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This guide aims to introduce the business community to potential partners in the development community. It is a first port of call for managers who are interested in working with a development organization, but unsure of how to begin.

The main part of this guide consists of profiles of 30 organizations already
engaging in these new forms of collaboration. The profiles introduce business
managers to some of the main development actors and offer a glimpse of the
diversity of the development community and the ways in which its goals and
strategies are converging with those of business.

Further resources are also listed, including the accompanying website where
many more profiles can be found. Each profile includes a section entitled
“Overview of the work with the private sector”, which suggests avenues for
collaboration, many of which look beyond philanthropy to involving companies
through core business operations.

This guide suggests that there is a wide range of partnership possibilities
between business and development actors. Some will primarily improve the
environment in which companies operate; others will bring financial capital or
non-financial resources to business projects that have a positive impact on
development. Examples of cross-sector collaboration include gaining an
understanding of specific social issues at the local level; developing low-cost
technologies or business training programs for local entrepreneurs and SMEs;
establishing independent certification bodies to ensure the sustainable
management of natural resources such as fisheries stocks or forests; and
encouraging governments to establish the international regulatory frameworks
needed to handle global issues such as climate change.