Beyond Pragmatism: Appraising UN-Business Partnerships

UNRISD PROGRAMME ON MARKETS, BUSINESS AND REGULATION
PAPER NUMBER 1
An important element that is often marginalized in definitions and analysis of partnership
relates to participation and empowerment. Rein et al. (2005:123) suggest that partnerships
should be viewed as enabling devices to give voice to different stakeholders:
[P]artnerships are more to do with the provision of legitimate platforms for
problem solving and access to resources and less about ‘delivery’…What is
important is how partnerships ensure that different voices are heard clearly
and equitably, so that ‘working together’[ 27 ] to address development issues is
made more inclusive and sustainable.
Weihe (2006), referring to the nebulous concept of partnership and the confusion that reigns in
much of the discussion, refers to five different sets of literature or research traditions in the
study of partnerships, with cross-cutting interconnections, that could contribute to greater
clarity. These comprise
1. the local (urban) regeneration approach;
2. the policy approach that describes and analyses public-private constellations
within particular fields of policy (such as nuclear power, health or education);
3. the infrastructure approach that analyses public-private financial arrangements
for the development of infrastructure;
4. the development approach, where the focus is on public-private partnerships
aimed at fostering development and development-related policy issues (such as
dealing with environmental challenges or poverty alleviation); and
5. the governance approach, which is more wide-ranging than the previous
categories since it focuses on relational, institutional and organizational aspects of
new ways of governing.
These approaches have different understandings of the concept of public-private partnership
and generally refer to different practices, and to some extent emerge from different contexts and
experiences. As such, they serve as useful, even necessary, reference points for discussion and
analysis of partnerships. 28
The above brief overview suggests that unless the UN’s partnering work is founded on greater
conceptual clarity and more analytical frameworks, it will be difficult to make useful
comparisons or draw appropriate conclusions that can be applied in the Global Compact and
elsewhere. Moreover, greater analytical rigour is also essential in order to develop appropriate
tools for monitoring and evaluation, without which there is a danger that UN partnering will
lose credibility and legitimacy.
Growing numbers across the UN spectrum
For the reasons outlined in part 1, it is hardly surprising that the number of entities described as
UN–business partnerships has grown considerably in recent years. The Global Compact itself,
established to promote more responsible behaviour on the part of business by encouraging the
adoption and implementation of nine principles—now extended to 10—considers itself to be a
UN–business partnership. 29 Its business participants now number over 2,500 companies (of
which 106 are among the FT [Financial Times] Global 500) (see UN Global Compact 2006a).
While the Global Compact Office has, from the start, encouraged closer relations between the
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29
This study of selected partnerships in Southern Africa notes that in some of the region’s languages, partnership is translated as
“working together”.
UN personnel charged with promoting and establishing partnerships with the private sector, and those contributing to efforts to
develop impact assessment of partnerships, could benefit from documentation that sets out the development of these traditions and
the key issues associated with them, and with references to key conceptual and analytical works.
By participating in the Global Compact, businesses commit to “embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, ten
principles that concern human rights, labour standards, the environment and preventing corruption” (www.unglobalcompact.org/
AboutTheGC/TheTenPrinciples/index.html, accessed in August 2006).
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