58 FROM AID TO COOPERATIONBuilding partnerships that workPartnerships are not a goal in their own right and all too often they fail to deliver.However, successful templates do exist and they have proved to be scaleableBy Michael O’Neill, Assistant Administratorand Director of the Bureau of ExternalRelations and Advocacy, United NationsDevelopment ProgrammeIn the world of development, we love totalk about partnerships. We applaud thevaried combinations created betweenprivate and corporate philanthropy, andthe public sectors, non-governmentalorganisations, UN agencies and so on.Such partnerships are hatched in a spirit ofoptimism and heady promises of success.But partnership is not an objective in itself.Partnerships are valuable only if theystrengthen our ability to deliver significantresults in human development.Regrettably, many partnerships – privateand public – are weak and in some casesoften fail. The UK’s Chartered Instituteof Personnel and Development (CIPD)recently noted that while the number ofall types of partnerships is increasing, thefailure rate is high.Effective partnerships, however,are fundamental to accomplishingwidespread change. As the 2015 deadlineof the UN Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs) approaches and as welook ahead to the post-2015 world,partnerships for sustainable developmentare going to be even more pivotal. Sopartnership cannot simply be a worddelivered to impress.Real partnerships are marked by solidinvestments furnished by every partner.The cornerstones of such partnershipswill be a shared vision of the post-2015world. The vision is centred on aspirationsto eradicate poverty, foster inclusion, andpush for sustainable development, so we canaccelerate economic and social progress.This shared vision needs to be accompaniednot only by a commitment to pledgeresources, but also by a commitment totransparency and accountability.Fortunately, we have both the templatesfor successful development partnerships,and evidence that they can be developedon a large scale. The template is the jointUN-World Bank MDG AccelerationFramework (MAF). It helps identifyhurdles that limit progress towards specificgoals, and creates practical solutions thatpull together a range of partners to helpaccomplish those goals.In 2010, Colombia developed a MAFplan to better implement its CartagenaPolicy for Productive Inclusion for thepoor and vulnerable – Política de InclusionProductiva para Población en Situación dePobreza y Vulnerabilidad.Local government applied theacceleration framework to identifybottlenecks impeding people’s inclusion,such as poor labour market information anda lack of coordination between governmentdepartments, businesses and people.To improve transparency, the UNDevelopment Programme (UNDP)developed access to innovative mechanismsof financial services such as self-helpgroups, microcredit, electronic bankingand investment angels. These stepsreinvigorated and scaled-up a vital existingavenue called CEMPRENDE – centresthat provided training, technical assistance,and access to credit for facilitatingemployment and entrepreneurship.Efforts were made to forge partnershipsbetween local government, civil society andbusiness. The local chamber of commerce,and national initiatives, such as the LabourMarket Observatory and the Training forWork programme in the tourism sector,worked together to identify concreteopportunities, for instance linking vendorsand suppliers to ‘anchor firms’, such ashotels that could source some of theirpurchases locally.Funds from local and nationalgovernments, businesses, the chamberof commerce and external donors werepooled to help strengthen local capacities,as well as set up a microcredit seedcapital fund. With more focused outreachand targets to assess accountability,considerable progress was achieved.Partnerships are valuable only if they strengthen ourability to deliver significant results in developmentsupported local government bystrengthening institutional coordination,facilitated public-private alliances with aninclusive business approach, strengthenedthe capacity of government units toproduce data and analysis of labourmarket information, developed a rosterof experts in business counselling, andThe number of women usingCEMPRENDE’s services shot up from 36per cent to 62 per cent, and women’s shareof the total value of microcredit loans roseto 62 per cent, way past the 50 per centtarget. Based on this experience, similarefforts are underway in other territoriesacross Colombia.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014
FROM AID TO COOPERATION59© CorbisCartagena was one of five Colombian territorieswhere the Millennium Development Goals AccelerationFramework was applied to the Colombiangovernment’s productive inclusion programmeAt UNDP, and in the broader UNsystem, we see the private sector,along with civil society organisationsand governments, as a vital ally indriving forward human and sustainabledevelopment. It can play a key role asan engine of economic growth and jobcreation, and can contribute to tacklingdevelopment challenges and addressclimate change.As dialogue on the post-2015development agenda continues, many civilsociety actors have recommended somekey actions to ensure better accountabilityof governments, the private sector and alldevelopment partners. Such actions include:●●regular forums to evaluate progressjointly;●●stakeholder groups to assess progress inimplementation;●●availing the expertise of collective groupssuch as municipal councils;●●using new media including for real-timemonitoring;●●developing public, private and civilinitiatives to provide a clear, concreteand inclusive review of challenges facingglobal development.It will take that kind of accountabilityto deliver on objectives and to generateachievements.While CEMPRENDE in Colombiarepresents a path towards more meaningfulpartnership, it also provides importantlessons. The UN, as well as governmentsand development partners, must takea critical look at the way we work andchallenge the status quo. We need to applynew knowledge to tackle the challenges weface, so we can expand on our success andbe more effective, accountable and fit forpurpose in a post-2015 world.In the meantime, we need to continuelaying the foundation for that post-2015era through the MAF. At present, it isbeing applied to different goals and targetsin over 50 countries, and the results arepromising.Along the way, we have learned thatby constructing strong partnerships toexamine problems and risks, sharingin implementing solutions, and beingcommitted to securing results, we canmake remarkable progress in beating backpoverty and hunger, building resilience,and advancing human and sustainabledevelopment.GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS 2014
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