Advocacy resource
"National Business Agenda Guidebook by the Center for International Private Enterprise"
Posted August 10, 2009 by Martina Bennett
A national business agenda (NBA) is a vital tool for the business community to encourage investment and stimulate business activity and economic growth. Developing an agenda mobilizes the business community to use its skills to eff ect public policy reform by setting legislative and regulatory priorities and clearly communicating them to policymakers. NBAs identify laws and regulations that hinder business activity. They also offer concrete recommendations and reforms to remove these barriers and improve the
business climate. Developing a national business agenda educates members of the private sector on public policies that aff ect them. The process allows private sector representatives to present the concerns of the business community to government offi cials in a unified voice and increase the likelihood that the agenda will be adopted.
When business associations come together to promote a core set of market-oriented policies, they are much more effective than if they pursue policy change individually. CIPE developed this guidebook to provide business associations, professional organizations, and other interested parties with step-by-step guidance on how to build a national business agenda. However, the guidebook is to be viewed as a set of guiding principles and can be adapted based on the specific needs of any country’s private sector and the realities of its political process. CIPE’s experience shows that taking a structured approach to reform will often achieve results even in the most challenging of political and economic environments.
