Professionals Demand Global Partnership for Development
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PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday, 27 September 2006 Professionals Launch a New Partnership Declaration A New Breed of Professionals Launch a 'Declaration' Challenging Leaders to Release the Power of Partnerships for Sustainable Development Over the last three days 130 professionals from around the world joined forces in Cambridge to write a Declaration targeted at leaders from across the corporate business, government and charitable sectors. Titled "The 21st Century Leadership Challenge", and with the ambition of tackling the persistent problems of poverty, environmental degradation and government accountability, the Declaration describes seven actions that society's leaders need to take to realise the full potential of strategic alliances between businesses, government and civil society organisations. The idea of these three sectors working together on global and local sustainability issues is itself not new. What is new is the emerging critical mass of specialists, with years of hard fought experimentation under their belts, experienced and trained in a rare combination of skills in cross-cultural negotiation, multi-stakeholder brokering and collaborative management. "It is only now, after having tested the idea out on some of the most persistent environmental and social challenges in the world, that we can truly see its potential" said Ros Tennyson, of the International Business Leaders Forum, the inspiration for the Declaration and organiser of the event. Speaking as a practitioner, Dr Michael Warner of the Overseas Development Institute said, "There is just so much more we could do with this partnership idea. From building water, road and telecommunications networks in the very poorest of regions, battling the world's mass diseases, enabling poor communities to sell their products in the global market place, conserving critical habitats and cultural sites, and promoting accountable within state institutions. But we are at a cross-roads. Either we carry on in our dedicated, but small and piece-meal way, or we take the whole thing to scale and see just how high this thing can really fly." The Declaration calls on the leaders of businesses, government authorities and non-governmental organisations everywhere to stop for a moment and give serious attention to the way their organisations work. The Declaration asks for: * public and corporate policies that value multi-stakeholder partnership as a viable strategy for organisations to achieve their primary purpose; * competitive tendering procedures that stimulate, rather than inhibit, the negotiation of innovative and creative multi-stakeholder partnerships; * training programmes and staff advancement criteria that develop the potential of individuals as partnership professionals; and * new performance indicators that measure success not only as the achievement of near-term objectives, but of longer-term sustainable development goals as well. The event in Cambridge from 24th to 26th September 2006 was a one-off event, supported by the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, the Cambridge Programme for Industry and the Overseas Development Institute, and sponsored by the global mining company Rio Tinto. 130 professionals involved in brokering and managing complex multi-stakeholder partnerships came together from across five continents. A recorded speech by HRH The Prince of Wales, provided the context for the launch of the Declaration at a Gala Dinner in front of leaders from the corporate, public and charitable sectors. "Many had high hopes that globalization, of itself, would lead to more equitable development and, indeed, an end to poverty. But it has become increasingly clear that these hopes were rather vain and unbalanced. Cross-sector partnering, as a way of building on the best aspects of globalization and mitigating the worst, has come into its own." said the Prince. In his key note address to the dinner guests, Leigh Clifford, Chief Executive Officer of Rio Tinto, said "Partnerships for sustainable development are now part of our core business and we couldn't have got this far without the kinds of trainings offered to practitioners". More information about the Partnership Declaration can be found at: www.ThePartnershipDeclaration.org The International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) works with business, governments, international agencies and other stakeholders to create new partnerships that help both business and communities to flourish. IBLF is independent of national and commercial interests. It has a track record of anticipating social and reputational issues, and of challenging perceptions within companies, campaigning organisations and development agencies. IBLF is part of The Prince's Charities: a group of not-for-profit organisations of which The Prince of Wales is President. For further details, please see the IBLF website: www.iblf.org The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is Britain's leading independent think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues. Its mission is to inspire and inform policy and practice which lead to the reduction of poverty, the alleviation of suffering and the achievement of sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. Locking together high-quality applied research, practical policy advice and policy-focused dissemination and debate, ODI works with partners in the public and private sectors, in both developing and developed countries. For further details, please see the ODI website: www.odi.org.uk The Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI) provides executive learning programmes and learning services internationally. CPI's expertise lies in understanding how people learn and in the development of learning processes that can help restructure systems and influence attitudes in ways that will move society towards sustainability. CPI's programmes draw on world-class contributors from academic, policy and practitioner circles, and active alumni networks provide a vehicle for ongoing debate and activity. CPI is a non-profit, self-financing organisation within the University of Cambridge. For further details, please see the CPI website: www3.cpi.cam.ac.uk |
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