Global Goals Yearbook 2018
The future of the United Nations is more uncertain than at any time before. Like his predecessors, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has promised to reform the United Nations. Drivers are two major agreements: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Accord. Both stand for a move away from statal top-down multilateralism towards new form of partnership between the public and the private sector as well as the civil society. The Global Goals Yearbook, published under the auspices of the macondo foundation, therefore covers „Partnership for the Goals“ as its 2018 main topic. Our world is truly not sustainable at this time. To make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a success story, we need an enormous increase in effort. This cannot happen without help from the private sector. But businesses need a reason to contribute as well as attractive partnerships that are based on win-win constellations. We have no alternative but to rethink the role that public–private partnerships can play in this effort. That is why United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling upon UN entities to strengthen and better align their private-sector engagement. In every change there is a new chance. The Global Goals Yearbook 2018 discusses the multiple aspects of how private sector engagement can be improved. Recommendations are, among others, to revise multilaterism, partnership models and processes and to invest more in trust, a failure culture as well as metrics and monitoring. When businesses engage in partnerships for the Goals, this is more than just signing checks. It means inserting the “do good” imperative of the SDGs into corporate culture, business cases, innovation cycles, investor relationships, and, of course, the daily management processes and (extra-)financial reporting. The Yearbook includes arguments from academic and business experts, the World Bank and the Club of Rome as well as UN entities, among them UNDP, UNSSC, UNOPS, UN JIU, and UN DESA.
The future of the United Nations is more uncertain than at any time before. Like his predecessors, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has promised to reform the United Nations. Drivers are two major agreements: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Accord. Both stand for a move away from statal top-down multilateralism towards new form of partnership between the public and the private sector as well as the civil society. The Global Goals Yearbook, published under the auspices of the macondo foundation, therefore covers „Partnership for the Goals“ as its 2018 main topic.
Our world is truly not sustainable at this time. To make the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a success story, we need an enormous increase in effort. This cannot happen without help from the private sector. But businesses need a reason to contribute as well as attractive partnerships that are based on win-win constellations.
We have no alternative but to rethink the role that public–private partnerships can play in this effort. That is why United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is calling upon UN entities to strengthen and better align their private-sector engagement. In every change there is a new chance.
The Global Goals Yearbook 2018 discusses the multiple aspects of how private sector engagement can be improved. Recommendations are, among others, to revise multilaterism, partnership models and processes and to invest more in trust, a failure culture as well as metrics and monitoring.
When businesses engage in partnerships for the Goals, this is more than just signing checks. It means inserting the “do good” imperative of the SDGs into corporate culture, business cases, innovation cycles, investor relationships, and, of course, the daily management processes and (extra-)financial reporting.
The Yearbook includes arguments from academic and business experts, the World Bank and the Club of Rome as well as UN entities, among them UNDP, UNSSC, UNOPS, UN JIU, and UN DESA.
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“CLUB DER GUTEN HOFFNUNG” (CLUB OF GOOD<br />
HOPE) – ASSUMING SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY<br />
The assistance provided by Weidmüller is part of a major funding project supported<br />
by the “Club der guten Hoffnung” – the CSR platform of the International<br />
Catholic Mission Society missio from Munich, which facilitates almost 1,050 projects<br />
in 60 countries in Asia, Africa, and Oceania, focussing on issues such as human<br />
rights, the advancement of women, education, and infrastructure. More information<br />
is available at www.club-der-guten-hoffnung.de<br />
the mantle of ‘Weidmüller helps’,” explains<br />
Sustainability Officer Dr. Eberhard<br />
Niggemann. In this area, Weidmüller<br />
attaches great value to its employees<br />
taking a holistic view of sustainability<br />
within the company and putting these<br />
views into practice. The company also<br />
strives to achieve the right balance between<br />
the environmental, economic,<br />
and social aspects of sustainability. The<br />
work being carried out in Tanzania aims<br />
to address two points that will have a<br />
mutual influence on increasing employability<br />
in the region:<br />
1. the promotion of education and training<br />
opportunities, as education provides<br />
young people with new prospects<br />
and is the best tool to bring about<br />
sustainable change;<br />
2. the provision of electricity, as electricity<br />
makes it possible to access media,<br />
and thus knowledge, too.<br />
This project offers young people new<br />
prospects, such as by providing training<br />
in electrical engineering and renewable<br />
energies, thus allowing Weidmüller to<br />
make an active contribution to improving<br />
their living conditions. “After all,<br />
you need light and electricity in order<br />
to supply basic needs, such as preparing<br />
food or studying in the evenings,” says<br />
Niggemann.<br />
The provision of electricity and<br />
education as the basis for creating<br />
employment prospects<br />
Thanks to support from Weidmüller, the<br />
Mbeya Trade School was able to set up a<br />
pilot course on renewable energies for<br />
the first time. This will make the school<br />
the only training center in the region to<br />
offer courses on solar energy. Students<br />
in this course will thus be able to install<br />
and maintain small solar energy plants<br />
themselves in the future. “We are thus<br />
ensuring that the assistance we provide<br />
is not a one-off act, but will instead enable<br />
the local population to be able to<br />
help themselves in the future. Otherwise,<br />
what use is it if the region has the technology,<br />
but no one to repair the plants<br />
when needed?” asks Niggemann.<br />
Helping to fulfill the key<br />
Sustainable Development <strong>Goals</strong> of<br />
the United Nations<br />
By supporting the project in Mbeya,<br />
Weidmüller is actively helping to fulfill<br />
some of the key Sustainable Development<br />
<strong>Goals</strong> of the United Nations. The<br />
project focuses in particular on the goals<br />
“Education for everyone – Ensure inclusive<br />
and quality education for all and<br />
promote lifelong learning” and “Sustainable<br />
and modern energy for everyone<br />
– Ensure access to affordable, reliable,<br />
sustainable and modern energy for all.”<br />
Employee support for education<br />
project<br />
The employees at Weidmüller have also<br />
reacted positively to the work being carried<br />
out in Tanzania and are supporting<br />
the social project. For example, they can<br />
help out by paying the school fees for<br />
a vocational school student in Mbeya<br />
or by donating money to be spent on<br />
school books.<br />
All of the money donated by employees<br />
will be matched by Weidmüller with<br />
the aim of creating long-term prospects<br />
with respect to renewable energies, investment<br />
in education, and the provision<br />
of electricity. “I am confident that<br />
these types of projects will prove to be<br />
a massive help in transforming society<br />
in the future and will provide people<br />
with access to electricity, thus ensuring<br />
better as well as more economic and<br />
environmentally friendly development,”<br />
says Niggemann.<br />
<strong>Global</strong> <strong>Goals</strong> <strong>Yearbook</strong> <strong>2018</strong> 165
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