Financial institutions and local civil society organisations - an unusual match? Quite the contrary. In Paraguay, a collaboration between Dutch Development Bank FMO, local banks and NGOs appears powerful towards reducing illegal deforestation.

Civil society organisations can use the leverage of a large international party and investor such as FMO in mobilising the local financial and business sector to improve its operations. In Paraguay, 14 of the 17 national banks have voluntary adopted social environmental standards. Linda Broekhuizen, Chief Investment Officer of FMO, explains in this video how they convinced the banks to start working with NGOs.

Asset managers can use their investments to trigger change. However, they often lack access to reliable information on specific companies. Civil society organisations can offer the solution.

Faryda Lindeman, Responsible Investing Specialist at Dutch asset manager NN Investment Partners, explains the important role civil societies can play.

These 2 tips are part of a collection of 5 lessons on business engagement from the Shared Resources Joint Solutions programme, a strategic partnership between IUCN NL, WWF and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2016, we have strengthened the capacity of local NGOs and civil society organisations in 16 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America to join forces with the public and private sector to protect biodiversity, climate resilience, food security and the water.