Partnerships between business and the United Nations have become an integral part of the UN system and the business community alike. Partnerships have evolved considerably in recent years. UN agencies have improved their public-private strategies and sought out new areas where collaboration is valuable. While not all partnerships have tapped their full potential, many produce remarkable results, helping for instance to more effectively achieve the Millennium Development Goals. In preparation for the 2011 General Assembly Resolution, and as a follow-up to Resolution A/RES/64/223 adopted by the General Assembly in December 2009, GPPi, together with the UN Global Compact Office, developed the Secretary-General’s report Towards Global Partnerships, which was presented at the 66th session of the General Assembly.

Project objectives

The report provided an overview of recent trends with regard to the ways the UN works with the private sector. It also analyzed what needs to be done in terms of impact and scale and what the UN can do to better contribute to transformational partnerships -- partnerships that create impact at a systematic level across sectors and geographies. The report reviewed a number of recent partnership-initiatives and provided several case examples of different types of partnerships. It traced what UN agencies, funds and programs have done to implement the recommendations proposed in the previous report of the Secretary-General. Based on an analysis of current challenges and lessons learned, the report identified priority action areas and suggested steps to further strengthen the UN’s capacity to partner.

GPPi conducted this analysis through comprehensive interviews with representatives from stakeholder UN agencies, funds, programs and member states. GPPi also ran an online survey completed by UN staff and reviewed all relevant literature and documents.

For more information on this project, please contact Wade Hoxtell.