RIU advocates role of brokers
20 October 2010

Leaders from business, government, NGOs and academia gathered recently in London at an event organised by Care International to look at the role of business and enterprise in international development.

Taking as their starting point the UN Secretary General's recent assertion that "business plays an integral role in delivering economic and social progress" the panellists proceeded to debate what that role might look like.

Duncan Sones of the RIU communications team was present and took advantage of question time to suggest that the greater coordination the panel was asking for was only likely to happen with an investment in brokers to make the links. Mark Lowcock, (Director General, Country Programmes at DFID), was broadly sympathetic to the suggestion and acknowledged the work that RIU is doing in the area of brokerage.

Duncan said:

"The plea for more use of brokers seems to strike a chord. Within seconds of the event finishing I had a fist full of business cards from people who wanted to find out more about what our brokers do. Naturally I pointed them to the blog from Vera Mugittu."