ABSTRACT

Aid donors, development advocates, and finance experts increasingly look to the private sector to fill the estimated $2.5 trillion annual Sustainable Development Goals financing gap, an amount likely to increase due to effects of COVID-19. Donors use a variety of partnerships with the private sector to realise development objectives. We use the term donor–private partnerships (DPPs) to describe the broad range of arrangements between donors and private–sector actors. Using ODA to leverage private finance, innovation testing, or service delivery, modalities include blended finance, de-risking instruments, public–private partnerships, and more. Does the reality match donors’ enthusiastic rhetoric? There are success stories but civil society actors and others question whether private sector engagement in development reduces poverty and inequality, advances gender justice, and achieves environmental sustainability. There may be trade-offs between development and profit making. We present our research based on frameworks we developed to categorise and assess DPPs. We applied these to 20 partnerships involving nine donors and found that donors fail to sufficiently integrate development, human rights, and environmental standards. They inconsistently implement due diligence and risk management requirements, and impact assessments are inadequate. Our frameworks offer practitioners and academics valuable tools to examine how DPPs can advance sustainable development.

摘要

援助捐助者、发展倡导者和金融专家越来越多地希望私营部门填补每年估计 2.5 万亿美元的可持续发展目标融资缺口，由于 COVID-19 的影响，这一数额可能会增加。捐助者利用与私营部门的各种伙伴关系来实现发展目标。我们使用捐助者-私营部门伙伴关系 (DPP) 一词来描述捐助者与私营部门参与者之间的广泛安排。使用官方发展援助来利用私人融资、创新测试或服务交付，模式包括混合融资、去风险工具、公私伙伴关系等。现实与捐助者的热情言辞相符吗？有成功的故事，但民间社会行为者和其他人质疑私营部门参与发展是否会减少贫困和不平等，促进性别公正，并实现环境可持续性。开发和盈利之间可能存在权衡。我们根据我们开发的用于对 DPP 进行分类和评估的框架来介绍我们的研究。我们将这些应用于涉及九个捐助者的 20 个伙伴关系，发现捐助者未能充分整合发展、人权和环境标准。他们不一致地执行尽职调查和风险管理要求，影响评估不充分。我们的框架为从业者和学者提供了宝贵的工具来研究 DPP 如何推动可持续发展。我们将这些应用于涉及九个捐助者的 20 个伙伴关系，发现捐助者未能充分整合发展、人权和环境标准。他们不一致地执行尽职调查和风险管理要求，影响评估不充分。我们的框架为从业者和学者提供了宝贵的工具来研究 DPP 如何推动可持续发展。我们将这些应用于涉及九个捐助者的 20 个伙伴关系，发现捐助者未能充分整合发展、人权和环境标准。他们不一致地执行尽职调查和风险管理要求，影响评估不充分。我们的框架为从业者和学者提供了宝贵的工具来研究 DPP 如何推动可持续发展。