Public-Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development

Address at the World Association of Former United Nations Internes and Fellows (WAFUNIF) General Assembly, Monday 14 November 2011

David Stillman, PhD

Executive Director, Public-Private Alliance Foundation

When we think of international perspectives on sustainability, the United Nations and the members of the UN System of agencies and organizations have a prominent place. The UN is, of course, the premier international institution.  Its members today represent 193 countries of the world.  Thousands of non-governmental organizations are also associated with the UN.

One of the main purposes of the UN is “to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples.”

An important vehicle that focuses international and national action for this purpose is the Millennium Development Goals, which has the endorsement of all the UN Members States to try to achieve them by 2015.

The 7^th of the 8 goals seeks to ensure environmental sustainability. Read more…

This article updates materials on climate change originally posted in this blog in 2009.   It was the basis for the handout given to faculty and administrators at Maricopa Community College on Sustainability Dialogue Day.  The Public-Private Alliance Foundation is a partner in the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, in the Partnership for Clean Indoor Air and has applied to join the Global Gender and Climate Alliance.  

Climate change is any long-term change in the statistics of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can express itself as a change in the mean weather conditions, the probability of extreme conditions, or in any other part of the statistical distribution of weather. Read more…

 The Public-Private Alliance Foundation seeks to work sustainably and to promote sustainable development wherever it works.  The Foundation has endorsed the Earth Charter, which emerged from the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.  The points below in this blog entry summarize are a summary by the Foundation of work in relation to sustainable development.

Sustainable development seeks to meet the needs of the present without compromising those of future generations. We have to learn our way out of current social and environmental problems and learn to live sustainably.  Sustainable development is a vision of development that encompasses populations, animal and plant species, ecosystems, natural resources and that integrates concerns such as the fight against poverty, gender equality, human rights, education for all, health, human security, intercultural dialogue, etc.  (UNESCO)

• UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs –   Division for Sustainable Development (New York)

DSD promotes sustainable development as the substantive secretariat to the Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) and through technical cooperation and capacity-building at the international, regional and national levels.  The achievement of sustainable development requires the integration of economic, environmental and social components at all levels. This is facilitated by continuous dialogue and action in global partnership, focusing on key sustainable development issues. The Division’s website links to reports of the annual meetings of the CSD http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/   The Division is the substantive secretariat for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012, to be held in Rio de Janeiro. http://www.uncsd2012.org/   Read more…

Leslie Black Cordes, Acting Director of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which is housed in the UN Foundation, took part in a panel on energy and climate change at the United Nations Association of the USA Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference / Members Day at the UN.  This day-long conference brought some 550 participants to hear presentations on issues of great importance to the U.S., the UN and globally. 

Cordes emphasized the impact of dirty, inefficient cookstoves and open fires on health and environment, as half the world’s population continues to depend on wood and other biomass for cooking.  She pointed out that exposure to such smoke kills almost two million young children and women a year and sickens millions more.  Cookstove smoke is one of the top five worst overall health risk factors in the developing world.  Reliance on wood and charcoal is a major contributor to deforestation. 

Cordes described the recent establishment of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, its program focus and the technical working groups that are being established.  She declared that the Alliance hopes to promote adoption of 100 million clean, efficient cookstoves in ten years, which would be approximately 20% of the globally affected population.  She invited expanded government, private sector, philanthropic, academic, NGO and other institutions to engage in partnership opportunities.  For more information, see http://cleancookstoves.org  and http://www.flickr.com/photos/ppaf  For information on the UNA-USA Conference, see: http://unasouthernny.wordpress.com

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation organized meetings from January 13 through 17 for representatives of Blume Distillation, LLC, which is planning to manufacture community-level distilleries for alcohol production that fuel clean cookstoves, motorbikes, etc.  The distilleries will accept sugar cane and a variety of other feedstocks and can receive support through distance monitoring.  The aim is to encourage agribusiness both in feedstock production and in co-products of the distillation process which can enrich the soil and support secondary markets.

Meetings were held with several potential private investors, with Ambassadors to the UN from Madagascar and Haiti, and with UN officials.  On the 15^th SImACT, a Haitian-American investment group, organized a session with more than 50 participants at their Brooklyn headquarters for discussions on both the clean cookstoves and the distilleries. 

On January 14, Blume Distillation represented and investors joined Stillman at the Conference for Teaching About the UN.  Blume staffed a display table at the conference along with Project Gaia.  Stillman addressed the conference on the topic “Fighting the Silent Killer in the Kitchen: Achieving the MDGs.”

Photos are available on the Foundation’s Flickr account.

January 14 – David Stillman will speak at the CTAUN (Committee for Teaching About the United Nations) annual conference for educators on global issues, at the United Nations headquarters, which attracts approximately 500 participants each year.   This year’s topic is the Millennium Development Goals.   Stillman will speak on the work of the Public-Private Alliance Foundation and its partners in relation to Haiti.  Also, Harry Stokes of Project Gaia will demonstrate the alcohol-fueled clean cookstove. The aim is to demonstrate concepts and materials that could be translated into curricula.  For details, see: 

http://www.ctaun.org/images/photos/2011NYCConFlyer-Speakers3-_2_.pdf 

January 15 – SImACT is organizing an event at SImACT headquarters in Brooklyn for presentations by, and discussions with, David Blume and others of Blume Distillation LLC.  (See article above re: Atlanta seminar.)    This is aimed to engage parties within and outside the Haitian-American community interested in the cookstove and micro-distillery initiative.

On Friday, July 2 the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted a resolution that includes establishment of “UN Women,” the new gender equality agency at the UN. The formal name is the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. (A/64/L.56).  This momentous action is the result of years of negotiations between UN Member States and advocacy by the global women’s movement. 

PPAF works to promote the advancement of women in its activities in its focus countries and welcomes this new important agency. 

UN Women will function as a secretariat and also will carry out operational activities at the country level; it brings together four parts of the UN system:

• the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), established in 1946;
• the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), established in 1976, and with its headquarters in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic;
• the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI), established in 1997; and
• the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), established in 1976).

The new body will be headed by an Under-Secretary General who will be a member of all senior UN decision-making bodies and will report to the Secretary-General.  [Keep reading for more information on UN Women and on Ambassador Cuello's statement concerning a role for UN Women in the Dominican Republic.]

Read more…

The UN offers businesses many ways to support its mission while creating valuable partnerships and pursuing new business opportunities.  One is to compete in the procurement process and become UN vendors.  Another is to assist in disaster response.  The UN also encourages business to join  the UN Global Compact, which affirms their adherence to several basic international mandates.  For more information about business partnering with the UN, and examples of how companies work with the UN, see:  http://business.un.org

The Public-Private Alliance Foundation promotes a business approach to development for poverty reduction and partnerships, and in support of all of the UN Millennium Development Goals.  PPAF is a participant in the UN Global Compact.

Procurement

One way to become a vendor and gain access to the UN’s $6 billion international market is to take advantage of the “one-step, fully on-line” registration process of the UN Global Marketplace.  This registers businesses with 21 agencies, funds and programs and the UN Secretariat, which represent over 95% of the UN procurement program’s expenditures.

Large contracts make the headlines, but the UN also relies on small businesses to support its operations. To encourage small business participation, the UN offers a tiered contract system   based on contract size – ranging from under $200,000 to over $5 million – with reduced compliance requirements for smaller contracts.

The UN Global Marketplace guide “Doing Business with the UN System” outlines the process. 

Disaster Response

A business can partner with the UN in disaster response as a paid service provider or by making donations.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) produces “How Can My Company Help?”   This page explains the role of businesses in disaster response, as well as methods of giving.

Cash is always the preferred type of donation, as it allows the UN to direct resources to the most immediate need, but in-kind donations are accepted so long as they meet current emergency needs. In all cases, donated goods and services must be aligned with the goals of the UN.

Businesses can also donate expertise by providing full-time employees with needed skills to UN agencies, and can facilitate individual giving through employee donation programs.

 OCHA encourages businesses to develop their ability to respond to future disasters, especially by creating long-term partnerships with emergency relief organisations.  OCHA also encourages support after the initial disaster passes, as reconstruction often costs ten or more times the cost of the initial response.

The UN Global Compact

The UN Global Compact  is a public-private initiative that joins businesses with the UN to make commitments to sustainability and corporate citizenship in four core areas: human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. By signing the Compact, businesses agree to implement and promote ten universal principles and to make annual contributions according to revenue-based guidelines.

Participating in the Compact allows businesses to contribute to the creation of a “more sustainable and inclusive global economy,” as well as to enjoy the benefits of partnering with the UN, governments, civil society, labor, and other non-business interests to develop best practices and implement an “established and globally recognized policy framework for the development.”

The World Summit for the Future of Haiti was held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on June 2, 2010   It was hosted by Dominican President Leonel Fernandez who opened summit along with Haitian President Rene Preval,  U.N. special envoy to Haiti former president Bill Clinton and Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive.  This was a follow up to the summit held in New York on March 31 in which a total of almost 10 billion dollars was pledged by the various countries and international organizations that attended.

The June 2 summit was organized in effort to begin to review the funds that had already been pledged in the months following the New York summit. The day was spent discussing ways to create and implement initiatives aimed at rebuilding the Haitian infrastructure after the devastating earthquake of January 12. The focus was on projects that would restore some of Haiti’s most basic systems such as water, sewage and electricity, as well as building housing for the many displaced Haitians.

Fifty-four donor countries and 35 international organizations attended the summit. According to President Fernandez, by its close, a total of 7.81 billion was promised to help aid in the reconstruction of Haiti- still short of the 10 billion originally pledged in New York.  Most of these funds have not yet been delivered.

“ All this leads to the figure of US$6.71 billion. If we add the US$1.30 billion offered by the United States in the Summit in New York to that, we’ve already identified US$ 7.81 billion in pledges for Haiti’s reconstruction” (President Fernandez) .

 Former President Clinton and Prime Minister Bellerive are charged with using $ 5.3 billion of those dollars to fund various reconstruction projects over the next 18 months. The new Interim Commission for the Reconstruction of Haiti (ICRH), will have their first meeting on June 14th to discuss further details.

Another concern was the safety of the million or so Haitians who are now homeless and susceptible to the 2010 Hurricane season which began June 1. Efforts are being made to ensure their protection and secure housing for the refugees in order to shield them from the effects of the harsh season and prevent further tragedy.

“We have more than one million people that are currently living in very precarious conditions, in camping tents,” stated Clinton, who is the United Nation’s Special Envoy to Haiti. “We can not allow for people to die during this Hurricane Season because they inhabit temporary dwellings.”

As Haiti starts to recover from the earthquake, but while access to much of the promised funding is yet unavailable, it’s important to remember the beginnings of the tragedy.

The PPAF YouTube channel now provides links to several videos from the United Nations in Action series that recount the first two months after the earthquake in Haiti.   Also linked is an earlier video on the protection of mangroves in the north. 

MINUSTAH hit hard by Haiti’s earthquake

Haiti’s Earthquake disaster

Haiti: Emergency medical care after the quake

Haiti: Search and rescue

Haiti: Food aid continues

Haiti Earthquake: UNICEF helps children to reunite with their families

Les soins médicaux d’urgence à la suite du séisme en Haïti

L’aide alimentaire continue en Haïti

Durement touchée par le tremblement de terre en Haïti

L’opération de recherche et secours en Haïti

Haiti: mangrove protection