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Sustainable Development Partnerships

The 2030 Agenda affirms the relevance of partnerships with civil society and business. Under SDG 17 »Partnerships for the Goals«, multi-stakeholder partnerships are listed as a key implementation tool. However, despite the abundance and presence of such partnerships, their actual contribution to sustainable development is unclear. The UN is seeking to monitor partnerships more closely and improve their transparency and accountability. Among other things, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) has set up an online platform and organises the annual ECOSOC Partnership Forum.

From 2006 to 2017, as part of a DFG-funded project, we analysed the conditions for the success of partnerships for sustainable development, particularly in »areas of limited statehood«. The focus of our research in the first two funding periods was initially on the effectiveness and success factors for partnerships; we then analysed 21 transnational partnerships in the areas of environment, health and social affairs from 2006-2009. This was followed in 2010-2013 by field research on local partnership projects in fragile areas in South Asia and East Africa. In the third project phase from 2014-2017, we analysed the extent to which relevant actors from the United Nations, donor institutions, governments and private initiatives take up previous findings on the conditions for the success of partnerships with regard to the promotion of new partnerships for the SDGs. In particular, we were interested in what meta-governance these actors advocate or provide for partnerships, such as policies or guidelines to better support, manage and monitor partnerships. Our publications present the results of our research. Other activities included workshops, side events and conferences.

Publications

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