Towards Global Partnerships : A Principle-Based Approach to Enhanced Cooperation Between the United Nations and All Relevant Partners

A/RES/79/228View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 25Towards global partnerships, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

5 versions · 2014–2024

2024A/RES/79/228Towards global partnerships : a principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partnersLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/224Towards global partnerships : a principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partnersCompare with previous version
2019A/RES/73/254Towards global partnerships : a principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partnersCompare with previous version
2016A/RES/70/224Towards global partnerships : a principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partnersCompare with previous version
2014A/RES/68/234Towards global partnerships : a principle-based approach to enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partners

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

Who cites this mandate in the budget?

8 entities

Extracted automatically from each entity’s budget submission.

What subjects does this mandate have?

7 topics

Corporate Social Responsibility Covid-19 Development Strategies Partnership Private Sector Resilience Sustainable Development

What does this mandate say?

34 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on enhanced cooperation between the United Nations and all relevant partners, in particular the private sector;

Acknowledges that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development requires a strong commitment to partnership at all levels between Governments, the private sector, civil society and all other relevant stakeholders, and therefore recognizes the importance of the various contributions of all relevant stakeholders, including the private sector;

Commits to enhancing global, regional, national and local partnerships for sustainable development, engaging all relevant stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector, academia and youth, recognizing the important contribution they can make toward achieving the 2030 Agenda, and the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals, and reaffirms the importance of the regional and local dimension of sustainable development in addressing regional and local challenges and scaling up action among countries;

Stresses that partnerships are voluntary and collaborative relationships between various parties, both public and non-public, in which all participants agree to work together to achieve a common purpose or undertake a specific task and, as mutually agreed, to share risks and responsibilities, resources and benefits;

Also stresses that partnerships will be critical to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, as an effective instrument for mobilizing additional human and financial resources, expertise, technology and knowledge, while reiterating that partnerships are a complement to, but are not intended as a substitute for, the commitment made by Governments with a view to achieving the Goals;

Further stresses that partnerships should be consistent with national laws and national development strategies and plans, as well as the priorities of countries where they are implemented, bearing in mind the relevant guidance provided by Governments;

Emphasizes the vital role played by Governments in promoting responsible business practices, including providing and ensuring enforcement of the necessary legal and regulatory frameworks in accordance with national legislation and development priorities, and invites them to continue to provide support to United Nations efforts to engage with the private sector and other relevant stakeholders, as appropriate;

Recognizes the vital role that the private sector plays in sustainable development, including by engaging in various partnership models, by conducting responsible business practices, by generating decent employment as well as investment, by giving access to and developing new technologies, by offering technical vocational training activities and by stimulating sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth;

Welcomes the efforts of the Secretary-General to steer the United Nations system towards giving greater attention to longer-term, strategic and innovation-based multi-stakeholder partnerships in order to leverage private sector competencies and technologies, with a view to generating greater potential for innovation and increased impact on sustainable development, which is needed for the timely achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals;

Emphasizes that the Secretary-General, in his capacity as Chair of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, and the executive heads of interested organizations should build on existing and ongoing efforts and continue to empower the United Nations Innovation Network or other existing United Nations joint innovation initiatives, such as Global Pulse, to identify and discuss issues that are relevant for the coordination of the existing innovation initiatives, funds, laboratories, accelerators and incubators, and their interface with the private sector, with a view to facilitating and stimulating innovation in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda;

Encourages the United Nations funds and programmes to continue to actively engage with other stakeholders, including civil society, the private sector and foundations, with a view to diversifying potential sources of funding, especially core funding, for their operational activities for development, in alignment with the core principles of the United Nations development system and with full respect for the national priorities of programme countries;

Recognizes that these partnerships should give priority to core resources, while noting the need to make non-core resources from partners flexible and aligned with strategic plans and national priorities;

Stresses that greater effort is required to unlock new financial flows, including from mainstream institutional investors, for the timely implementation of the 2030 Agenda, as a complement to public finance and international development cooperation;

Welcomes the growing number of businesses that embrace a core business model that takes account of the environmental, social and governance impacts of their activities, encourages and urges all businesses to adopt principles for responsible business and investing, and supports the work of the United Nations Global Compact in this regard;

Calls upon the United Nations funds, programmes and the specialized agencies, at the request of national Governments, to improve their support for the building, development and strengthening of national capacities, to support development results at the country level and to promote national ownership and leadership, in line with national development policies, plans and priorities, taking into account their respective mandates and bearing in mind their comparative advantages, in assisting Governments in leveraging partnerships;

Welcomes the ongoing efforts of the Secretary-General to further improve the collaboration of the United Nations with all relevant partners, including the private sector, and recognizes his efforts to strengthen the capacities of the United Nations system, including by mainstreaming understanding of the role of partnerships throughout the system, and to discuss the potential for further strengthening of cooperation and coordination across the United Nations system with regard to partnerships, with a view to enhancing the results achieved through them, while acknowledging the importance of continued consultations with Member States;

Also welcomes the commitment of the Secretary-General to continuing to retain the integrity and unique role of the United Nations Global Compact, and underlines the importance of integrity measures as taken and advocated by the United Nations Global Compact;

Invites the United Nations system, when considering partnerships, to seek to engage in a more coherent manner with private sector entities, including micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, that support the core values of the United Nations, as reflected in the Charter of the United Nations and other relevant conventions and treaties, and that commit to the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact by translating them into operational corporate policies, codes of conduct, and management, monitoring and reporting systems;

Recalls the request to the Secretary-General, in this regard, as appropriate, in collaboration with the funds and programmes, the specialized agencies and other relevant United Nations entities and mechanisms, to disclose the partners, contributions and matching funds for all relevant partnerships, including at the country level, and to ensure that these elements are coherently reflected in the reporting of partnership activities by the United Nations funds, programmes and, as appropriate, agencies to their respective governing bodies;

Stresses the need for the United Nations system to continue its efforts to develop, for those partnerships in which it participates, a common and coherent approach across the United Nations system that places greater emphasis on transparency, impact, accountability, due diligence and risk management, while taking into account the specific mandates of United Nations agencies, programmes and other entities and without imposing undue rigidity in partnership agreements;

Acknowledges the importance of corporate sustainability reporting, encourages companies, especially publicly listed and large companies, to integrate sustainability and due diligence information into their reporting cycles, encourages industry, interested Governments and relevant stakeholders, with the support of the United Nations system, as appropriate, to enhance existing models and develop new models for best practice and to facilitate action for the integration of sustainability reporting, taking into account experiences from already existing frameworks and paying particular attention to the needs of developing countries, including for capacity-building, and welcomes in this context the collaboration of the United Nations Global Compact with the Global Reporting Initiative and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development;

Requests the Secretary-General to continue to promote effective implementation of the Guidelines on a Principle-based Approach to the Cooperation between the United Nations and the business sector;

Encourages the international community to strengthen global partnerships to foster youth employment and promote frameworks for action, including the Global Jobs Pact of the International Labour Organization, the Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth and the call for action on youth employment, in accordance with national plans and priorities;

Invites the academic, research and scientific communities to contribute to the realization of the 2030 Agenda, and in this regard recognizes the important role of the United Nations Academic Impact, among other initiatives, and to support and participate in multi-stakeholder partnerships to this end;

Notes with appreciation the convening of the Global Africa Business Initiative annual forum, on the theme “Unstoppable Africa”, the Africa Business Leaders Coalition meeting, the annual United Nations Private Sector Forum, the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit, the Sustainable Development Goals Investment Forum, the high-level meeting on the theme “Ocean for the future”, the annual meeting of the Water Resilience Coalition initiative, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals business forum, organized by the United Nations and the International Chamber of Commerce to foster the implementation of the Goals;

Recognizes the work and the important role of the Global Compact Country Networks in supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda locally and the work of the United Nations country teams and national development plans, as appropriate, and also recognizes that such networks provide an avenue for disseminating United Nations values and principles, strengthening the capacity of businesses through programming and facilitating partnerships with business on a broad scale, and notes the contribution of a number of these networks to voluntary national reviews;

Also recognizes the importance of cooperation between the United Nations system at the local level, including the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, and all relevant stakeholders, as appropriate, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, or equivalent planning framework, to support the coordination and application of global partnerships;

Stresses the importance of developing national strategies for the promotion of sustainable, inclusive and productive business and entrepreneurial activities through partnerships, encourages Governments to create an environment that is conducive to delivering the Sustainable Development Goals, including by increasing the number of women in leadership, management and entrepreneurship and the size of their businesses, and to prevent discrimination, sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace, requests the United Nations Global Compact to promote the Women’s Empowerment Principles and to encourage the Global Compact Country Networks to create awareness of the many ways in which business can promote gender equality in the workplace, marketplace and community, and encourages the private sector to contribute to advancing gender equality;

Welcomes the efforts of the United Nations Global Compact to engage Member States in its work through the United Nations Global Compact Government Group and the United Nations Global Compact Group of Friends as two important channels for Governments to engage on issues related to corporate sustainability, responsible business practices and public-private partnerships for advancing the 2030 Agenda, and in that regard encourages Member States to further engage with the Global Compact through those channels;

Recognizes the importance of the private sector, multi-stakeholder engagement, innovative partnerships and a conducive policy environment in achieving the 2030 Agenda, including by increasing productive capacity in developing countries and generating economic growth and sustainable and inclusive industrialization, in order to tackle global challenges, and the need to encourage responsible innovation, resilient value chains and the leveraging of rapid technological change for sustainable development, for the benefit of present and future generations, through new opportunities presented by safe, secure and trustworthy emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence;

Recalls that multilateralism is not an option but a necessity, and calls for an enabling environment for partnerships that are aligned with the 2030 Agenda, in particular with regard to adherence by the private sector to the 10 principles of the United Nations Global Compact, and in addition, inter alia, promotion of investment in quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure and decent job creation, as well as aiming for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and negative biodiversity impacts, and for support for the implementation of the United Nations Global Compact strategy 2024–2025, including the United Nations Global Compact Africa Strategy 2024–2025 and the United Nations Global Compact sustainable supply chain and small and medium-sized enterprises programme, which are aimed at raising ambition and achieving stronger private sector engagement, accountability and partnerships, in support of a sustainable, resilient and inclusive recovery from COVID-19;

Looks forward to the forthcoming twenty-fifth anniversary of the mandate of the United Nations Global Compact, in 2025, and the interest and engagement of the private sector in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals through the exponential growth of the United Nations Global Compact participant base;

Recognizes the role of the United Nations Global Compact in advancing the adherence by the private sector to the 10 United Nations Global Compact principles of responsible business practices, in alignment with United Nations values and principles, in an enabling environment for partnerships that are aligned with the 2030 Agenda;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its eighty-second session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its eighty-second session the item entitled “Towards global partnerships”, unless otherwise agreed.

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