Advancing partnerships between the UN and business partners for sustainable development

The scale and ambition of the 2030 Agenda, including the Paris Agreement, requires a revitalised Global Partnership to ensure its implementation, bringing together governments, civil society, the private sector, the United Nations system and other actors.

The UN System Staff College (UNSSC) Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development therefore actively promotes multi-stakeholder engagement and partnerships through learning, training and knowledge management. To develop learning and training offerings on partnerships with the private sector, the UNSSC Knowledge Centre for Sustainable Development has been partnering with the UN Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative with 8,000 business participants in 145 countries.

Responding to a significant demand, the UNSSC Knowledge Centre initiated, jointly with the UN Global Compact, the design of a new advanced training programme on partnerships between the UN and the private sector to be launched in spring 2017 for UN staff and business partners. The advanced partnerships course will combine different learning methodologies during four complementary stages of the training programme, tailored to expert practitioners. The course will also serve as a platform for cross-fertilisation, knowledge and experience sharing amongst partnership practitioners.

On the occasion of the October 2016 UN Private Sector Focal Points Meeting in Dubai, which was part of the UN Global Compact regional event series   Making Global Goals Local Business, the outline of the upcoming new advanced partnership training programme was presented, unequivocally welcomed and validated as an important element of building capacity for partnerships for the advancement of sustainable development. In accelerating the local UN- Business Partnerships, capacity building and learning were announced among the key priorities for 2017.

The UNSSC Knowledge Centre also presented and reached out to participating UN Global Compact Local Networks and private companies at the Business for Peace Annual Meeting “Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME)”.

The 2nd Regional Forum “Sustainability in Action: Business and the Sustainable Development Goals” co-organised by the UN Global Compact and the Pearl Initiative under the Patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mabarak  Al Nahayan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development crystalised the importance of value of private sector engagement and corporate governance as a fundamental driver of sustainable development.

The forum had a special focus on the themes of prosperity, people, planet, peace and partnership and made a “Call to Action” for business leaders to commit to embracing sustainable development as a business imperative.

Overall, the series of events brought together over 600 leaders from business, senior representatives from public and private companies, family firms, civil society, the UN, Government, the Global Compact Local Networks, and academia from across the globe and MENA region to foster business engagement and explore the transformative partnerships and platforms needed to advance sustainable development priorities and Sustainable Development Goals, to share lessons learned and to strengthen the impactful action on the ground. 

Check www.unssc.org for regular updates on the advanced partnerships course as well as other learning and training offers in the context of Agenda 2030.