The 2022 ECOSOC Partnership Forum was held on 2 February 2022.
Theme: “Building back better from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
UCD SIDE EVENT AT 2022 ECOSOC Partnership Forum:
“Making global multi-stakeholder Partnerships work for the SDGs
Patrick Paul Walsh ( Chair ), University College Dublin & Senior Advisor SDSN, New York.
Expert Panel
María Cortés Puch, Vice President, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, France.
Wing Thye Woo, President of the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia and Director of the Jeffrey Sachs Center on Sustainable Development at Sunway University , Malaysia .
Graham Long, Newcastle University, UK
Naima N. Samuel, University of Waterloo, Canada
Lorcán Hall , University College Dublin and SDG Academy, Ireland
Eibhilin Manning, University College Dublin and SDG Academy, Ireland
Background on the event
The main objective of the side event is to outline the research and evidence around the objective of SDG 17; “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development”. In addition we focus our deliberations on COVID exacerbating the common challenges to forming SDG Global partnerships.
Key Issues discussed
- How do we create the right ‘ecosystem’ of partnerships for the SDGs?
- What is the role of governments (or UN )in these partnerships, both as a partner/curator of SDG partnerships
- How are partnerships developed in response to COVID-19, and how has COVID-19 affected sustainable development partnerships?
- What’s the relationship between partnerships at all levels of governance
- Are there examples of opportunities for global partnerships for the SDGs in the Insurance Industry and European Parliament.
Key recommendations for action
- Global Multi-stakeholder partnerships are needed to address “wicked global problems” that cannot be solved by national governments alone due to complex interconnections across nations.
- We make key recommendations for policymakers with regard to entry points for policy intervention to assist partnership formation, action and longevity;
- We make recommendations for the interoperability of partnerships at the local, national and global level.
- Evidence from a 2020 survey with the UN shows that COVID poses and exacerbates common challenges to partnerships generally (funding, coordination), but also generated by the remote and online events ( networking and trust building).
- COVID-19 may have put emphasis on partnerships around health and digitalization at the expense of other areas. We recommend a diversification focus across all nations and goals to leave no one behind.
Key Resources
- Patrick Paul Walsh
UCD Centre for Sustainable Development Studies, https://csds.ucd.ie/
- María Cortés Puch
http://archivedpublicwebsite.up.ac.za/UP2019SDReport.pdf
http://archivedpublicwebsite.up.ac.za/UP2019SDReport.pdf
- Wing Thye Woo
https://www.unsdsn.org/southeastasia
- Graham Long
https://sdgs.un.org/publications/impacts-covid-19-stakeholder-engagement-sdgs-32589
- Naima N. Samuel
https://uwaterloo.ca/implementing-sustainable-community-plans/
https://uwaterloo.ca/sustainable-development-solutions-network-canada/
Lorcán Hall
Eibhilin Manning
UCD Masters in Science (M.Sc. ) in Sustainable Development in partnership with UN SDSN