Financing Private Sector Development- What works, what does not and why?

Monday, 30 October, 2017 - 09:15 to Tuesday, 31 October, 2017 - 05:00

As part of their series of learning and knowledge sharing events on support for Private Sector Development, the AfDB’s Independent Development Evaluation (IDEV), and Norad’s Evaluation Department (NoradDev) co-organized a learning event titled: Financing Private Sector Development: What works, what does not and why? in Pretoria, South Africa from 30 to 31 October 2017 to share evaluative knowledge to enhance the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of future private sector development activities in Africa.

Objectives

The two-day dialogue forum provided an opportunity for participants to discuss what works/what does not/and why, in providing support for private sector development.

Specific objectives were to:

• Raise awareness about the existence of evaluations on PSD support;

• Share evaluation results with others in a bid to contribute to learning and a rethink of PSD support and how it can be made more effective;

• Provide insights that inform policy/decision makers and development partners, while offering clear and evidence-based conclusions and recommendations in terms of a) policy directions enabling African countries to strategically and beneficially partner with private sector actors and development partners; and b) capacity development imperatives; and

• Foster networking, peer-learning, and experience sharing.

Structure

The event featured keynote speeches, presentations, and panel discussions, with sessions for discussions and dialogue on critical issues shaping private sector development in Africa.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcomes of the event included, but were not limited to:

• Increased knowledge on what works and does not work in designing, planning and implementing PSD interventions;

• A better grasp of the challenges, trends, and opportunities; and a mutually beneficial approach to promoting private sector growth in Africa;

• Deepened engagement with key stakeholders, and new opportunities for learning;

• Identification of new ways to leverage private sector development and leap-frog Africa’s development;

• Key messages on private sector growth and employment creation for African policy makers and development practitioners.

The event was free and open to private sector actors, government representatives, managers and staff of multilateral agencies, regional & sub-regional development banks, bilateral donors, African institutions, academia, CSOs, and the media. However, participants are expected to fund their own transport and accomodation to and from the event venue.

Conference materials and presentations

Event proceedings

Event Programme

Event concept note

Supporting Private Sector Development by Rakesh Nangia

Working with and through Private Sector by Balbir Singh

Financing Private Sector Development by Lynnette Chen

Policy & Institutional Constraints to Private Sector Development by Trudy Hartzenberg

The Power Africa Model by Amenda Van Den Dool

Videos: Conference and media interviews