company, is not able to facilitate income buffers to these local farmers on its own.

Despite the useful insights gained into how effective cross-sector partnerships can be built and supported to address the challenges and exploit the opportunities in these kinds settings through much needed mutually reinforcing business and development outcomes, this workshop is only a building block. There is still a great need to further build (mutual) understanding of how partnerships can be built and supported that are truly effective and sustainable, which are essential to improve engagement in complex and high-risk environments, like in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Africa Works!                                                                                                

Organized by the Netherlands African Business Council (NABC) and the African Studies Centre (ASC) this year’s edition of Africa Works! focused on building new partnerships between actors from different sectors (private sector, civil society and governments) as a means to come to new and more effective engagements on the African continent. The Conference brought together over 700 different stakeholders, from Africa, The Netherlands, and elsewhere.  

Research note and case study

A direct output of the workshop is a research note by Paul Lange (Clingendael) with the aim to contribute to the topic of cross-sector partnerships in fragile settings. In addition, the research note draws on the example of a partnership in Burundi that was also presented during the workshop. It involves a multinational company, a donor government and international and national NGOs that together work on the “White Sorghum value chain development” a project on youth employment in remote areas in Burundi (‘Burundi partnership’). This case study is available here. 

Please consult the following link for the research note

 

 

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04 Dec
till 28 Nov 01:00 - 00:59
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All for the Few and the Few for Themselves?

Organized by:Secretariat of the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law

How elite interests and coalitions influence the provision of security and justice.

 

The purpose of this expert meeting is to explore how elite interests and coalitions shape the priorities, culture, structure and accountability of security and justice organizations in fragile environments. Its main assumption is that security and justice in fragile states are organized and delivered largely to protect elite interests. A key question then becomes what strategies and mechanisms can incentivize elites towards providing security and justice as more of a public good, rather than a private one.

 Key questions for discussion

  • What are typical interests that elites seek to protect through security and justice organizations?
  • How do these interests influence the organization and provision of private and public security and justice in fragile environments? What are relevant mechanisms?
  • Under what conditions do elites decide / can elites be incentivized to organize and provide security and justice in a manner more akin to a public good?

It is not expected that the meeting will generate definitive answers to these issues. Instead, speakers and participants will be invited to contribute their experiences and views in an exploratory but focused conversation. This will help develop feasible strategies for change agents that seek to navigate the tension between challenging and cooperating with elite interests.

 Speakers

The day´s program will feature several building blocks:

  • An introduction of how elite (coalitions) influence development in fragile settings by Suda Perera of the Development Leadership Program;
  • Inquiries into how elite interests influence the organization and provision of security and justice in the Horn of Africa and Lebanon by respectively Ann Fitz-Gerald of Cranfield University, and Imad Salamey of the Lebanese American University;
  • Perspectives on the practical challenges that security and justice interventions encounter when dealing with elite interests by Roelof Haveman of the Dutch Foreign Ministry, Joseph Bigirumwami and Alwin van den Boogaard of the Burundian-Dutch Security Sector Development Program.

Download the concept note

The Hague Institute for Global Justice, Sophialaan 10, , 2561 SZ , The Hague,
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13 Nov
10:30 - 18:00
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Big Cities: Sources of and Approaches to Urban Insecurities in Fragile Contexts

Organized by:Secretariat of the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law
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This one-day meeting will bring together experts on urban insecurity to discuss the ways in which marginalization, crime, political grievance and non-state armed groups interact in the massive urban centres of the developing world, and particularly in fragile states. A variety of sessions will feature presentations, panel discussions and plenary debate on the epidemics of violent crime in certain Latin American cities, such as Caracas; the hybrid forms of organized violence in Karachi and Nairobi; the ways in which “solutions” to urban security problems are generated and marketed globally; the new approaches taken by policy-makers to extremely fragmented and violent urban environments; and the forms in which international donors may support and empower local communities in achieving better urban living conditions.

 

Programme 13 November |  Big Cities: Sources of and Solutions to New Insecurities

09.00 – 09.30:

Registration, Tea and coffee

  

09:30 - 09:45:

Welcome and introduction to the themes of the seminar

-        Ivan Briscoe, Conflict Research Unit, Clingendael Institute

-        David Connolly, Conflict Prevention Programme,

           The Hague Institute for Global Justice

09:45 – 11.00:

 

Understanding epidemics of urban crime and violence (Latin America)

-        Manuel Llorens, Andrés Bello Catholic University, Caracas

-        Chris van der Borgh, Utrecht University

           Discussant: Carolina Frossard, University of Amsterdam

11.00 – 11.15:

Tea and coffee

  

11.15 – 12.30pm:

 

Hybrid urban violence: between politics and crime (Africa and south Asia)

-        Nida Kirmani, Lahore University of Management Sciences

-        Naomi van Stapele, VU University, Amsterdam

           Discussant: Yusuf Hassan, MP for the National Alliance, Kenya

12.30 - 13.30:

Lunch

 

13.30 – 14.45:

 

The city in the global context: mobility, segregation and technology, and their relevance for urban policy in fragile settings

-        Alberto Vanolo, University of Turin

-        Rivke Jaffe, University of Amsterdam

           Discussant: David Connolly, Conflict Prevention Programme, The Hague Institute

14.45 – 15.00:

Tea and coffee

 

15.00 – 16.15:

 

 

New policies and approaches to address urban insecurity

-         Yusuf Hassan,  MP for the National Alliance, Kenya

-        Adesoji Adeniyi, co-ordinator of the “Megacities” project, the Ramphal Institute

           Discussant: Wieger Apperloo, Director Urban Matters, Cordaid

16.15 – 16.45:

Plenary discussion

 

16.45 – 17.00:

Conclusions

 

17.00 – 17.30:

Drinks

 
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The Hague Institute for Global Justice, Sophialaan 10, , 2561 SZ , The Hague,
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18 Sep
17:30 - 19:30
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Werkgroepvergadering 18-09-2014

Organized by:Secretariat of the Knowledge Platform Security & Rule of Law
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De reguliere vergadering van de WG Indonesië zal plaatsvinden op donderdag, 18 September 2014, om 15.30, bij het THIGJ. Het enige punt op de agenda is het bespreken van voorbereiding van de conferentie op 20 en 21 November 2014. 

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Sophialaan 10, 2514 JR, The Hague, The Netherlands
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