7 lessons learned by Canadian humanitarian groups on private sector partnerships

Partnerships with the private sector are all the rage in development circles, but what this means for humanitarian organizations isn’t always clear.

Members of Canada’s humanitarian community had a chance to reflect on the issue during the Humanitarian Conference, a two-day event held last week in Ottawa. The conference came just as the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development — which oversees Canadian foreign aid efforts — announced the funding of a large research and consultation project with the private sector and humanitarian aid agencies on the potential of cross-sector partnerships.

We look at lessons learned about private sector partnerships shared by the experts who spoke during the conference.