One of Africa’s leading economic blocs is enhancing dialogue between the public and private sectors to foster sustainable development, regional integration and an improved business climate. The adoption of a new public-private dialogue strategy by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) will, backers say, position the private sector as a key development partner and bolster its collaboration with public institutions.
UEMOA was established in 1994 to create a unified economic market where goods, services, labour, and capital can move freely, as in the European Union’s single market. It encompasses eight countries – Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo – stretching from the Sahara Desert to the Atlantic with a combined population of 145 million people and a common currency, the CFA Franc, which is pegged to the Euro.
Levels of economic development range significantly across UEMOA. Countries like Côte d’Ivoire boast a burgeoning private sector, robust GDP growth and increasing foreign investment. However, other UEMOA countries perform less well on ease of doing business, access to finance and investor confidence. The opportunities for cross-learning and -more importantly- convergence are considerable across the union.
This has a significant effect on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent a major source of growth and jobs in the region. Among the challenges they face are limited access to finance, high production costs, and insufficient competitiveness to access new markets, weaknesses that become more critical with the emergence of the African Continental Free Trade Area. As a result, “the potential of the private sector to actively participate in poverty reduction and SDG achievement is not fully exploited”, says Khady Evelyne Denise Ndiaye, the private sector manager at the UEMOA Commission.
The UEMOA Commission is the region’s executive body, and it plays a central role in coordinating regional economic policies. This includes facilitating communication and collaboration between the public and private sectors through public-private dialogue.
The value of public-private dialogue for policy and development
Public-private dialogue is a structured, participatory, and inclusive approach to policymaking that fosters cooperation between the public and private sectors. It creates platforms for businesses and government to engage in dialogue on topics such as business needs and constraints, improved governance and economic reform.
Public-private dialogue (PPD) is an essential mechanism for improving policy frameworks, creating business-friendly environments and reducing poverty through economic growth. This is because public-private dialogue sustains dialogue over time (importantly, going beyond electoral cycles), builds trust between stakeholders and identifies priorities through a bottom-up approach. This promotes evidence-based policymaking and buy-in for reforms. To be effective, though, public-private dialogue must be designed carefully to avoid elite capture or the exclusion of SMEs and marginalised groups from the dialogue.
Public-private dialogue has not always been productive within UEMOA member states or at the regional level. Private sector stakeholders are not adequately represented and existing public-private dialogue frameworks differ widely and are insufficiently connected to each other. Added to that are a lack of funding and expertise to support public-private dialogue and difficulties in coordinating the actions of different government departments to address identified problems, often due to a lack of political support.
In response, the UEMOA Commission has worked for several years to strengthen public-private dialogue. It set up a network of focal points in each member state to raise local issues and initiated the development of a public-private dialogue strategy for the bloc and its member states. It also secured technical assistance from the ICR Facility to assess public-private dialogue in each member country and develop a regional strategy and roadmap for PPD.
The key components of UEMOA’s new public-private dialogue strategy
The strategy includes two linked components: a legal and institutional public-private dialogue framework and an implementation plan at national and regional levels.
It was crafted through consultation with relevant ministries and policymakers, to ensure alignment with national priorities and secure their commitment, as well as with private sector institutions such as chambers of commerce and employers’ organisations, to reflect the needs of their members. Civil society actors also provided input to ensure the public-private dialogue strategy integrates citizens’ perspectives and aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
While providing flexibility for member states to tailor the model to their own institutional and political contexts, the strategy includes common standards to integrate the national public-private dialogue frameworks within a regional public-private dialogue forum, which will be established and serve as a platform for coordination and monitoring across UEMOA. The strategy also calls for the gradual development of dedicated institutions to support public-private dialogue, with a significant focus on experience sharing.
“By integrating stakeholder feedback and adapting international best practices to our context, we have developed a tool that, I believe, will be instrumental in achieving our regional integration and growth objectives,” says Ndiaye.
The key steps for a structured PPD
Source of the graphic: https://www.impactforhealth.com/post/public-private-dialogue-a-practical-guide-for-developing-countries
The key priorities for effective implementation
The strategy was approved by sectoral ministers on 1 October 2024, and it is expected to be formally adopted by the UEMOA Statutory Council of Ministers by year’s end. Implementation will kick off in 2025 and partners are already lining up to take part.
A key priority will be to establish a harmonised framework for public-private dialogue at community, national and regional levels that facilitates experience sharing and coordination across these different tiers. Another priority will be to build the capacity of institutions and national public-private dialogue bodies and facilitate the development of standardised procedures, instruments, and tools.
These are no small tasks. “Political support, especially at the ministerial level, is crucial for effectively adopting and leading the strategy,” says Ndiaye. “Their commitment ensures the continuity of reform efforts and sends a strong signal to the private sector about the importance of public-private dialogue.”
Success will also rest on securing broad representation from the private sector, including SMEs, businesses in rural areas, young entrepreneurs, and women. Ensuring that all voices are heard is essential to developing reforms that reflect on-the-ground realities.
Other crucial success factors are adequate funding to support implementation and a clear monitoring and evaluation mechanism to measure progress and adjust actions as needed.
Ndiaye also highlights the importance of communication and transparency. “Demonstrating tangible results will be essential to keep the private sector and decision-makers invested in the public-private dialogue,” she says. To that end, there are plans for a digital platform that will centralize information and allow stakeholders to track progress.
A blueprint for UEMOA and beyond
If all goes well, UEMOA will have a modern and efficient public-private dialogue mechanism that is unrivaled on the African continent. This will enable policymakers to better understand the challenges faced by the private sector and bolster collaboration between the two in co-constructing policies that enable inclusive economic and social impact, attract investment and support a more favorable business environment.
There are other expected benefits. For example, Diego Borrero-Magana, the technical lead for business environment reform at the ICR Facility, says that the new public-private dialogue framework can help strengthen UEMOA’s bargaining position in international trade negotiations. An enhanced understanding of business needs will allow UEMOA negotiators to formulate an evidence-based negotiation strategy that better represents private sector interests.
Reflecting on the wider takeaways, Borrero-Magana adds that the adoption and development of this public-private dialogue Framework “shows that countries can work together to tackle investment climate issues and not only define common pathways for reform but also learn from each other.” He hopes that the public-private dialogue framework is useful for UEMOA and that this approach is replicated in regional blocs. “This is an opportunity for South-South learning.”
Supporting public-private dialogues is fundamental for the ICR Facility. Read about our Lessons Learnt or download our tool to make PPDs more effective. More knowledge products on this topic can be found here
This publication is part of an intervention supported by the Investment Climate Reform (ICR) Facility. The ICR Facility is co-funded by the European Union (EU), the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the British Council. The ICR Facility is implemented by GIZ, the British Council, Expertise France, and SNV. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the donors or the implementing partners
