In poorer countries, governments often face limited capacity to expand access to essential public services such as education, healthcare, water, and electricity. Fiscal constraints, institutional limitations, and a large informal sector reduce the government’s ability to finance and effectively implement development programmes.
As a result, relying solely on the state to deliver these services may slow national development. For countries such as Zimbabwe, partnerships between government, businesses, and civil society should therefore be seriously considered as an alternative model for expanding and improving public services.
This article explores the potential of such multi-sectoral partnerships and how they can be designed to achieve optimal results. The partnerships discussed here involve both financial contributions and operational collaboration among stakeholders.
Multi-sectoral partnerships matter
Multi-sectoral partnerships can be advantageous because they expand funding options and combine the strengths of different sectors. In such collaborations, the private sector can bring efficiency, innovation, and a willingness to take risks when implementing projects. Governments, on the other hand, provide legitimacy, regulatory oversight, and expertise in public policy.
At present, much of the private sector’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) spending is often implemented in an uncoordinated manner. Many companies allocate resources to social initiatives without clear long-term strategies or coordination with broader national development priorities.
As a result, corporate social spending sometimes focuses on highly visible projects that generate marketing benefits but have limited long-term developmental impact. In some cases, public relations considerations overshadow the actual effectiveness of these initiatives. Consequently, CSR interventions often fail to produce meaningful change on a national scale.
However, expectations placed on companies are evolving. Regulators, shareholders, consumers, and society at large increasingly expect businesses to demonstrate tangible social impact through their ESG activities.
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This growing pressure has encouraged many companies to rethink their social investment strategies and adopt clearer impact-measurement frameworks. Businesses now need to demonstrate that their social spending produces measurable improvements in communities rather than merely serving marketing objectives.
From the government’s perspective, additional funding sources are urgently needed to sustain public services. In Zimbabwe, a large informal sector and broader economic challenges have constrained the state’s ability to generate sufficient revenue through taxation.
Zimbabwe’s tax-to-gross domestic production (GDP) ratio is estimated to range between 4% and 10%, which is significantly lower than that of neighbouring South Africa, where tax revenues account for roughly 26% of GDP.
This disparity highlights the need for innovative approaches to mobilising resources for development. Multi-sectoral partnerships can help bridge this gap by combining public oversight with private sector capital and expertise.
Cases of successful partnerships
Examples from other countries illustrate how such partnerships can work effectively.
One notable initiative is the Global Business Coalition for Education, established in 2012. The coalition brings together around 150 multinational companies that pool financial resources to support access to quality education worldwide.
Businesses that join the coalition receive guidance from the organisation’s secretariat on where their investments can have the greatest impact. Projects supported by the coalition include early childhood development programmes and youth skills training initiatives.
Participation in such initiatives also benefits businesses themselves. Investments in education help produce a more skilled workforce, improve social stability, and contribute to economic growth — all of which create favourable conditions for businesses to operate and expand.
Another example is the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) in South Africa, established in 2013. NECT pools funding from government, businesses, and charitable organisations to support improvements in the national education system.
The organisation currently runs several programmes, including the District Improvement Programme, which focuses on strengthening teacher development, improving learner wellbeing, increasing parental involvement in education, supplying learning materials, and upgrading school infrastructure.
NECT also runs the Education Dialogue SA platform, which facilitates discussions among key stakeholders — including academics, government officials, independent schools, and trade unions — on major challenges facing the education sector. These discussions generate proposals that may later inform policy debates and reforms.
Many South African companies have reported that contributing to NECT is more efficient than developing their own education-focused CSR programmes. Because NECT enjoys national credibility and a strong track record of measurable outcomes, companies benefit both from the social impact of the initiative and the reputational value of supporting a trusted national project.
A third example comes from India, where the government has experimented with innovative financing mechanisms known as Development Impact Bonds (DIBs).
Under a DIB arrangement, private investors finance the implementation of social programmes — such as building schools or clinics — while the government agrees to repay the investment with interest if predetermined social outcomes are achieved. These outcomes are usually verified by an independent auditor.
If the agreed outcomes are not achieved, the investors may lose some or all of the expected returns. This structure creates strong incentives for efficiency and innovation in project implementation while reducing the risk of public funds being lost to inefficiency or corruption. A well-known example is the Educate Girls Development Impact Bond launched in 2015 in Rajasthan, India. The programme targeted the enrolment and improvement of educational outcomes for girls in rural communities where female literacy rates were particularly low.
The initiative focused primarily on girls aged six to 14 and involved community outreach programmes, door-to-door visits by social workers to encourage school enrolment, remedial education programmes, and collaboration with school management committees to improve academic performance.
Payment to investors was linked to two outcomes: improved learning outcomes for participating students and increased enrolment of out-of-school girls.
An independent evaluation later concluded that the programme not only achieved but exceeded its targets. Enrolment outcomes reached 116% of the original target, while learning improvements reached approximately 160% of the planned goal.
Despite their promise, DIBs also present certain challenges. They often involve significant start-up costs, including legal and consulting fees required to structure the agreements and design performance-measurement systems. In addition, because DIBs are relatively new financing instruments, there is still limited experience with their long-term performance.
Governments considering such mechanisms must therefore ensure that they have sufficient technical expertise and institutional capacity to design and manage them effectively.
Challenges to collaboration
While multi-sectoral partnerships offer significant potential, they also face important challenges.
One major obstacle is mistrust between governments, businesses, and communities. In some cases, governments and civil society organisations may question the motivations behind corporate philanthropy, particularly when companies appear to prioritise marketing benefits over genuine social impact.
Kevin Tutani is a political economy analyst. [email protected]
