Following are excerpts from the testimony of Kathy Calvin; CEO, United Nations Foundation before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight on
"Achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals: Progress through Partnerships":
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling today’s hearing on the Millennium Development Goals and for inviting the United Nations Foundation to testify. Your leadership in support of American efforts to battle extreme poverty and illness in the developing world and to support the United Nations and UN programs is greatly appreciated.
Let me briefly discuss some of the public-private partnerships being implemented by the United Nations Foundation, not because they are the only examples, but because it is what we know how to do best. Our initiatives are designed to support the MDGs by ending easily-preventable malaria deaths, reducing child mortality through immunization, promoting opportunities for adolescent girls in the developing world, introducing modern information and communications technologies, rallying key partners in support of maternal health, and promoting access to clean energy...
...Another innovative approach to partnerships is to create a coalition of partners with a common goal. According to the World Health Organization, smoke from traditional cookstoves causes 1.9 million deaths annually (mostly women and children), and millions more suffer from chronic lung diseases as a result of cooking over open fires on a daily basis. “Black carbon” emissions are also a major contributor to climate change, and women are often put at risk of violence in the search for wood and other fuels. Adoption and deployment of clean and efficient cooking stoves and fuels must be a major priority for the global community.
In response, the UN Foundation is actively working with the U.S. Department of State, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Shell Foundation, UN-Energy, the World Health Organization, the World Food Programme, and the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to create a Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves to scale up the adoption of clean cookstoves in the developing world. By establishing standards for cleaner stoves, funding health and climate research, and spurring innovative financing mechanisms, the Alliance will seek to bring about a sustainable cookstove industry that can reach an additional 100 million households – roughly 20 percent of the affected population – with clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020. This is a rare and exciting opportunity to improve public health (addressing MDGs 4, 5, and 6) and mitigate climate change (MDG 7, ensuring environmental sustainability)...
...In conclusion, I would like to add a few points about the challenges of making partnerships successful.
First, it is critical to bring all partners and recipients to the table from the start of any initiative. Co-creation is essential. Second, partnerships succeed best when everyone has a clear role to play and can play from strengths and competencies—not just financial resources. Third, partnerships work best when they take the time to create full business plans with clear goals and objectives. To be sustainable, these need to serve the different interests of the various partners. Fourth, the UN, which traditionally had not been partner-friendly outside its normal member state environment, is becoming more adept and successful at partnerships and so is the U.S. government. And fifth, Congress has an important opportunity to support public-private partnerships in support of the Millennium Development Goals. As this Committee considers legislation to re-write the Foreign Assistance Act, it is critically important that USAID and the State Department are directed to work closely with public-private partnerships, and to actively encourage these efforts. Given scarce public and private resources, it is imperative that money be well spent and effectively coordinated.
I am proud that the United Nations Foundation has had a history of successful partnerships; and looking forward, we will continue to work together with our partners to drive progress toward the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Full speech of UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin
