Summary of publication
The Impact Private Sector Partnerships (IPSP) Program was established as part of DFAT's broader strategy to enhance private sector engagement in development. Launched in 2020, the program aimed to leverage private sector engagement to address development and climate challenges in the Indo-Pacific. IPSP has enabled DFAT to engage with the private sector through two mechanisms
- The Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) which enables partnerships between DFAT, business and other partners to bring together their investment, ideas and capabilities to test, trial and scale inclusive business models.
- The Business Engagement Support Unit (BESU) which provided short term advisory and training services to DFAT to assist in advancing development and climate outcomes through private sector engagement.
The evaluation's primary objective was to assess IPSP's realisation of its End of Program Outcomes (EOPOs) and the factors that have contributed to its progress. Secondary to that, the evaluation was intended to identify any lessons learned to better inform decision-making around the scope, governance, objectives, and modalities for any Posts or Regional Programs considering similar investments in the future. The evaluation examined the program’s work across three funding rounds: the COVID-19 Recovery and Vietnam Green Recovery round, the Vietnam Carbon Markets round and the Climate Adaptation for the Mekong Delta round.
In summary, the evaluation found that IPSP’s flexible model has been valuable to DFAT’s overseas Posts and that IPSP has achieved both climate and economic impacts, with some benefits for women. Many supported partnerships are able to, or are at least willing to, invest in continuing their business models following IPSP support. The evaluation also found that IPSP’s partnerships had delivered a wealth of experience and lessons learned that are useful for DFAT, particularly in novel areas including carbon markets and climate adaptation. DFAT agreed with each of the four evaluation recommendations, which covered resourcing intensity, gender equality, monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) trade-offs as well as risk appetite/management.
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Full publication
- Independent Evaluation of the Impact Private Sector Partnerships Program: Evaluation Report [DOCX 7 MB]
- Independent Evaluation of the Impact Private Sector Partnerships Program: Evaluation Report [PDF 3 MB]