Ch1 - Question 5 | foundation-guide

CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTAND THE FIELD

A grounding in the humanitarian sector, the Connecting Business initiative, and the value of collective private sector action around DRM are all important to ensure private sector networks and other actors are building toward a common vision. This chapter will provide an overview of these topics, as well as available external resources.

The resources in this chapter help answer the following questions:

5. What is the value proposition of a private sector network for DRM as a platform for collective action and what are the roles and activities of these networks?

<<THE IMPORTANCE OF PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT>>

Increasingly, humanitarian actors such as the United Nations and the International Federation of the Red Cross have emphasized the importance of private sector engagement in humanitarian actions and disaster risk management activities. This belief and commitment is manifested in private sector initiatives including the Connecting Business Initiative, and is evidenced in the success of many public private partnerships in recent years.

The general value proposition of private sector engagement in DRM is a common starting point to define the potential value of a private sector network in each specific country. The private sector typically contributes to DRM in a variety of ways, including:[6]

Through direct financial or in kind contributions
By leading the development of new technologies and innovations
By developing sustainable commercial models which are used and adapted in humanitarian contexts
By strengthening their own resilience, and that of their employees and of their supply / value chains, to better weather and recover from disasters

While the private sector has traditionally supported the efforts of the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and governments by partnering as individual organizations, the increasing emergence of private sector networks has occurred in parallel with a major growth in overall private sector contributions as a share of total humanitarian response[7]. Leveraging private sector networks to engage in collective action at the local, regional and global levels means that an individual company’s contribution can be scaled, strengthened, coordinated, and recognized.

<<IMPACT OF PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT>>

There are a variety of reason why private sector actors should be engaged in humanitarian actions, both for the benefit of society as a whole and for the private sector companies themselves, who benefit from increased resilience of their local environments, increased ability to anticipate and respond to potential disasters, and greater clarity around and recognition of contributions they may be making anyway.

Private sector actors can substantially increase the impact of humanitarian actions in a variety of ways, including:[8]:

Speed: By improving humanitarian response time, particularly in the logistics and transport sectors, as well as through rapid fundraising
Coverage: Improving comprehensive coverage to reach affected populations e.g. through telecommunications
Durability: Supporting efforts which assist in the long term, including to the resilience of their own companies, employees and the communities in which they operate
Value for money: Local private sector companies can assist aid agencies to quantify their impact and to make better tradeoffs between cost, coverage and impact by making use of local assets and resources
Innovation and transformation: Driving innovative solutions to improve response

<<VALUE ADD OF JOINING A PRIVATE SECTOR DRM NETWORK>>

In addition to the benefits to the broader humanitarian activities of private sector engagement, there is also a clear benefit to individual companies to joining and becoming a part of a broader private sector network. By coordinating activities through a private sector network, the resulting collective action allows each company's individual contribution to be aggregated and scaled for greater impact, and reduces the risk of duplication of effort or gaps in coverage. Participation in a collective action network provides a clear and easy entry point into existing DRM activities, and avoids each company having to navigate the landscape itself. Finally, participation in a collective action platform has a strong risk mitigation effect, by reducing the risk burden that falls to any one actor.