Business Partners for Development

This article is part of the Climate project of Spinwatch.

Business Partners for Development (BPD) was a tri-sector initiative aiming to promote partnerships between business government and civil society in delivering 'development', with the World Bank Group as an equal partner. The BPD initiative began in 1998 and formally ended in 2002 after attracting considerable criticism, though two of the BPD Clusters are still operational (BPD Water & Sanitation and the Global Road Safety Partnership).

Critique

As part of their research on 'dodgy development' Corporate watch have looked at a BPD project in West Bengal which used NGO's to help move people from an area to be developed for a coal mine. The people were poorly rehabilitated and evidence on the ground shows that they suffered more after the project, with health effects and bad working conditions.

Clusters and Partners

BPD had 4 clusters of operation, each with varying members from all sectors. According to their website these were;

• Natural Resources Cluster: (oil, gas and mining companies) to develop guidelines/ systems / structures for dealing with community issues and mitigating risk by optimizing development impact on host communities through tri-sector partnerships. Co-convenors: BP Amoco, WMC Resources Ltd, CARE International and the World Bank Group.

Partners: Anglo American Corporation plc | BP | CARE International | Integrated Coal Mining Private Ltd (ICML/CESC) | International Council on Metals and the Environment | Norsk Hydro | Phelps Dodge | Placer Dome | Rio Tinto | Shell International | UK Department for International Development | WMC Resources Ltd. | The World Bank Group.

• Water & Sanitation Cluster: to identify specific lessons learned about partnerships from existing projects which are providing responsive and affordable water services to urban poor and to demonstrate that these can be replicated and scaled-up to national and regional levels. Co-convenors: Générale des Eaux (Vivendi), WaterAid and the World Bank Group.

Partners: Aguas de Barcelona | Anglian Water | CARE International | Durban Metro Water Services | Vivendi | Hydro-Conseil | International Secretariat for Water | International Water Ltd. | The Mvula Trust | Northumbrian Water | Programme Solidarité Eau | Ondeo | Thames Water | UK Department for International Development | Unicef | WaterAid | The World Bank Group.

• Global Partnership for Youth Development: to identify and share what works in building successful partnerships for youth, the next generation of labourers and consumers. Then to create/work through existing national and global infrastructures to mobilize significant new resources in order to strengthen and scale up best practices in youth development. Co-convenors: Kellogg's, the International Youth Foundation and the World Bank Group.

Partners: American Express | Ayala Corporation | Children & Youth Foundation of the Philippines | Cisco Systems | Financial Times/Pearson plc | Inter-American Development Bank | International Youth Foundation | Kellogg Company | Lions Clubs International | Microsoft | Nike Corporation | Shell International | UNESCO | USAID | Visteon Automotive Group | The World Bank Group | World Vision | Youth Service America.

• Global Road Safety Partnership: to reduce deaths, injuries, disabilities and associated social costs of road traffic crashes through collaboration and coordination of road safety activities. Co-convenors: the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the World Bank Group.

Partners: 3M | African Development Bank | Alliance Internationale de Tourisme | Asian Development Bank | BP | DaimlerChrysler | Dutch Government | European Commission | Ford Motor Company | Infrastructure Development Institute (Japan)| Inter-American Development Bank | International Center for Alcohol Policies | International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | International Road Transport Union | Japan GRSP Committee | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (USA) | Shell International Petroleum Co Ltd | Swedish Government | Transport Research Laboratory (UK) | UK Department for International Development | UN-Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific | UN-Economic Commission for Africa | UN-Economic Commission for Europe | Volvo Car Corporation | The World Bank Group.

Knowledge Resource Group: A facilitating and tool providing group which could be used by the other clusters. Partners: Civicus | The Prince of Wales International Business Leaders' Forum | The World Bank Group | the Ford Foundation | U.K. Department for International Development.

People

Natural Resources Cluster:

• Michael Warner Overseas Development Institute

BPD Water and Sanitation:

• Ken Caplan Director

Global Road Safety Partnership:

• Rikke Rysgaard International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Global Partnership for Youth Development:

• Aaron Williams
• Leigh Sontheimer from The International Youth Foundation

BPD contacts at the World Bank Group:

• Nigel Twose Manager, Business Partnership & Outreach Group
• Amanda Blakeley Partnership Specialist, Business Partnership & Outreach Group

• Simon Zadek, a leading corporate responsibility practitioner who has worked with Alcoa, AngloGold Ashanti, Bank Itau, Dow, IntelChina, Maersk, Nestle, Shell, and Nike is team leader of several BPD reports.