New realities in the shifting sphere of partnerships

The Covid-19 pandemic, and the COVAX Facility have highlighted the increasing need for effective, sustainable partnerships. We have all become more familiar with new communication and collaboration platforms, but they are only a first step towards breaking down distance and misinterpretations. And they don’t guarantee the sovereignty of vulnerable communities, or the high principle of “localisation”…

Read More
Under the sea

The Secret Sauce for Partnerships with Impact

Here’s a conundrum for you. What does a cold warehouse in a Dutch seaport, a captivating dance performance, and a room filled with strangers have to do with partnering for the SDGs?

Let me show you. In 2012, a guest speaker appeared at one of our coastal community management classes, with a tale that allowed me my first sneak peek into the magic formula that underpins partnerships with impact. This was a tale of trust, communication and thinking free of silos.

LONDON - MAY, 2017: Lloyds of London building

SDG Partnership within the Finance Industry

World leaders came together under the United Nations Assembly and established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. This was a great milestone achievement which meant there was finally a call for everyone to start making a difference.
Taking a look at the Financial Industry, which is one of the largest industries globally, one is curious as to how much of a difference this specific industry has made by meeting those SDGs. . Sadly, after researching, the progress since 2015 has been mainly on GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Choosing the right partner

When discussing partnership terms for each project, I tend to keep things general and fair for all parties. But I also have to consider the strengths of the partnering organization and the partner whom I’ll be talking with on a weekly if not daily basis.

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PARTNER STORIES

Our Impact Stories highlight the power of partnerships, the challenges and successes, and how fruitful partnerships can be developed, fostered and scaled-up. The Impact Stories come from the real-life experiences and perspectives of partnership practitioners and experts in the form of written opinion pieces and video interviews.

Yannick du Pont

SPARK

The most precious commodity in fragile states is trust.

Aida Robbana

UN-Habitat
What obstacles to partnering have you overcome?

We need to develop more platforms for many stakeholders in order for everybody to understand what they can bring, and the value of each and every one.

Peter J Hall

Wood Plc
What have been your partnering successes?

Without partnership, we’re not able to deliver a lot of the things that our projects need to deliver.

Ariana Childs Graham

Global Health Advocacy Incubator
Program Director Road Safety Program

Not being tied to a particular outcome, but showing up with a bit of curiosity, cultivating relationships, exploring, entering into it to see what surfaces. You don’t always know what the possibilities are, so just be open to what might surface from that relationship is really important.

Vanessa Reuber

Patagonia
Partnering Call to Action

I am looking for partners who want to talk about community energy, who have a cooperative, who are working in the field of renewable energy to push through the solar campaign, we need to move to a new type of energy for the future, and we need to do it quickly.

Kali Taylor

UN SDG Lab
Partnering Challenges

One challenge that we certainly are seeing around partnership is the measurement of impact because, of course, we believe and have a hypothesis that working together leads to better outcomes. But we need to be able to prove that in a world where there’s less financing to go around.

Recent Opinion Pieces

Choosing the right partner

When discussing partnership terms for each project, I tend to keep things general and fair for all parties. But I also have to consider the strengths of the partnering organization and the partner whom I’ll be talking with on a weekly if not daily basis.

Re-engineering Partnerships

The 2021 Sustainable Development Goals Report highlights the urgency to break down silos, collaborate across sectors and work with organizations that stand for global progress to achieve a better world for all.

Cat in a car

Taking the car to the vet

I know nothing about return on investment.
I know we need to save the planet but have no idea how. I know what I am able to do in my personal life, recycling, buying organic and local, walking instead of driving etc., etc., I know how to fix plumbing, to a certain point… then I call the plumber. I know I will need a mason to access the leak behind the wall… When I go to my GP I usually get good advice – he’s a really good GP – then he sends me to a specialist.

Recent Education Pieces

top view of white vote lettering and check mark near yes word on black chalkboard near flag of

Partnering for democracy

The journey has taught me two crucial lessons.

First, it is critical to understand the roots of the problem that you want to tackle.

Second, you must have in mind that a multi-partnerships approach will be essential to attaining your social change objectives.

Recent SDG Pieces

Under the sea

The Secret Sauce for Partnerships with Impact

Here’s a conundrum for you. What does a cold warehouse in a Dutch seaport, a captivating dance performance, and a room filled with strangers have to do with partnering for the SDGs?

Let me show you. In 2012, a guest speaker appeared at one of our coastal community management classes, with a tale that allowed me my first sneak peek into the magic formula that underpins partnerships with impact. This was a tale of trust, communication and thinking free of silos.

LONDON - MAY, 2017: Lloyds of London building

SDG Partnership within the Finance Industry

World leaders came together under the United Nations Assembly and established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. This was a great milestone achievement which meant there was finally a call for everyone to start making a difference.
Taking a look at the Financial Industry, which is one of the largest industries globally, one is curious as to how much of a difference this specific industry has made by meeting those SDGs. . Sadly, after researching, the progress since 2015 has been mainly on GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Re-engineering Partnerships

The 2021 Sustainable Development Goals Report highlights the urgency to break down silos, collaborate across sectors and work with organizations that stand for global progress to achieve a better world for all.

Partnerships

Moody autumn day in the Dolomites forest and mountains

New realities in the shifting sphere of partnerships

The Covid-19 pandemic, and the COVAX Facility have highlighted the increasing need for effective, sustainable partnerships. We have all become more familiar with new communication and collaboration platforms, but they are only a first step towards breaking down distance and misinterpretations. And they don’t guarantee the sovereignty of vulnerable communities, or the high principle of “localisation”…

Magnifying glass for Benjamin Franklin on hundred US dollars bill

Money doesn’t talk

Some problems are so big that they cannot be solved by throwing money at them or solved in more effective ways. This seems at once both obvious, and a bitter pill to swallow. There is no such silver bullet.

Hourglass on calendar

Time for urgent partnering

The world responded to the pandemic with a shared sense of extreme urgency. It is this urgency that has inspired such an incredible global response, including new and unlikely partnerships to invent and distribute effective vaccines around the world.

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Moody autumn day in the Dolomites forest and mountains

New realities in the shifting sphere of partnerships

The Covid-19 pandemic, and the COVAX Facility have highlighted the increasing need for effective, sustainable partnerships. We have all become more familiar with new communication and collaboration platforms, but they are only a first step towards breaking down distance and misinterpretations. And they don’t guarantee the sovereignty of vulnerable communities, or the high principle of “localisation”…

Read More
Under the sea

The Secret Sauce for Partnerships with Impact

Here’s a conundrum for you. What does a cold warehouse in a Dutch seaport, a captivating dance performance, and a room filled with strangers have to do with partnering for the SDGs?

Let me show you. In 2012, a guest speaker appeared at one of our coastal community management classes, with a tale that allowed me my first sneak peek into the magic formula that underpins partnerships with impact. This was a tale of trust, communication and thinking free of silos.

Read More
LONDON - MAY, 2017: Lloyds of London building

SDG Partnership within the Finance Industry

World leaders came together under the United Nations Assembly and established the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. This was a great milestone achievement which meant there was finally a call for everyone to start making a difference.
Taking a look at the Financial Industry, which is one of the largest industries globally, one is curious as to how much of a difference this specific industry has made by meeting those SDGs. . Sadly, after researching, the progress since 2015 has been mainly on GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Read More