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Multi-stakeholder partnerships: Making them work for the Post-2015 Development Agenda
Expanding the United Nations’ partnerships — with Governments, business, the philanthropic community, civil society and academia — would be central to effectively implement the new development agenda, Martin Sajdik, President of the Economic and Social Council, told the 54-member body today, as delegates evaluated how to harness their potential, including by setting up voluntary review mechanisms to assess results.
“It will be important to consider how best to channel the valuable contributions and expertise of stakeholders in advancing the implementation of the new sustainable development goals,” Mr. Sajdik (Austria) said, opening a half-day special event entitled, “Multi-stakeholder partnerships: Making them work for the Post-2015 Development Agenda”.
The last two decades had seen a “mushrooming” of such collaborations, he said. They had become an integral part of the Organization’s work and they were rarely the same: they could have different structures and characteristics, employ different monitoring and review mechanisms, and/or choose to include reporting requirements. While they were important on a global level, what really mattered was what citizens noticed at the national level.
For that, he said, voluntary review mechanisms were needed. Such a platform could allow Governments to take stock of the role, trends, innovations and financing of multi-stakeholder partnerships. At the same time, he cautioned against putting in place too many different implementation and review mechanisms, which would result in a loss of oversight. Lessons learned from today’s discussions could provide ideas for a possible framework for reviewing and evaluating partnerships in the post-2015 period.
The day featured two panel discussions: the first, moderated by Michael Shank, Climate Nexus’ Director of Media Strategy, considered how partnerships could best be aligned to the post-2015 development agenda. A common vision and common goals were important, said Mr. Shank in opening remarks, as were “accountable aims and assets” — transparency, measurable goals, and sufficient human and financial resources.
The second panel, moderated by Raj Kumar, Co-Founder and President of Devex, highlighted elements of successful partnerships that could be extracted to help define a partnership framework for the post-2015 era. Thinking about the future, Mr. Kumar said, required structures that brought together various actors. It also meant identifying how to support partnerships, pinpointing issues that needed top-down attention, or bottom-up action.
Throughout, delegates weighed the criteria needed to align global partnerships with the post-2015 development agenda, raising questions about where to “house” the oversight of those collaborations and how to shape that monitoring architecture. Questions also centred on the relationship between the private and public sectors, particularly around financing, as well as on how to avoid conflicts of interests, especially among different United Nations bodies
In closing remarks, Mr. Sajdic said today’s debate offered important ideas ahead of the Council’s annual Forum on Partnership, to be held on 28 May.