About FDC
The Foundation for Development Cooperation is an independent, not-for-profit international development organisation. Through alliances and partnerships, FDC undertakes a range of initiatives which seek to improve the lives of poor people in developing countries.
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Private Sector Engagement
An important element of FDC's Operation Strategy is to define and encourage a private sector-led development agenda. As part of this agenda, FDC is working to devise and support concepts which provide a vehicle for private sector contributions to be made toward Australia's and the world's international development effort.
The private sector's transfers into, and investment in, developing countries far exceeds the annual value of official development assistance. Often this involvement produces far more sustainable development dividends, in particular through the creation and expansion of enterprises, jobs and technology.
The private sector often seeks vehicles and mandates by which it might be convert some of its resources and know-how into sustainable benefits for communities. Therefore, FDC is actively working to engage and support the private sector in multiple ways to leverage off their core business and achieve positive development outcomes.
Some of FDC's activities within the area of private sector engagement include:
- Strategic consulting:
- Working with private sector resource companies operating in developing countries providing strategic advice and helping maximise positive outcomes for host communities.
- Undertaking an advisory role for Business for Millennium Development (B4MD), an early-stage effort to galvanise the role of the Australian business communit to support the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to undertake independent commercial projects supportive of positive development outcomes.
- Providing ongoing contributions to and support for AusAID's four-year pilot Engerprise Challenge Fund for East Asia and the Pacific.
- Preparing and submitting private sector models for international development to the Australian Government with the intention of creating a mandate and platform for the private sector to become more involved in international development activities.
- Designing and implementing a DFID funded project which seeks to attract multinational corporations in Bangladesh to operationalise commercially viable projects with development dividends attached.
- Engaging in partnership development between major multinational corporations and international NGOs for major regional initiatives in the resouce and energy sectors.
- Creating and disseminating successful information and communication technology (ICT) models and solutions, throug the private sector. These indlcude mobile phone banking solutions, community tele-centres, ICT implementation modess, microfinance tools and information sharing approaches for community based organisations.
- Network Support: Ensuring a strong role for private and commercial players in the two major microfinance networks for which FDC acts as secretariat.
- Undertaking research assessing the role, influence and impact of the Australian resource sector on developing countries and development issues.