17 December 2012: The UN Development Program (UNDP) and UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) hosted on panel event on new forms of multilateral action and stakeholder engagement in UN initiatives, particularly within the context of the post-2015 development agenda. The round table, titled “Reclaiming Multilateralism,” brought together representatives from the UN and governments on 17 December 2012, in New York, US.

Barbara Adams, Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives, moderating the discussion, asked panelists to address the challenges faced by the UN in its role of convening multilateral action and holding stakeholders accountable. Many of the panelists’ remarks dealt with this issue of accountability, and the shifting position of the UN in relation to more localized action.

Speakers referred to a challenging fragmentation in multilateral activities, with Hamish Jenkins, NGLS, calling it a lack of “policy coherence” across the system. On the UN’s unique convening power, legitimacy, and attractiveness with outside stakeholders, Thomas Christensen, Senior Adviser for Partnerships to the Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning, called for a strategic-level conversation to fix structural partnership problems. With the changing dynamic of new players in the international realm, Fadzai Gwardzimba, UNDP Bureau of External Reflections and Advocacy, spoke of her organization’s efforts to form new alliances to address the international paradigm shift.

Most prominent of these new actors is the private sector, panelists said, emphasizing the need to include business in the work and objectives of the UN. Adams referred to the UN Secretary-General’s plan to develop a new partnership mechanism over the next year, as expressed in his remarks to the recent board meeting of the UN Global Compact, in order to engage businesses in “contributing to UN priorities.” Magnus Lennartsson, Permanent Mission of Sweden, spoke of the private sector’s increasing influence in “decision-making and agenda-setting.” He highlighted the risks the UN should avoid when partnering with businesses, such as a distortion of global economic competition and damaging the body’s reputation.

Most panel members also spoke of a need to prioritize local involvement in and control of policies. Andrew Davis, from the Delegation of Catalonia to the US, highlighted the importance of local and regional government actors, calling them providers of “key services for human needs.” He spoke of his local government’s involvement in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), but stressed the difficulty and expense for these players to involve themselves in the international process. Jenkins called for policies to nurture local economies, allowing communities to “regain control of their future” in order to end the sense of disempowerment at the local level.

Also during the event Jenkins introduced a new report from NGLS, titled “Reclaiming Multilateralism: For People, Rights and Sustainable Development,” written by Barbara Adams and Gretchen Luchsinger. [NGLS Event Details] [UN Webcast] [Background Note] [Speaker Biographies] [Publication: Reclaiming Multilateralism: For People, Rights and Sustainable Development] [Selected Resources] [IISD RS Story on UN Global Compact Board Meeting]