Finance and funding: "fit for whose purpose?"
A review of private funding and corporate influence in the United Nations
[Uruguay, 27 July 2015] The Global Policy Watch, an organisation which promotes transparency and accountability in the financing for development process, has written an article reviewing private funding and corporate influence in the United Nations.
The full article is available here
There are many debates surrounding the Post-2015 Agenda regarding the role of the state, the private sector and stakeholders in taking responsibility for finance in the development process. This article looks at how the balance between public and private responsibility has shifted, and what this means in the real world in terms of adherence to international standards and norms, looking towards the United Nations.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"There is shared responsibility, the preference of rich countries who would like to shift traditional official development assistance (ODA) and other “burdens” given the “rise” of some developing countries. There is common but differentiated responsibility, stressed by developing countries to link common commitment with the reality of varying capacities."
"The post-2015 agenda must aim for transformation, given that the current course of development is so off track, from imbalanced consumption and production patterns, to gaping inequalities, to the surpassing of planetary boundaries. The intergovernmental negotiating process has recognized this need; drafts of the outcome document have referred to its unprecedented scope and significance. But will the rhetoric see action?"
CHANGING THE DISCOURSE - "For the UN system to respond adequately to today’s critical challenges, Fit for Whose Purpose? stresses that public funding of it must increase. Funding must be high in quality, including through strict limits on earmarking. Norms, standards and guidelines must be set to govern all interactions of the United Nations with the corporate sector, and both the intergovernmental framework and UN institutional capacity for monitoring and overseeing partnerships must expand."
