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4.

CSO/Business Partnerships

Relationships between CSOs and the private sector have often been marked by conflict. We need only think of the struggles between Greenpeace and the Canadian forest industry in British Columbia, or the campaigns of OXFAM and Development and Peace over the sweatshop conditions of the workers who make Nike and Reebok products in Asia and Latin America. While these struggles continue, there is a new wave of collaboration underway between CSOs and private corporations. The origins of this trend can be traced to the early 1990s with the emergence of sustainable development, and its more integrated way of looking at environmental, economic, and social issues. Many CSOs have moved beyond public campaigns on single issues to focus on developing practical alternatives and solutions to the problems they address. They have found that partnerships with private corporations may provide practical benefits in this search.

There have always been relationships between CSOs and the private sector, of course. CSOs have traditionally seen businesses as fundraising targets and occasionally as sources of managerial advice and technical support. Businesses have seen their support for CSOs as good for their public profiles. This level of cooperation will always be present, but much of the current wave of collaboration goes far beyond this. From the perspective of business, CSOs can often provide the kind of expertise and public input that companies need to design their policies and practices in responsible ways. For its part, a CSO's partnership with a corporation can give it not only increased credibility with the private sector and with governments, but also greater leverage in promoting its own policy positions. For example:

  • World Wide Fund for Nature International has recently launched a partnership with Unilever Corporation, the world's largest supplier of frozen fish, to create economic incentives within the seafood industry for sustainable fishing throughout the world.
  • The World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry is cooperating with Save the Children-UK as well as UN agencies and local groups to develop a pilot project in Pakistan to address underlying causes of child labour.

Some see in the trend towards increased cooperation the trap of cooptation. Many CSOs fear that their involvement with private corporations may be used as window dressing while their private sector partners do little to change their undesirable practices or to involve them in any significant consultations. Dealing with this problem requires that CSOs and corporations get to know their prospective partners well before entering into collaboration with them. There should also be opportunities for critical monitoring by a range of external observers, for example, business associations, CSO networks, activist groups, local authorities, as well as governmental and UN agencies. A code of conduct would provide a useful framework for CSO-private sector partnerships.

[co-operative ventures between business and non-profits]

Shell-Peru & Civil Society

In an innovative move Shell-Peru has expanded the public participation process to more fully engage civil society in their Camisea Project in Peru. Based on the principles of openness, partnership and consultation, the company is working with local communities to ensure that net benefits are brought to the region. Through various multi-stakeholder meetings, several innovative ideas have emerged. One innovation is that the operation will be treated as an offshore site so that roads will not be built into the region. Anxious not to be condemned, Shell-Peru has also initiated an open dialogue with North American and European NGOs. However, some still question the validity of the consultation process.

Word Watch code of conduct n. set of rules to guide behaviour and decisions

In Depth Murphy, David F. And Jem Bendell. In the Company of Partners. Bristol, UK: The Policy Press, 1997. 283p.


Virtual Idea		 The Alternative Path Management site on Business/NGO partnerships