The side event “Unite to Ignite: Accelerating the transformational power of partnerships for the SDGs and beyond” on January 30th included insights from experts like Dr. Satesh Bidaisee, Joanna Pyres, Dan Mtonga, and Priscilla J. Miranda García.
The experts emphasized the significant role of communication so that multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) achieve sustainable success and impact, underscoring the need for adaptability to accommodate diverse contexts and personalities. For enhancing individual and organizational partnership capacities, the role of training and capacity building initiatives as well as third-party process facilitation was highlighted.
Strengthening organizations’ readiness for partnerships, participants noted that a culture of collaboration and equality needs to be deepened, when working together. Another relevant yet challenging precondition is to address power imbalances. External facilitators might play a crucial role in supporting this process. All too often, (financial) resources of stakeholders still influence the cooperation and outcome of partnership agreements. However, the discussion showed that the report “Unite to Ignite” has created awareness of the challenges and initial efforts by large and influential organizations have already been made.
The event concluded with a call to action from Dr. Darian Stibbe, urging participants to implement the report’s findings and invest in partnership capacities to accelerate transformative partnerships for the SDGs and beyond.
For more details, kindly find the mentioned report “Unite to Ignite” here.
