About the DCED

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Introduction

Many agencies are now working to build robust and dynamic private sectors – in order to achieve their development goals. The Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) is the forum where donors, foundations and UN agencies share their practical experience of private sector development (PSD), and identify both good practice and promising new innovations.

The DCED has grown significantly since it was formed in 1979: As more and more people recognise enterprise as a key to any sustainable solution to poverty, the DCED’s membership and activities have expanded.

The DCED is also achieving increasing recognition as a leading source of information and guidance on PSD. With an expanding web-offer on all aspects of PSD, its main knowledge-sharing website at Enterprise-Development.org has received more than 50,000 visits from 183 countries in the past year. Since the first quarter of 2011, visits have increased by more than 65%. Similarly, more and more practitioners use the DCED’s two specialised databases at Value-Chains.org and Business-Environment.or g to access hundreds of technical documents.

Making the case for PSD

While PSD is clearly attracting growing interest of development practitioners, many remain cautious about collaboration with the private sector. A strategic priority across the DCED’s work is therefore to generate and communicate fresh, robust data on results in PSD - to advocate for PSD as an effective way to alleviate poverty.

The DCED website includes a comprehensive list of ‘success stories’, filtered for credibility and scale. The DCED also organises evidence from academia and the field in the form of a global results chain for PSD. Some of the most interesting recent research and evidence is shared via the DCED’s regular research updates.

Meanwhile, a campaign strategist has been commissioned to identify the type of narrative best suited to communicate the values behind PSD to the international development lobby.

Measuring and reporting results

There is a strong need to generate data on PSD achievements, both for advocacy and to respond to the pressure in many agencies to report on results; measuring the results of PSD programmes is especially demanding. Under the umbrella of the DCED, field-based experts have come up with a viable solution.

The DCED’s Standard for results measurement provides practitioners with the framework, and an incentive, to measure their programmes’ results credibly and practically.

Case studies show the benefits and potential, and many field programmes and agencies are now voluntarily working towards compliance with the Standard – as illustrated in the map on the right. Several of them presented their experiences and achievements at the DCED's global seminar on trends and results in PSD, in January 2012.

Reforming the business environment

DCED members’ shared understanding of good practice in business environment reform has been documented in the Practical Guidance on Supporting Business Environment Reforms and on how Business Environment Reform can Promote Formalisation. Reviews have taken place in 2011 in Rwanda, Kenya and Bangladesh to assess how members and others are complying with the good practice described in the Practical Guidance. More recently, the DCED has also tackled other cutting-edge issues in the area of business environment reform – through a discussion paper and conference on Business Environment Reforms and the Informal Economy, and an Introduction for Practitioners to the Political Economy of Business Environment Reform. Current work of the group focuses on results measurement and industrial policy, among other things.

Women's Entrepreneurship

DCED members started to work together on Women’s Entrepreneurship Development (WED) in 2010. Since then, many of their leading resources have been made available online through the DCED. The DCED also convenes in-depth discussions between WED specialists in different organisations. Currently, the WED group is undertaking a stock-taking exercise of members' WED initiatives.

PSD in Conflict-Affected Environments

Two DCED publications have helped to spread knowledge in this fast-moving field. Informed by a series of expert meetings, the DCED produced “Private Sector Development in Post-Conflict Countries: A Review of Current Literature and Practice”. This was followed with “Key Resources for PSD Practitioners in Conflict-Affected Environments”. The dedicated working group is currently developing an inter-agency course on the topic.The DCED also provides online access to more than 450 specialist resources on this theme.

Green Growth

Greater environmental sustainability requires new products, new markets and new production methods. DCED members are meeting regularly to address the knowledge gaps they face in helping enterprises in the developing world to turn this challenge into an opportunity, and use the DCED website to share findings. The working group is currently organising a side-event on Green Growth and Inclusive Business at the Rio+20 summit in June 2012, together with the UN Global Compact.

Other themes

New knowledge areas are being added to the main website, in response to evolving practice. Additions in 2011 include pages on Industrial and Innovation Policy, Local Economic Development and Clusters and a directory of Public-Private Partnership and Inclusive Business initiatives that provides business with a single point of access to donors’ programmes.

We would like to hear from you!

If you are working in any aspect of Private Sector Development, we are keen to hear from you about your work, and your needs for information and other support.

Click here to get in touch with the DCED Coordinator Jim Tanburn

Last update: 18 April 2012.