Crown Agents is engaging in new partnerships being formed to help eliminate poverty in developing countries.
Public-private partnerships are increasingly promoted by donors seeking private sector engagement in sustainable market based initiatives to eliminate poverty.
Corporate social responsibility programmes, philanthropy and direct commercial investment in developing countries can all give rise to new dialogues, partnerships and shared interests.
Modern business interests are also aligning more closely with the development agenda as they look for business sustainability. Businesses are increasingly likely to evaluate their plans from environmental, social and governance perspectives, recognizing that long-term value creation will not be achieved if these factors are ignored.
The overlap between developmental and commercial interests, and the diversity of economic, environmental and social agendas in developing countries, gives rise to multi-stakeholder dialogues in which Crown Agents can play a central role, bringing partners together and providing support and services that can be catalytic to the launch and success of developmental projects.
Bringing partners together:
- Creating the right governance vehicle: specialist legal advice in setting up the appropriate framework for governance of collaborative development projects
- Finding the right partners: unrivalled experience of working with donors, government agencies and communities
- Building confidence through financial transparency: Crown Agents Bank has unique experience managing pooled funding accounts, with funds received from multiple sources, and reports tailored to meet the needs of each client
Efficient Implementation:
- Outsourcing project management: our diverse project management experience extends from health supply chain to customs modernisation and even nuclear waste storage
- Cost effective local support: our international network of offices supports project implementation, including financial management, bookkeeping, and procurement
- Payments and currency management: Crown Agents Bank makes payments worldwide in major and untraded currencies; untraded currencies are sourced at competitive exchange rates and payments are processed efficiently, without undue cost
- Monitoring and evaluation: to ensure value for money and develop lessons learned for future success
Examples of new partnerships:
- Working with a major oil company in Nigeria, providing support to a locally established foundation created to build local community infrastructure.
- Providing banking services to the secretariat (funded by a major US foundation) of a multi-donor funded health programme
- Providing banking and reporting services to a multi-donor funded finance facility managed by a major UK NGO
- Supporting nuclear safety work funded by bilateral and multilateral donors
- Providing a fiduciary management service to UN organisations funding long-term humanitarian support in Zimbabwe