The private sector and the development challenge in the Arab region: Nascent role and lacking accountability mechanisms
The private sector and the development challenge in the Arab region: Nascent role and lacking accountability mechanisms - Download Full Report
A major question in development policy today is what role should the private sector play in the development field and what accountability framework should accompany its expanding role in the development space. This publication entitled “The Arab Watch on Economic and Social Rights 2021: Questioning the role of the private sector in development” seeks to investigate the issue through thematic and national reports. This chapter gives an overview of three broad observations that could be tweaked out of the eleven national reports and 11 thematic reports you can read in this publication.
The first observation is that the narrative on the role of the private sector in the development sphere is well accepted in the Arab region and reflected in the official developmental visions and plans. However, this narrative does not result from an indigenous process, nor is it operationalized through policy, institutional or legal tools. The second observation is that advancing an accountability framework that could accompany a role for the private sector that is better aligned with developmental processes requires close attention and account of the broader economic, developmental, and governance context prevailing in each country. Finally, the third observation is that an effective developmental role and accountability framework for the private sector requires moving away from the dominant charitable and voluntary approaches towards concepts and tools rooted in developmental and rights-based approaches.
This chapter will further elaborates on these observations, providing examples from the thematic and national chapters below. It concludes by suggestions for the way forward in developing an accountability framework to accompany the expanding role of the private sector in the developmental sphere, built around two pillars: “do-no-harm” and developmental value addition.
Kinda Mohamadieh - Legal advisor and senior researcher with the Third World Network office in Geneva
The private sector and the development challenge in the Arab region: Nascent role and lacking accountability mechanisms - Download Full Report
This Publication is part of the ARAB WATCH REPORT 2021.
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