Celebrating Transformative Partnerships: New Report and Partnership of the Year Announced

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FINISH Mondial Wins 2020 P4G Partnership of the Year for Improving Sanitation to over 5 Million People 

New WRI Report Identifies Four Success Factors for Transformative Partnerships

WASHINGTON (October 27, 2020) — Multistakeholder partnerships are tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges, like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and poverty. Each year, the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 (P4G) State-of-the-Art Partnership Awards recognize the most exciting partnerships of the year. Today at a virtual event, P4G announced FINISH Mondial as its 2020 State-of-the-Art Partnership of the Year for scaling safe sanitation access to more than 5 million people across six countries, with an innovative self-sustaining model that involves both the demand and supply side of access. To help multistakeholder partnerships like this increase their impact, World Resources Institute (WRI) also released a new report today that identifies four key success factors to transformative partnerships that can advance sustainable development around the world.

The new report, A Time for Transformative Partnerships: How Multistakeholder Partnerships Can Accelerate the UN Sustainable Development Goals, examines the role of partnerships among governments, businesses and civil society to bring about transformative change and reach the SDGs. WRI authored the report with contributions from P4G, the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), and World Economic Forum (WEF).

“These goals can only be met through multilateral and multisectoral collaboration,” said Ban Ki-moon, chair and president of Global Green Growth Institute, GGGI, and 8th Secretary-General of the UN, in his introductory remarks. “This is why SDG 17, which calls for sustainable development through partnerships, is one of the most important of them all.”

WRI researchers identified four key success factors of transformative partnerships: 1) articulating a clear understanding of the system of interest; 2) agreeing on joint transformation vision, goals, and activities; 3) establishing a strong performance tracking system that integrates system thinking; and 4) leveraging external stakeholders. These success factors are exemplified by partnerships with the highest transformation potential, including this year’s P4G State-of-the-Art Partnership Award recipients, and signal partnerships’ promise for truly shifting a sector from unsustainable to sustainable in a way that is systemic and long-term, and disruptive of the status quo. 

“While there are literally thousands of multistakeholder partnerships working on the SDGs, few have yet to achieve transformative impact,” said Serena Li, Lead Researcher on the new WRI report. “Partnering is inherently complex, especially when working with multiple partners, across multiple geographies and in dynamic systems. While there is no one right way to partner, our research identified how governments, businesses and civil society organizations all have important roles to play in helping partnerships succeed.”  

To advance partnerships around the world, the P4G State-of-the-Art Awards highlight multistakeholder partnerships delivering tangible impact in five focus areas: food, water, energy, cities, and the circular economy. The sector winners announced earlier this month include: 

1. Grow Asia (SDG 2): Provides strategic support and coordinates regional programs to improve smallholder farmer productivity, profitability and environmental sustainability in Southeast Asia. 
2. FINISH Mondial (SDG 6): Makes financially sustainable and scalable models for water sanitation globally available, focusing on India, Bangladesh, Kenya and Ethiopia.
3. SHIFT Asia (SDG 7): Brings together e-mobility and the power sector in the world’s first digital carbon finance platform to support greener infrastructure in Southeast Asia.
4. Net Zero Energy Homes Initiative (SDG 11): Builds inclusive and affordable net-zero homes in Mexico that complement their environmental surroundings. 
5. Sustainable Clothing Action Plan (SDG 12): Reduces the environmental impacts of clothing production and consumption in the United Kingdom. 

“This year’s winners present similarly innovative solutions and the message of inclusivity they share through their actions and achievements is now more important than ever,” said the First Lady of Colombia María Juliana Ruiz, who announced the award winners last year and serves as Colombia’s UN Goodwill Ambassador for SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals. 

“They are role models for the many more partnerships we need in the transition to a green economy,” said His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. 

This year P4G also recognized the first-ever winner of Best Up and Coming Partnership, a new category created to highlight a partnership with strong potential for transformation but one that is still young in its journey. This year’s winner was Renewable Powered Drinking Water Supply for Mekong Delta Vietnam, a partnership that builds renewable powered desalination containers that can supply up to 10 tons of drinking water a day to residents lacking a commercial supply. 

This year’s Up and Coming category also featured CURA, a partnership that, in response to COVID-19, converts shipping containers into fully outfitted isolation wards that can be installed in hours, customized and used by medical professionals. 

“This year’s winners are some of the best of the best partnerships in the world. They are a source of inspiration based upon the innovative approaches they are taking, the demonstrated impact through practical solutions, and focus on scaling with investment potential. They dare to be different and are an invaluable source of future partnerships and collaborations for the P4G family,” said Ian de Cruz, Global Director, P4G.  

To read the full report visit www.wri.org/transformative-partnerships, and to learn more about the P4G State-of-the-Art Partnership Awards visit www.p4gpartnerships.org. 

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About World Resources Institute

WRI is a global research organization that spans more than 60 countries, with offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the United States. Its more than 1,000 experts and staff work closely with leaders to turn big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. More information on WRI can be found at www.wri.org or on Twitter @WorldResources.

About P4G: Pioneering Partnerships, Investing in Impact 

P4G – Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030 – is a global platform with a venture capital approach to accelerating market-based partnerships to build sustainable and resilient economies. P4G bridges the gap between development and investment agendas to deliver inclusive, transformative solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement. P4G mobilizes a global ecosystem of 12 partner countries and 6 organizational partners to unlock opportunities for more than 50+ partnerships working in five SDG areas: food and agriculture, water, energy, cities, and circular economy.