According to the UN Global Compact, in 2020, about 81 percent of its business participants took some type of action around the 2030 Agenda. Twenty percent reported taking action on SDG16 specifically.
Tracks of engagement include:
Regarding the VNR specifically, overarching areas of contribution seem to include the following:
Collective Action, Implementation, and Partnership
Bottom Line: More effectively translating the VNR to responsible businesses as a process and opportunity linked to NDP and priorities would not only help bring in these perspectives for a strengthened whole-of-society approach but would also further support SDG 16 implementation.
Mexico, for example, established the National Council on the 2030 Agenda in 2017, which coordinates the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and includes different branches of government, in addition to CSOs, business representatives and other stakeholders.
By its third VNR in 2021, and building off of previous VNR recommendations, Mexico had invested further in multi-stakeholder input and collaboration, drafting its VNR in dialogue with various partners and sectors, including businesses. To this end, individual companies and trade unions provided input in terms of actions, analysis, and strategy articulation, including through the creation of 19 working groups, to advance the 2030 Agenda beyond the VNR process and improve monitoring and public awareness within the sector.
For its 2018 VNR, Sri Lanka sought input from the private sector, in addition to various other stakeholders, through its Stakeholder Engagement Plan, holding several workshops and developing an outline platform to support engagement.
Private sector actors and related networks have also been engaged in raising awareness around the SDGs and the VNR, more specifically.
For example, UN Global Compact Local Networks (GCLNs) often support VNR and post-VNR processes in-country, helping to bridge the gap among the UN, governments and businesses by providing an alternative, multi-stakeholder space for engagement.
GCLNs raise awareness and increase understanding about the SDGs among businesses, communicate to the business community how progress is reviewed through the VNR process, and provide the voices of sustainable business to governments.
The Global Compact Network South Africa (GCNSA) has as its principle focus private sector contributions to the SDGs, as aligned to the country’s NDP and underpinned by the application of UNGC’s Ten Principles. In 2018, South Africa’s Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, through the National Planning Commission, asked GCNSA to be its private sector institutional partner and to support the coordination of the private sector’s contribution to the NDP and SDG process. Findings from this collaboration then fed into South Africa’s VNR.1.
While the VNR process was viewed by many GCNSA businesses as an opportunity to build an ongoing platform to unify private sector action around the 2030 Agenda, South Africa’s NDP, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and other public sector plans, companies interviewed largely saw the delivery of SDG 16 and its targets as outside their sphere of responsibility. However, many agreed with SDG 16 in principle, as most companies want a South Africa free of corruption and with strong institutions and a trusted economy. Further, the financial services industry saw strong interest in SDG 16, given its interest in the economic credibility of South Africa. Those within the electricity, gas and water sectors owned their responsibility for strong governance, speaking to the need for “for strong and accountable institutional leadership”. And FinTech and ICT companies saw their role in SDG 16 as translated through access to connectivity, information and financial inclusion through new marketplaces and educational tools, especially for those who have historically been the poorest, most disadvantaged and farthest left behind.
Take-Aways and Going Forward: It was suggested that the government develop mechanisms to recognize and incentivize positive private sector participation in the 2030 Agenda, potentially via further alignment and integration with Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment and the NDP. As such, this calls for increased focus on demonstrating how companies can support SDG 16, including through the VNR, as linked to NDP and priorities.
To this end, the UN Global Compact’s SDG 16 Business Framework | Inspiring Transformational Governance approaches corporate reporting on SDG 16 as “a means of generating, and making available to stakeholders, information necessary to understand and mitigate risks and to capture opportunities. It is also a vehicle for transparency and a key means of holding businesses to account and, as such, is intrinsic to good corporate governance. Beyond the businesses themselves, expanded corporate reporting on SDG 16 would generate value for a range of stakeholders, including investors, government, and civil society.”
SDG Corporate Tracker Colombia (SDG CT) | Department of Economic and Social Affairs (un.org)
Module 7: Engaging Academia, Research Institutions, the Media and Journalists
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The Global Compact Network South Africa (GCNSA) has as its principle focus private sector contributions to the SDGs, as aligned to the country’s NDP and underpinned by the application of UNGC’s Ten Principles. In 2018, South Africa’s Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, through the National Planning Commission, asked GCNSA to be its private sector institutional partner and to support the coordination of the private sector’s contribution to the NDP and SDG process. Findings from this collaboration then fed into South Africa’s VNR.1.
While the VNR process was viewed by many GCNSA businesses as an opportunity to build an ongoing platform to unify private sector action around the 2030 Agenda, South Africa’s NDP, the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and other public sector plans, companies interviewed largely saw the delivery of SDG 16 and its targets as outside their sphere of responsibility. However, many agreed with SDG 16 in principle, as most companies want a South Africa free of corruption and with strong institutions and a trusted economy. Further, the financial services industry saw strong interest in SDG 16, given its interest in the economic credibility of South Africa. Those within the electricity, gas and water sectors owned their responsibility for strong governance, speaking to the need for “for strong and accountable institutional leadership”. And FinTech and ICT companies saw their role in SDG 16 as translated through access to connectivity, information and financial inclusion through new marketplaces and educational tools, especially for those who have historically been the poorest, most disadvantaged and farthest left behind.
Take-Aways and Going Forward: It was suggested that the government develop mechanisms to recognize and incentivize positive private sector participation in the 2030 Agenda, potentially via further alignment and integration with Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment and the NDP. As such, this calls for increased focus on demonstrating how companies can support SDG 16, including through the VNR, as linked to NDP and priorities.
Parliamentary Committees are political and dependent on the interest of Members of Parliament to continue, though those connected to a government department are usually maintained, regardless of MP changes. “All Party Parliamentary Groups” do not have the same statutory basis as Committees, nor the same kind of scrutiny duties. However, they are less vulnerable and provide additional means to keep attention on the SDGs.)
To this end, the UN Global Compact’s SDG 16 Business Framework | Inspiring Transformational Governance approaches corporate reporting on SDG 16 as “a means of generating, and making available to stakeholders, information necessary to understand and mitigate risks and to capture opportunities. It is also a vehicle for transparency and a key means of holding businesses to account and, as such, is intrinsic to good corporate governance. Beyond the businesses themselves, expanded corporate reporting on SDG 16 would generate value for a range of stakeholders, including investors, government, and civil society.”
SDG Corporate Tracker Colombia (SDG CT) | Department of Economic and Social Affairs (un.org)