Partnership

Private sector

The private sector, as a partner, brings expertise and a capacity for innovation, and contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the involvement of the private sector facilitates the mobilisation of complementary private investments. 

In order to enable partnerships with the private sector to be integrated into bilateral cooperation activities in a pragmatic and flexible manner, LuxDev has developed "Private sector partnership instruments" and their three tools:

• the Business Partnership Facility aims to initiate innovative, impactful and commercially viable projects between a Luxembourgish or European company and its partners in a developing country;
• LuxAid Challenge Fund targets companies based in countries where the Luxembourg Cooperation is present, proposing innovative solutions to a development challenge identified in these countries. It offers co-financing and technical support to test pilot solutions and their commercial viability, before scaling them up (calls for proposals will be regularly open in the targeted countries and on the topics defined in those countries. A first call for proposals was launched in the autumn 2023 in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Senegal, in the sectors of food security and distance learning);
• LuxAid Demonstration Fund supports the scaling up of innovative initiatives that have demonstrated their impact and proven their efficiency. These demonstration projects are currently being carried out in three pilot countries: Senegal, Kosovo, and Rwanda.

In general, LuxDev favors systemic approaches, including the 'market systems development' approach, to encourage change makers – including businesses, as well as other organisations – to better enable the most vulnerable populations to benefit from markets. These approaches place sustainability and replicability at the core of interventions.

Academics and research

Public research in the service of cooperation is a source of new knowledge that can support the implementation of bilateral cooperation activities.

In 2023, as part of the joint programme LuxAid BRIDGES, the National Research Fund, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, and LuxDev initiated a first call for research projects to be funded in partnership with researchers in developing countries. It is organised in two stages: an optional "Seedlings" stage in the spring, followed by a research proposal call at the end of the year. This pilot call for projects will help better assess the contribution of research to the strategy of Luxembourg Cooperation.

Civil society / NGOs

Collaboration with NGOs takes many forms and is always based on the added value that an NGO can bring to a specific bilateral development cooperation action.

National NGOs in the countries where LuxDev operates are mobilised to help achieve specific results in the context of LuxDev projects, because of their local presence, their knowledge of the context and the issues to be addressed, as well as their concern for the sustainability of the project. These NGOs generally benefit from capacity-building support. They are both partners and beneficiaries.

On the other hand, international NGOs, or national NGOs that have reached a certain level of maturity, work exclusively as partners in bilateral cooperation projects and programmes. In order to achieve greater effectiveness, efficiency, and coherence, LuxDev generally reinforces the action of these NGOs on subjects and areas of intervention that converge with Luxembourg's bilateral intervention.

Other donors and cooperation agencies

LuxDev is an active member of the Practitioners' Network. This network aims to strengthen cooperation, links and complementarity between European development actors with a public service mission, by creating opportunities for cooperation and synergies in implementation. It enables the exchange of information and experience between practitioners and provides feedback on European development policies from the point of view of practitioners, while improving the visibility of its members.

In addition to its participation in this network, for which LuxDev has assumed the co-presidency from 2020 to 2021 with Enabel, the Belgian development cooperation agency, LuxDev is also present in specialised networks dealing with priority themes for Luxembourg Cooperation (gender, environment, inclusive finance, digital for development).

This presence enables LuxDev to exchange ideas with its peers, acquire new knowledge and skills and seize opportunities for collaboration with these players.

Being first and foremost the Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency, LuxDev also develops partnerships with other donors and development cooperation agencies, provided that these partnerships are complementary or additional to the bilateral portfolio. Lastly, certain partnerships are defined on the basis of their strategic nature for LuxDev.