Partnerships are particularly important in a global world where traditional boundaries between what is seen as pubic versus private responsibilities have become increasingly blurred, and where problems such as AIDS and climate change extend beyond national boundaries. Hence it is not a surprise that a common agenda is emerging between the UN and the private sector. Partnering with the UN to alleviate complex social problems such as poverty, exploitation, human rights abuses and the spread of diseases has many advantages. Partners with the UN can:
• build capacity in emerging markets,
• help promote political stability and good governance,
• battle corruption and human rights abuses,
• encourage innovation and news ways of thinking,
• improve health, education, the environment and social well-being.
In recent years the United Nations has increased its efforts to foster partnerships. My office, the UN Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), was established in March 1998 after Ted Turner announced his gift of $1 billion to support UN causes the year before. Turner set up a public charity called the United Nations Foundation to administer this gift. UNFIP works with Turner's UN Foundation to fund and develop programmes and to build new partnerships for the UN system.
The success of the UN's partnership with the UN Foundation has spurred a multiplier effect that has enabled UNFIP and the UN to attract and foster additional partnerships. UNFIP has been asked to facilitate and promote such new partnerships, networks and alliances with a variety of sources. A few of the corporations UNFIP works with include: Cisco Systems Inc., Citigroup, Hewlett- Packard, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Suez, and Vodafone.
Working together with a partner like UNF has helped us to think in new and innovative ways. They support the UN, but are not the UN, so they bring a fresh perspective to the table. For example, a few years ago UNF and UNFIP funded the development and launch of the Global Reporting Initiative - the only existing guidelines for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of a company's activities, products, and services. Out of this grew more ideas and discussions that led to the November 2003 Investors Summit on Climate Risk. The Summit was held at the UN and convened 200 pension fund managers, US state treasures, government officials, high level business executives, NGO leaders, and senior UN staff to explore the connection between climate risk and fiduciary responsibility. Former Vice President Al Gore was the keynote speaker and a 10 point Call to Action was signed by key participants who have fiduciary responsibility for over $1 trillion in assets.
In the past, public/private partnerships often meant: you give us your money and we'll spend it. Today, partnerships have taken on a whole new meaning. Partnership means truly working together - sharing intellectual and financial resources. We saw that when the Investors Summit brought together government, the UN, Wall Street and corporate board executives to talk about environmental liabilities. This is personally what I want to see more of - exploring the links between previously separate ways of thinking. This is where innovation lies.
UNFIP sees three levels of opportunities for partners to align socially responsible activities with UN goals:
• advocacy,
• cooperation on the ground
• strategic partnerships (leveraging each partners' strengths).
Engaging business and all actors of civil society as part of the solution is not only the best chance, it may also be the only chance we have to reach the Millennium Development Goals.