Business Action on the Post-2015 Development Agenda

2015 is set to be a landmark year for sustainable development. By the end of 2015, we should have in place a new set of global development priorities: the Sustainable Development Goals, a new framework for financing and delivering them, and a legally binding climate change agreement.

A key difference today compared to 2000, when the Millennium Development Goals were established, is the emphasis being placed on putting sustainable and inclusive economic growth at the heart of the new development agenda, and the role being assigned to the private sector to deliver the jobs, investment and innovation required to create sustainable impact at scale.

At this key time for development, Business Fights Poverty is launching an ambitious platform to advance understanding of how business can contribute to the delivery of the new Sustainable Development Goals, and to support action. We aim to encourage more businesses to act by providing practical “how to” examples and insights from experts, and to deepen understanding amongst governments, development agencies and civil society of how to engage and enable business.

In partnership with DFID, UN Foundation, Harvard Kennedy School of Government CSR Initiative and ODI, we will be leveraging our reach to our active membership network of over 15,000 professionals and our partnerships with over 50 businesses, development agencies, NGOs and academic institutions to share a series of expert analysis and opinion articles, online and face to face discussions, case studies, reports and working groups.

We will be framing our activities over the coming months around three core themes:

• People (May), with a focus on health and education systems, nutrition and affordable housing
• Planet (June), with a focus on water stewardship, climate adaptation and mitigation and access to energy
• Prosperity (July), with a focus on decent jobs, enabling small business, skills development and infrastructure

Underpinning the platform is a dedicated SDG Zone, which will include a repository of business case studies structured around the above themes, alongside expert commentary and details of events and discussions.

Across our activities, we will be highlighting cross cutting themes including partnership and financing models and impact measurement approaches. We will also be focusing on key milestone moments including the Financing for Development Summit in Addis Ababa in July and the SDG Summit in New York in September.

In September, we will be launching a new report on the eve of the SDG Summit in New York to help companies understand how to optimise their roles in delivering the SDGs by leveraging their core business operations and competencies, making strategic social investments, and dialoguing and partnering with policy makers and other influencers in their value chains and broader business ecosystems. The report will also highlight the critical role that leading companies and governments, development agencies and NGOs must play in enabling business action at scale, and help them to develop concrete strategies for doing so.

If you would like to contribute to our platform, whether through a blog, a case study, or have an idea for a face to face or online event, please get in contact at te**@bu*******************.org