BDS market development guide.pdf - PACA

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In answering these questions, we need to assess the comparative advantage of each key
player in the local context and their realistic capacity to do and to pay (Boxes 7-9).
Considered responses to these deceptively simple questions provide a transparent basis for
rational analysis of the future of particular BDS and for the development of a consensus—
among donors and with government and other players—over longer-term objectives.
Currently, neither the transparency nor the consensus is often in evidence.
One structured way in which to organize information related to sustainability is to use a
matrix (Table 2). This involves direct comparison of a current situation with an ideal at some
point in time and sets the specific direction in which interventions should go. However, there
are no easy or formulaic answers to questions of sustainability; Table 2 is a convenient
means of gathering and presenting information; it is not a prescriptive tool. There is no
substitute for wrestling with the hard issues that a candid, rigorous assessment of
sustainability poses.
WHAT WOULD A SUSTAINABILITY PICTURE LOOK LIKE?
Given the above framework for developing transparency in sustainability, what should this
picture look like for BDS market development interventions? First, it is important to point
out that it won’t always be the same. There are factors that might lead to legitimate
differences between countries:
• Business Membership Organization Traditions: in some countries, BMOs have
considerable strength and may be able to play a role in, for example, information
provision as well as the more traditional advocacy function. In other countries, this is
more common, they have a limited but important advocacy-focused role.
• Government Capacity: wealthier governments (say, in middle-income countries) with a
stronger human resource base can potentially play a more active role in supporting
functions such as research and development and coordination. For most low-income
countries, however, governments’ priority should be to focus on core roles only.
• Entrepreneurial Character of NGOs: business-like NGOs have developed in some
countries that, in their culture and capacity, are similar to competent for-profit players. In
other cases, NGOs continue to be loaded with a welfare legacy and anti-business
sentiment, and have few relevant skills.
Microenterprise Best Practices
Development Alternatives, Inc.