Live from Edinburgh 3
We just finished a “Breakfast Business Discussion” at the Raising Living Standards Conference in Edinburgh.? What struck me most was the consensus set of conclusions and suggestions which characterized seven separate table discussions.? At each table were senior business execs, including the vice chair of Chevron, Peter Robertson (who also appeared at WRI’s December 2004 BOP conference in SF); Paul Pressler CEO of Gap, Rob Johnson a SVP at Cargill; Nazeem Sterras, CEO of Capespan in South Africa, Vassi Naidoo, CEO of Deloitte in South Africa; and others, plus a host of civil society leaders — CARE, Christian Aid, DATA, Save the Children, along with many policy types.?
Some of the principal elements of the consensus included establishing more of a bottom-up development process, creating better functioning markets both inside developing countries as well as between the LDCs and the developed world,?increasing the stock of?human capital through skills development and knowledge transfer (often through the agency of the private sector), and the need for creating sustainable local partnerships between and among the private sector, civil society and government.
Replication and scaling of successful models and projects was also repeatedly invoked as the next critical step.?
News has just come through of the London bombings.? Crowds are gathering in front of the hotel.? Will finish report later.
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