The economic crisis that so many countries have been experiencing has put the spotlight on the need for more corporate responsibility and what governments can do to promote it. In addition, interest in innovative ways to help stretch government resources for development has risen. Responsible business, as the key driver of sustainable development, also has a lot to offer in the way of resources, expertise, distribution networks, personnel, and so forth.

The report illustrates the policy options with a number of examples of public actions and policies in the north and south. While there is clearly no one-size-fits all approach, the aim of this report is to assist governments in considering their menu of options specific to their national context and the specific thematic issue that they seek to address—whether human rights, labor, the environment, anticorruption and/or business engagement or topics like health, water, education etc. A six-step model provides governments with a compass intended to assist in designing the policy framework for corporate responsibility and business engagement in development that is right for them. The six steps are:

• Understanding the CR-relevant context.
• Defining corporate responsibility.
• Situating CR within a government structure.
• Defining the CR public policy rationale.
• Identifying appropriate types of policy intervention for CR.
• Monitoring and impact assessment.

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