Q. How did BPD work?
A. The World Bank Group convened a range of global firms and civil society organizations (non-governmental organisations and foundations), willing to devote resources and to work in partnership alongside governments and local community development organisations. From 1998 to 2002, the BPD Network worked intensively with focus projects spread around the world, and grouped into four clusters. The first two clusters were formed along industry lines, since a critical mass of companies in these sectors had been working with the Bank and were interested in broadening and deepening their engagement in social development. The last two were theme-based groupings formed by initial key players who identified areas that would benefit from the tri-sector partnership approach. Each cluster designed its own specific objective and vision for the partnership:

Q. What was the role of the Knowledge Resource Group (KRG)?
A. A basic BPD principle was the primacy of the clusters. Each cluster decided on and managed its own work programme; no cluster or project was obliged to use KRG services. But each joint study visit needs facilitation; each training course needs trainers; all research needs researchers. Participants within each of the four clusters have good contacts with some specialists, but the KRG was a common available route to finding the most recommended and appropriate expertise available around the world. This was drawn together as a resource bank of people, organisations and partnership practice.

In parallel with this resource bank, the BPD clusters and the KRG saught to extract a number of tools that were developed and used within BPD—tools that have generic rather than cluster-specific relevance to BPD as a whole and, eventually, far beyond BPD.

Q. How did the clusters design and implement their work programmes?
A. The three-year timeframe for BPD was broken down into three non-sequential phases:

• Phase One: getting the elements in place for a work plan to be initiated (participants, projects, identification of priority partnership challenges and of BPD activity needs, establishment of a secretariat);
• Phase Two: implementing the work plan, centered on focus projects;
• Phase Three: aggregated learning, sharing, dissemination and promotion.

• Joint study visits, with participants from the three sectors in other focus projects coming together on one site to find common solutions to agreed partnership challenges;
• Workshops at a national level exploring other tri-sector partnership experience in that country, and opportunities for replication and scale-up;
• Research on commonly identified challenges;
• Training to fill identified expertise gaps;
• Monitoring and evaluation of projects.

Q. What types of activities did BPD partners undertake?
A. Each cluster undertook variations of the following and, where relevant, the Knowledge Resource Group aggregated and shared cross-sectoral findings.

1. National roundtables/workshops: initial roundtables or workshops were completed in each country with a focus project. The objective was be to present the focus project, to analyze it within the context of the government's development strategy, and within the context of other partnerships for development within that country.
2. Expert study visits: These visits provided an opportunity for partnership project practitioners to work laterally with their global peer group in the focus projects. This practical forum offered cross-fertilisation of ideas and exchange of experiences, with follow-up commitments.
3. Training: A range of training options were proposed for focus projects, which included: partnership formation; participatory project management; conflict prevention/resolution; options for local partnership agreements; operating procedures for local government for working in partnership with community organisations and the private sector. In many cases, this training was integrated with the study visit programme.
4. Knowledge management: A variety of different research topics were proposed and undertaken at the cluster level. There were also several cross-cutting partnership issues that were explored by the KRG.
5. Outputs: All learning outputs that are to be made available to the public were posted on this website or on the relevant cluster's website.

Q. What were BPD's key deliverables (outcomes)?
A. 1. Momentum

• an influential global network of advocates for business partnerships for development;
• resources and expertise leveraged from 120+ partners;
• shared learning to enable more efficient ways of working.

• allows partners to shed risk of operating alone;
• WBG's role should enable companies to transcend issues of competition and work more easily with host governments and civil society organizations.

• good practice recommendations on partnerships for development (e.g. best alignment of partners, better sense of the up-front costs, especially management time);
• robust impact evidence for businesses, civil society organizations and states, which will result in a greater spread and scale of partnerships for development;
• good practice evidence of fiscal and regulatory frameworks to support and encourage partnerships for development;
• a powerful additional instrument for the WBG's advisory services to governments, particularly as they relate to the social consequences of privatizations.

Q. How were BPD partners selected?
A. The initial group of BPD partners was largely self-selected, i.e. companies, NGOs and foundations working on issues of corporate social responsibility. Interested organisations were also invited and encouraged to inquire about participation.

Each of the clusters had a slightly different set of criteria for participation as well as its own participation fee according to each's distinct work plan. The generally applicable criteria were as follows: CEO commitment to the partnership; recognized as a "socially responsible" company or organization; readiness to involve multiple parts of the organization in the effort (e.g. marketing, advertising, public relations, human resources, philanthropy, suppliers, etc.); and either a multinational with operations in the developing world or a local company based in the developing world.

Q. How were the focus projects selected?
A. The following criteria were proposed to assist with the selection of focus projects for each cluster of the BPD Network:

1. Strategic importance: aiming to address key issues, knowledge gaps, or "hot" topics.
2. Likelihood of success. Although much will be learned from failed attempts, the BPD Network aimed to use successful examples of partnership to persuade others. Success was measured by:
   • Sustainable impact on the ground, including planned contribution to institution-building (with local mediating/delivery mechanisms involving all three parties) and to human capacity development;
   • Business benefit.
3. Engagement, or planned engagement, of all three parties: state, business and civil society organisations.
4. Current, planned or anticipated involvement by the World Bank Country Team.
5. Willingness (including by Government or local authorities) for the project site to have visitors, and for reports to be widely circulated.
6. Potential for replicability and scaleability to other regions/provinces/countries.
7. Some overall balance within each cluster between:
   • Regions (not everything in one continent);
   • Transitional economies/LDCs.
8. Projects preferably joint ventures involving smaller national companies.

Q. How was BPD financed?
A. Activities related to project appraisal and analysis as well as project-based learning and dissemination were financed by each cluster's secretariat (see section above on cluster design and work plan implementation). The operational costs of the focus projects were covered by the project sponsors. Each cluster's budget was determined by aggregating the costs of the activities agreed by partners in relation to each focus project. Therefore, annual contributions differed across clusters. Direct financial and in-kind support to the clusters came from the private sector partners, foundations and governments as well as the WBG (through grants, trust funds, adaptable lending instruments and in a few cases loans).

On June 9, 1998, the Board of the World Bank Group formally approved participation in the BPD proposal, and the Development Grant Facility (DGF) provided $645,000 as seed money for FY98, out of a proposed total of $3 million over the three-year period. In June 1999, the DGF dispersed $1.2m to BPD for FY99. BPD did not apply for DGF funding for FY00. BPD applied to the DGF for $1.155m for FY01. This grant can represent no more than 15% of the total three-year budget.

Q. What were the anticipated business benefits for participating companies?
A. Businesses are generally willing to invest more in partnerships when the business benefit is as clear as the moral or social imperative. Since partnerships, if done right, build trust, mutual respect, and an expressed commitment to common goals, all parties involved win. The business benefits can include:

• Improved corporate reputation with local communities, opinion leaders and customers: a reputation for good corporate citizenship can lead to competitive advantage;
• Improved employee benefits and enhanced employee commitment or output;
• Improved alliances with key stakeholders;
• Increased direct marketing opportunities;
• Improved risk management;
• Improved bottom-line performance.

Q. How do we learn more about BPD?
A. For further details contact:

BPD Help Desk Telephone: 1 (202) 458 4696
World Wide Web: www.worldbank.org/

The World Bank Group
Private Sector Development & Infrastructure Vice Presidency
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20433
USA