Beyond Pragmatism: Appraising UN-Business Partnerships

UNRISD PROGRAMME ON MARKETS, BUSINESS AND REGULATION
PAPER NUMBER 1
Development. 32 According to Broadwater and Kaul (2005), there are estimated to be around 400
global public-private partnerships that address global concerns—such as control of
communicable diseases, the fight against world poverty and hunger, and climate stability—
compared with 50 in the mid-1980s.
Agencies such as UNICEF and WHO report that they have entered into approximately 1,000
and 90 “partnerships” or “alliances”, respectively, in recent years, although the types of
collaborations involved vary considerably. Unlike WHO, UNICEF has actively sought corporate
funding to support various initiatives. 33 In 2005, the organization received individual
contributions of US$100,000 or more from approximately 250 companies, with total proceeds
received through the corporate sector amounting to US$142 million. 34 The United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development listed 341 partnerships as of May 2006. UNDP’s
Public-Private Partnerships for the Urban Environment (PPUE) currently lists 396 partnerships
between local government, business and communities to increase the access of the urban poor
to basic services such as water, sanitation, solid waste management and energy. 35
UNDP has many partnerships in other programmes. For example, it plays a
brokerage/facilitating role to foster the growth of small businesses through its Growing
Sustainable Business (GSB) initiative that is currently active in seven developing and
transitional countries. 36 The work is focused on five sectors—financial, energy, water and
sanitation, telecommunications and agriculture. UNDP, together with UNEP and the World
Conservation Union (IUCN), has established Supporting Entrepreneurs for Environment and
Development (SEED), a partnership that fosters The Seed Associate Partners Network (Steets
2006). 37
UNEP has various partnerships initiatives. As indicated above, it is involved with UNDP and
IUCN in the Seed Initiative. It also promotes local-level public-private initiatives to improve
public services by providing clean drinking water and reliable energy services to poor
consumers while at the same time contributing to environmental objectives (UNEP no date:7–8).
UNEP also has policy-type partnerships, as, for example, the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP
FI). 38 This constitutes one of UNEP’s major partnership efforts, bringing together global
financial institutions, including commercial and investment banks, insurance and reinsurance
companies, fund managers, multilateral development banks, and venture capital funds. The
aim is to develop and promote the linkage between the environment and financial performance
by developing and applying voluntary guidelines on key environmental concerns, and to
influence relevant international policy. Between 1992 and 2004, UNEP FI has grown from six
banks to 217 financial institutions (Holz 2004).
In the field of health, WHO is involved in some 90 partnerships covering a variety of
collaborations. 39 The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
Associations (IFPMA 2006) lists and describes 92 “Partnerships to Build Healthier Societies in
the Developing World”, which are said to include the “vast majority” of such initiatives.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a rather different case in that it is a tripartite
structure that gives equal voice to governments, employers and workers, and considers itself to
be a public-private partnership. Its activities to promote labour standards, the Fundamental
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Type II partnerships refer to those that are not negotiated between member states of the UN.
A core element of UNICEF’s strategy vis-à-vis the business sector is to promote corporate investment in children, be it through
UNICEF programmes or other organizations (personal communication with Anne-Marie Grey, UNICEF, 7 September 2006).
Personal communication with Anne-Marie Grey, UNICEF, 7 August 2006; UNICEF 2005. For a list of several of the companies
involved, see www.unicef.org/corporate_partners/index_25124.html.
See http://pppue.undp.org/index.cfm?module, accessed on 14 June 2006.
www.undp.org/business/gsp/about.htm, accessed on 10 July 2006.
See also www.seedinit.org, accessed in July 2006.
Hölz 2004. See also www.unepfi.org, accessed on 4 August 2006.
Personal communication from Derrick Deane, WHO, 15 August 2006.
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