Multi-stakeholder partnerships

The achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals require all hands on deck. It require different sectors and actors working together in an integrated manner by pooling financial resources, knowledge and expertise. In our new development era with 17 intertwined Sustainable Development Goals and 169 associated targets as a blue-print for achieving the sustainable Future We Want, cross sectorial and innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships will play a crucial role for getting us to where we need by the year 2030.

Partnerships for sustainable development are multi-stakeholder initiatives voluntarily undertaken by Governments, intergovernmental organizations, major groups and others stakeholders, which efforts are contributing to the implementation of inter-governmentally agreed development goals and commitments, as included in Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, the Millennium Declaration, the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) entitled “The Future We Want”, the Third International Conference on Small island Developing States, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Sustainable Development Goal 17, which reads “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development”, recognizes multi-stakeholder partnerships as important vehicles for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, particularly developing countries. Goal 17 further seek to encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships.

Our work

The Division for SDGs supports, facilitates and monitors multi-stakeholder partnerships and voluntary commitments forged in support of sustainable development and the SDGs. announced at various international sustainable development conferences.

The Division also maintains the Partnerships for SDGs online platform – a global registry of commitments and multi-stakeholder partnerships made through various UN conferences in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include the SDG Summit (2019), the UN Ocean Conferences (2017 and 2021), the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Conference (2014), and the Rio+20 Conference (2012), among others.

Following the 2014 Third International Conference, the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Partnership Framework was established by the General Assembly with the purpose of monitoring progress of existing, and stimulating the launch of new, genuine and durable partnerships for the sustainable development of SIDS. The Division, in collaboration with OHRLLS, is the supporting Secretariat to the framework.

In collaboration with several partners, In 2019 the Division launched, in collaboration with partners, the 2030 Agenda Partnership Accelerator  to help accelerate and scale up effective partnerships to advance the SDGs. The initiative provides research on effective partnership practices and capacity development of relevant stakeholders to develop and implement partnerships to advance the SDGs. A particular focus of the Partnership Accelerator is to support developing countries in forging new partnerships to advance the SDGs by strengthening collaboration between stakeholders and sectors at the national level.