November 2015: The UN Division for Sustainable Development (DESA-DSD) has released a compilation of partnerships supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The publication, titled ’17 Sustainable Development Goals, 17 Partnerships,’ highlights 17 partnerships established through the ‘Partnerships for SDGs’ online platform, which was launched ahead of the UN Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015. The platform contains 1,901 partnerships, as of 4 November 2015.
The initiatives highlighted in the compilation include: a national network of cooperatives, networks of rural women and female entrepreneurs, consumer networks, and NGOs dedicated to agriculture and crafts activities (SDG 1 on ending poverty); a start-up initiative on local communities’ adoption of technological advancements in sustainable agriculture (SDG 2 on ending hunger); a project that utilizes a public health approach to early grade literacy as a tool to reduce the social determinants of health, such as poverty, education and health inequities, and gender discrimination (SDG 5 on gender equality); an initiative that uses sustainable energy to improve academic performance in primary and secondary rural schools in Africa by providing solar lanterns to students without electricity (SDG 7 on energy); an initiative to strengthen capacities of citizen groups and government to work together to enhance quality of public services delivered to citizens (SDG 10 on reducing inequalities); and an online questionnaire to assess the minimum level of knowledge in economic, social and environmental responsibility, applicable all over the world, in any kind of higher education institution in any country (SDG 12 on sustainable consumption and production patterns).
The online platform was mandated by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), through paragraph 283 of the outcome document, ‘The Future We Want,’ and it was revitalized in preparation for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
DSD reports that 40 of the partnerships included in the Platform were announced during the Summit. [17 Sustainable Development Goals, 17 Partnerships] [Publication Webpage] [Partnerships for SDGs Platform]