Redefining Public Private Partnerships and SDG 17 in the Humanitarian Response

Hosted by the State of Qatar and the Global Humanitarian Action Executive Alliance, this Roundtable will focus on how sustainable and collaborative public-private partnerships in the humanitarian space led to more effective, principled private sector engagement in emergency preparedness and response.

The combination of the scale of existing humanitarian needs coupled with recovering from the effects of COVID-19 are fast outpacing the ability of traditional actors to respond. Given this, it is important to engage the private in sector in a timely fashion in humanitarian action in order to optimise the delivery of innovative and efficient solutions.

GHAEA and private sector members, UN and Government representatives will take part in a discussion regarding what sustainable and collaborative humanitarian public-private partnerships look like and how those partnerships can be done more effectively. Ultimately, the discussion also seeks to better understand what is needed to deliver more effective partnerships to support the SDGs. This event will also identify specific partnerships to highlight what can be achieved through (1) partnership preparedness utilising existing infrastructure to respond to immediate needs and (2) quick moving dynamic new partnerships that respond quickly to humanitarian needs.

Roundtable Discussion Questions

• What role can the private sector play in supporting the UN to more effectively provide humanitarian assistance? How can companies contribute to the prevention of humanitarian crises?
• What is the added value of the private sector to UN and government efforts in a humanitarian context?
• How should engagement/partnership models can be modernised to benefit more effectively from private sector competency?
• How can the UN system enable increased collaboration and accountability from UN leadership towards humanitarian action with private sector partners?
• What lessons learnt are there from public private engagement in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine and the February 2023 earthquake in Türkiye and Syria?

To address these questions, the participants are expected to bring up concrete issues with the goal of developing common perspectives and deliverable recommendations.

The Roundtable will be facilitated by the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General for Public Private Parnterships and Islamic Social Financing. 

Each organisation may have one representative (managerial/director level) at the roundtable and up to two supporting individuals. Attendance is expected to be at VP/Director/Managerial level. Kindly note that access to UN is required.

RSVP to register your interest to participate in this roundtable event. 

Contact - info@unsgadviser.org