Multi-stakeholder Workshop on Partnership and UN-Civil Society Relationships, New York 8-10 February, 2004
BPD participated in this workshop convened by the Panel of Eminent Persons on UN-Civil Society Relations (the Cardoso Panel) to inform its on-going work and contribute to the recommendations it will submit to the UN Secretary-General in May 2004. The discussions from the workshop are summarised below.
It has become clear that greater clarity is needed in the use of the term partnership within the UN system. It is not useful to view all UN-civil society relations as partnerships. UN-civil society relations must reflect, and be rooted in, the context of changing global realities. Operational partnerships must often seek policy changes to be effective and policy partnerships must be grounded in the real world to have meaning. Partnerships should also not be thought of as projects or something the UN can control. A core challenge is to seek models and processes that bring diverse actors together, while allowing them to maintain their power base and meet their individual interests.
Beyond partnerships created specifically for development purposes, are public-private partnerships created to provide services. The UN at times engages in and supports these processes. Engagement with such processes may, however, require the UN to take a stand on controversial issues and develop enhanced skills in areas such as contract design, policy analysis, as well as monitoring and evaluation.
The workshop also identified a wide range of potential risks associated with multi-stakeholder partnerships. These included undue influence of funding parties, reputational risks of associating with inappropriate partners, lack of coordination, lack of sustainability, lack of good existing models of shared governance, and legal liabilities for delivery failures. It was noted, however, that there are also significant risks associated with not engaging.
The importance of ongoing learning was highlighted including, analysis and evaluation of partnership experiences. It was broadly agreed that the future of partnerships is dependent on improved accountability, for which transparency and inclusiveness are key elements.
Key challenges in achieving effective and strategic partnerships were outlined as: selecting relevant partners; promoting inclusion and equity; promoting bottom-up, participatory models of collaboration and decision-making; designing partnerships to meet both collective and individual interests; promoting experimentation and innovation; and addressing current logistical and administrative barriers. Building social capital is key to successful partnerships and the UN has a crucial bonding and bridging role to play at local, national and global levels.
The time is ripe for UN reform. The continued legitimacy and relevance of the UN is dependent upon its capacity to respond to new global realities. If the UNs core values and goals are to benefit from multi-stakeholder partnerships and global policy networks, a significant paradigm shift is necessary.
View the full paper. Background papers as well as other materials related to the work of the Panel can be accessed here