SDG-Fund Launches 2016 Report with UNITAR in Attendance

12 November 2016, New York, USA - The Sustainable Development Goals Fund launched their 2016 report on “Universality and the SDGs: A Business Perspective”.

Ms. Paloma Duran, Director of the SDG-Fund, gave the welcoming remarks and brief introduction of the SDG-Fund and the report. She mentioned that one year into the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, the report aims to grapple with the concept of universality and the opportunities and challenges it creates for the private sector as partners in sustainable development.

Ms. Duran outlined that the report is divided into four chapters. The first examines what universality means, how this makes the SDGs relevant to businesses and lays out the report methodology. The second chapter focuses on how the private sector can, and is, engaging with notions of sustainability and the 2030 Agenda, as well as the main challenges involved. The third chapter presents a series of case studies, drawing on the work and experiences of the SDG Fund’s Private Sector Advisory Group member companies to provide a model and demonstrate how the SDGs can be integrated into a company’s core business activities regardless of what they do. The final chapter identifies a series of tools, among the many that exist, that can help businesses become engaged in the achievement of the SDGs.

Mr. Michael O’Neill, BERA Director, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UNDP Director of External Relations and Advocacy, gave some welcoming remarks on behalf of UNDP on the Universality of the 2030 Agenda from the perspective of the SDG-Fund and UNDP.

The next speaker was Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra, Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations. Ambassador Meza-Cuadra gave the Member State’s perspective on the Universality of the 2030 Agenda in particular what it means for the private sector. He emphasized the importance of private sector involvement; how for example in his country it has helped increase the production of local products such as corn.

Mr. Marco Suazo, head-of-office of United Nations Institute for Training and Research New York, gave the perspective from an UN Agency and why the SDGs are relevant for the private sector. Mr. Suazo mentioned the long lasting relationship between UNITAR NY and the SDG-Fund, since both agencies have been collaborating together and are currently working to develop a jointly-initiated e-Learning course that will seek to act as a follow up to the conference “Attaining the SDGs by 2030: Business and the UN, New Partnership Models” that took place earlier in the year. Mr. Suazo expects the course to be launched by December 2016.

The next panelist was Mr. Javier Flores, Director-General of the BBVA Microfinance Foundation, gave feedback on the report and how FMBBVA is implementing the SDGs within their core business practices.

Mr. Tonye Cole, Co-Founder and Group CEO of the Sahara Group, as the final speaker, he gave feedback on the report and reflected on some key issues they face as they work to incorporate and implement the SDGs within their organization.

Photo Credits- SDG-Fund