Publication Tomorrow’s Inclusive Development: a new architecture for reducing global poverty

Executive Summary

There is an urgent need to re-imagine and re-think how to tackle global poverty.

The capabilities and capacity of business to contribute to reducing global poverty is widely recognised but many companies find themselves struggling with the rising levels of expectations of the private sector and to keep pace with an evolving policy agenda and initiatives. NGOs have historically conducted their relationships principally through the lens of advocacy directed towards policies and practices they believe contrary to the interests of specific communities or the global poor. Governments and multi-lateral institutions are under growing pressure to respond to the challenges of sustainability and inequality.

While there is a growth in cross-sector partnerships and collaboration, and some progress is being made, present structures, policies and efforts to combat global poverty are failing to make sufficient progress. Differences and ‘telling’ each other how to act rather than common interests and shared purposes continue to be emphasised.

There is opportunity to move beyond the traditional terms of engagement across all sectors, opportunity for new thinking and new action across all sectors.

Transforming global international development and poverty reduction requires that all participants work together across organisations within sectors and across sectors in an inclusive way. Each sector has much to offer the other: no one sector can succeed alone.

There needs to be a new dialogue and a new architecture for collaboration between companies, development NGOs and governments to bring about the needed systemic change at the pace and scale demanded by the urgency of global poverty.

And a need to move from ‘today’s development’ to ‘tomorrow’s inclusive development’:

This involes moving quicker, learning quicker, adapting faster and joining together to realise the potential of ‘inclusive development’ to transform the scale, speed and effectiveness of a collective response to global poverty.