Public-Private Dialogue

For policy reforms to be effective, they must respond to the needs of existing businesses and the concerns of wary investors. Reform efforts are sometimes blocked by interest groups who benefit from the status quo. Dialogue between the public and the private sector, if well managed, can help on all these fronts. Dialogue can create the momentum necessary to move reforms through sluggish bureaucratic processes.

Public-private dialogue takes many forms: ad hoc, formal, or informal dialogue can take place at the local, national, or international levels, and can be organized by industry sector, cluster, or value chain, or cover cross-cutting economic issues. Dialogues impacts all aspects of investment climate reform, including diagnosing problems, designing effective policy reform, promoting transparency and good governance, and obtaining the buy-in of stakeholders on both sides of the public-private divide.

This toolkit provides guidance and practical tools for maximizing the payoffs of public-private dialogue.

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About this toolkit

This toolkit was authored by Benjamin Herzberg and Andrew Wright. It is the product of a multi-donor initiative sponsored by the IFC Small and Medium Enterprise Department, the World Bank Financial and Private Sector Development Vice Presidency, DFID and the OECD Development Center.