FICCI-World Bank join hands to bring Innovation into mainstream, forms 'Millennium Alliance'

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the World Bank today announced their partnership to advance the Millennium Alliance (MA) initiative, which seeks to identify and scale up innovative solutions being developed and tested by social enterprises in India.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and Onno Ruhl, India Country Director, World Bank. The MoU formalized a shared commitment to support solutions that provide sustainable last mile delivery to populations at the base of the pyramid in healthcare, sanitation, education, clean energy and agriculture.

FICCI and the World Bank have come together in a knowledge partnership to promote the replication and scaling up of innovative approaches in service delivery across the South Asia and Africa regions, the industry body said in a statement.

The World Bank will bring global experience and incubate these new and inclusive approaches for bringing services to the poor. The partnership will facilitate dialogue between social enterprises and governments so that solutions can be scaled-up to underserved populations under the government’s priority programs, the statement added.

Besides the Millennium Alliance programme, the agreement also provides for FICCI and the World Bank to work together to enhance private sector engagement in global migration policy and promote the generation and synthesis of knowledge on migration issues. In this, the World Bank’s engagement will be led by the Global Knowledge Partnership on Migration and Development (KNOMAD).

FICCI and the World Bank’s partnership is dedicated to promoting the mobility of skilled labour, enhancing safe and legal migration, and ensuring ethical transnational recruitment practices. Potential areas of collaboration include the study of demographic changes and migration; the study of remittances, including access to finance and capital markets; and mobilising the diaspora as agents of social and economic change.

"From sectoral cooperation to a flexible framework agreement brings the World Bank and FICCI to a new development opportunity which we are excited about", said Didar Singh, Secretary General FICCI.

“The MoU provides a framework to engage private sector in key development initiatives. Collaborations on Swachh Bharat, development of social enterprises, South Asia trade and knowledge exchange with Africa will get immediate focus”, said Mr Onno Ruhl, Country Director India, World Bank

The Millennium Alliance (MA) was launched in July 2012 jointly by the Technology Development Board (Department of Science and Technology, Government of India); USAID and FICCI.