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Letter from the Global Compact
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About The UN-Business Focal Point
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The UN-Business Focal Point seeks to enhance communication among UN Private Sector Focal Points, thereby advancing the sharing of best practices and lessons on partnerships and joint partnership activities across the UN system.
For questions and comments, please contact the editors at focalpoint@unandpartnerships.org
For more information on the Global Compact see: www.unglobalcompact.org
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From the Global Compact
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Letter from the Global Compact
by Georg Kell, Global Compact Office
Dear Colleague,
It is with great pleasure that I present to you the first issue of the “UN-Business Focal Point”, an E-Newsletter for UN System Private Sector Focal Points, published by the Global Compact Office on a quarterly basis. I hope you will find this new service to be interesting, informative, and inspiring for your own work with the private sector...
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Partnership Projects
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UNDP and OCHA Partner with DHL in Disaster Management
by Susanne Meier, Deutsche Post AG
In December 2004, a tsunami shocked the world and destroyed the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. Within hours after the disaster hit, DHL (a subsidiary of Deutsche Post World Net) mobilized its global logistics network to support the relief effort. For example, DHL expert volunteers were deployed to reduce critical logistic bottlenecks at Colombo Airport, Sri Lanka...
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UNEP and partners expand telecom access in Ghana
Making a telephone call from rural Ghana is not always easy, especially for locals. Telephone cables are few. Electricity can be scarce. Now, however, the e-Commerce and Renewable Energy (eCARE) project is trying to overcome these obstacles by providing telephone and internet services to these areas – and proving that it is both profitable and sustainable...
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Turning Commitment into Action: The World Economic Forum Partnering Against Corruption Initiative
by Valerie Weinzierl, World Economic Forum
Corruption and bribery are key impediments to sustainable development and economic growth and research shows that foreign direct investment is lower in countries which are perceived to be corrupt. Hence, to advance economic development there is no doubt that corruption and bribery must be overcome. To tackle this challenge leading CEOs have launched the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) within the framework of the World Economic Forum...
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Private Sector supports Training of Local Authorities
A fruitful partnership between UNITAR and VEOLIA Environnement
Since 2001, The United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) has cooperated with VEOLIA Environnement, a supplier of environmental services. The partnership supports the work of UNITAR’s Decentralized Cooperation Programme as it conducts training seminars for local authorities. The UN-Business Focal Point decided to dig deeper into the longstanding partnership, so we interviewed Ms. Berta Pesti, Associate Programme Officer at UNITAR.
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Meet a Focal Point
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Meet a Focal Point
Christelle Loupforest, UN OCHA
For millions of people affected by the tsunami in South Asia, 2005 was a tragic, even disastrous, year. For Christelle Loupforest, it was simply exhausting. As a Private Sector Focal Point at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Activities (OCHA) she was in charge of coordinating the private sector’s extraordinary outpouring of help...
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Tools and Resources
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Meeting Global Challenges through Public-Private Partnering
Good for States and Good for Business—says a newly published book
by Inge Kaul, UNDP
Globalization is confronting policymakers with new—global—challenges. They include issues like avian flu, financial volatility, international terrorism, or cyber crime. In addition, governments face a growing volume of external policy expectations about behind-the-border policy harmonization in respect to legal frameworks, financial codes and standards, or human rights and democracy...
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The UN Global Compact Office and GPPi release joint study: Business UNusual: Facilitating United Nations Reform through Partnerships
On September 13 2005, the United Nations Global Compact Office and the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) released their joint report: Business UNusual: Facilitating United Nations Reform Through Partnerships. The report brings an important perspective to the United Nations’ current efforts to reform itself.
Business UNusual explores best practice, conceptual advancements, and lessons learned from partnerships between the United Nations, business, and civil society that have emerged during the past decade.
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CSD Secretariat Produces Report on Partnerships
by Mita Sen, UN DESA
The report provides a general overview on the 319 partnerships for sustainable development currently registered with the CSD Secretariat, as well as more detailed picture of partnerships working in the areas of energy for sustainable development; industrial development; air pollution/atmosphere and climate change.
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AccountAbility releases new partnership accountability framework
by Sasha Radovich, AccountAbility
AccountAbility’s work on partnership governance and accountability has extended over the last four years and has recently launched the Partnership Governance and Accountability Framework with the support of USAID and the Ford Foundation. The PGA Framework aims to improve partnership performance by helping partnership brokers, managers and funders, and impacted stakeholders to better design and implement, and assess the quality of, partnership governance and accountability.
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UN Global Compact Office’s Shanghai Summit Report Released
The final report of the Global Compact Summit: China, held on 30 November - 1 December in Shanghai, is now available for download...
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"Partnering Skills for Strategic Engagements"
UNSSC expands "Partners in Action"
by David F. Murphy, UNSSC
In December 2005, Partners in Action launched the first of a series of partnering skills courses ‘Partnering Skills for Strategic Engagement’ designed to enhance the abilities of UN staff to engage in and promote multi-stakeholder partnerships . Following the launch in Vienna, a second programme was held in Geneva and three more are planned for Paris (hosted by UNESCO on May 16-18), Rome (July) and Nairobi (October). The course is targeted at key players in UN agencies and other international organizations, who have responsibility for building partnerships with business, foundations, civil society and donors. Two comments from participants encapsulate the outcomes: “I feel much better able to function as an effective partnership broker…This will help me build this capacity within our organization.”: “Every element has given me something to use in my day-to-day job.”
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GPPi to launch partnership networking site
The Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) will be launching a partnership networking website at the 14th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development May 10-12...
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IFAD approves Private Sector Development and Partnership Strategy
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has recently issued an evaluation of its partnerships and alliances...
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Talk the Walk: a new report provides answers to business about sustainable development
UNEP, the United Nations Global Compact Office and Utopies (a French consultancy firm specialized in sustainable development strategies) have produced a new report that provides responses to questions frequently raised by the business community about sustainable development...
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Preview: Report to be published on the role of business in tsunami relief in Fall 2006
The Office of the Special Envoy will publish a report on the role of businesses in the tsunami relief and reconstruction effort...
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