The DCED established the Business Environment (BE) Community of Practice (formerly BE Working Group) in 2002 to share knowledge on donor-supported business environment reform (BER) in developing countries and to support good practice and new approaches. The BE CoP helps agencies and their programme partners to position business environment reform (BER) effectively as part of an integrated private sector development strategy and to enhance the synergies between these reforms and broader development objectives.
The DCED defines the business environment as a complex of policy, legal, institutional, and regulatory conditions that govern business activities. It is a subset of the investment climate and includes the administration and enforcement mechanisms established to implement government policy, as well as the institutional arrangements that influence how key actors operate (e.g., government agencies, regulatory authorities, and business membership organisations, and trade unions).
The BE Community of Practice is chaired by the World Bank Group and GIZ.
Most recently, the BE CoP has focused on reviewing experience and developing practical guidelines on the use of business environment reform towards a range of priority objectives among DCED members, notably green private sector development, private capital mobilisation and inclusion of informal and women-owned businesses (see the publications listed below).
Current activities focus on
Publications of the Business Environment CoP are listed below. For curated resources on the topic by other organisations, please refer to the DCED knowledge page:
Review the decisions, action items and discussion summaries of the Business Environment CoP below. This includes meeting minutes and associated materials since its creation in 2015 and DCED member exchanges on the topic.