A Decade of Proof: Reflecting on the Connecting Business Initiative’s Impact and What Comes Next

When the OCHA-UNDP Connecting Business initiative (CBI) was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, the ambition was clear: to bring the private sector into disaster management in a way that is coordinated, trusted, and aligned with public leadership.

Nearly ten years later, that ambition has been tested by increasingly frequent and complex crises. While many initiatives launched at the Summit struggled to move beyond pilots, CBI remains active and growing.

As CBI looks ahead to its next phase, a recently completed independent evaluation offers a timely opportunity to reflect on what has worked, where the initiative has added value, and how it can continue to evolve.

From idea to impact

Since its inception, CBI has supported more than 22 national and regional private sector networks. Together, they have responded to more than 217 crises, mobilized over USD 146 million, and reached over 63.2 million people.

The evaluation results highlight CBI’s greatest strength: its ability to organize private sector engagement across the full disaster risk management cycle, before, during, and after crises. Rather than mobilizing companies only once disasters strike, CBI invests in preparedness, coordination, and trust long before emergencies occur.

It describes CBI as a “powerful and effective knowledge network,” bringing together private sector practitioners who are increasingly able to contribute meaningfully to preparedness, response, recovery, and risk reduction.

The value of coordination

The critical convening role of CBI is not always visible, but it is essential. Over the past decade, CBI has been driven by its goal of breaking down barriers to ensure coordination of emergency response efforts with the private sector. The CBI Member Networks convene businesses around shared protocols that seek to align private sector action with national disaster management systems and humanitarian coordination mechanisms, to ensure coordination between corporate structures and humanitarian realities.

Across contexts, Member Networks reported stronger capacity, better coordination, and increased credibility with governments and humanitarian partners. At the global level, the evaluation also recognized the CBI Secretariat as a small but highly effective team, able to deliver results despite limited and unpredictable funding, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, when it rapidly shifted to virtual learning solutions and peer-to-peer exchanges.

Advancing localization through business networks

A key finding of the evaluation is CBI’s contribution to localization. By working through national and regional networks, CBI strengthens local leadership and embeds private sector engagement within national systems.

The evaluation found that CBI has “significantly advanced the localization agenda”, equipping Member Networks with the skills, tools, and access needed to act collectively alongside local actors. This locally anchored approach has enabled faster decision-making, better contextual understanding, and more sustainable outcomes.

Looking ahead

The evaluation is clear-eyed about challenges. Limited financing has constrained CBI’s ability to scale at the pace originally envisioned, even as demand for structured private sector engagement continues to grow.

At the same time, the evaluation concludes that CBI is well positioned to go further, particularly in areas such as innovative finance, risk-informed investment, and technology-enabled solutions, and to expand into new contexts.

As CBI approaches its ten-year anniversary in May 2026, the evaluation serves as both validation and roadmap. It confirms that the model works – and that its potential is far greater.

Over the coming months, CBI will build on these findings as it prepares its next strategy, strengthens its partnerships, and works to secure the resources needed to scale. The aim is not growth for its own sake, but to enable greater impact: expanding a community that has shown how the private sector, when engaged the right way, can help make disaster preparedness, response, and recovery more effective.

If you would like to join CBI as a Member Network, partner, or supporter as part of its next phase of operations and impact, we invite you to connect with us as we work toward a safer, more resilient world.

To read the full evaluation report, please follow this link.

To reach out to the CBI Secretariat, please contact Annik.Tiedt@un.org.