Connecting Business Initiative
The Connecting Business Initiative (CBi) is a multi-stakeholder initiative that helps the private sector to engage with the United Nations system, national governments and civil society in a coordinated manner on crisis risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery. It has transformed the way the private sector engages before, during and after crises to create more resilient communities, increase local capacity and alleviate human suffering. Operational and technical support is provided by United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs while United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction is providing technical advice on disaster risk reduction.
Activities
- Providing a clear entry point for the private sector to engage in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery.
- Connecting private sector networks at the subnational, national and regional levels, and among industry and thematic groups, to each other and other actors.
- Mobilizing and connecting partners.
- Developing and disseminating best practice on private sector engagement and facilitating policy engagement.
- Matching private sector capacities and resources to humanitarian needs through local networks.
- Supporting the creation and strengthening of private sector-led networks for disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery.
- Producing tools and delivering programs to build the resilience of businesses and their communities.
- Integrating the private sector in resilience programs and national disaster management structures.
- Mapping and monitoring private sector engagement globally to identify gaps and target
Purpose
The Sri Lanka Alliance for Disaster Risk Management will support the private sector to engage easier, faster and more efficiently in disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery through the coordination and consolidation of a number of networks and initiatives under the framework of the Connecting Business initiative. The objective of the Connecting Business initiative is to support existing national, regional, thematic and industry private sector networks; and create a global portal to connect new and existing national, regional, thematic and industry private sector networks and platforms.
Synergies
The Sri Lanka network will elevate information on requirements that cannot be met at the national level to the global portal. The global portal and the secretariat of the Connecting Business initiative will facilitate connections between the Sri Lanka network and other platforms, governments, international organizations and civil society. The secretariat of the global portal will support the network by providing capacity building resources and training, disseminating best practice on private sector engagement in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery, and disseminating best practice on advocacy, policy and standard setting.