Last week, on 14 September 2023, the UN Security Council held a debate on “Advancing Public-Private Humanitarian Partnership”. During the session, United States Permanent Representative to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield specifically highlighted CBi: “[the] Connecting Business Initiative has broken ground, creating a network of independent chambers of commerce and private foundations committed to humanitarian response efforts.”
The Turkish Permanent Representative highlighted the work of the United Nations Development Programme in-country: “Türkiye’s partnership with the UN has also been designed… to strengthen the role of private sector… In this respect, Türkiye is the co-founder of the UNDP’s Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development, facilitating the contribution of the private sector towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.”
Ecuador also specifically highlighted CBi: “We support the Connecting Business initiative launched at the World Humanitarian Summit of 2016, this initiative championed by OCHA and UNDP.”
The session was chaired by Igli Hasani, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of Albania, and featured briefings from Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP); Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard; and Jared Cohen, President of Global Affairs and co-head of the Office of Applied Innovation at Goldman Sachs.
Albania used the Security Council session to announce a new ‘Private Section Humanitarian Alliance’ intended to mobilize and streamline coordination across major multinationals during humanitarian emergencies.
Malta, Ecuador, Gabon, Switzerland, Mozambique, Ghana, France, and Egypt stressed the need for private sector actors engaging in humanitarian assistance efforts to respect humanitarian principles and operate within existing humanitarian system.
Ghana, Gabon, and Mozambique called for sustained efforts to address root causes of need and support community resilience and the humanitarian-peace-development nexus. Ghana called for continued solidarity from donors to fill gaps in humanitarian response plans. Gabon underscored the importance of climate financing drawn through innovative mechanisms.
Ecuador and the United States highlighted the OCHA-UNDP Connecting Business initiative. Ecuador and Ghana encouraged others to refer to the Guiding Principles for Public-Private Collaboration for Humanitarian Action developed by OCHA and the World Bank in 2007 as a basis for deepening collaboration.
The European Union, Türkiye, South Africa, Egypt, and Italy also provided statements in support of private sector collaboration. Türkiye specifically highlighted its pride as host of the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016 and UNDP IICPSD. Italy recalled that the Humanitarian Omnibus resolution highlighted the importance of strengthening coordination among governments and civil society to ensure a comprehensive response, noting that the private sector has an important role.
All in all, this was a great milestone not just for CBi but for private sector engagement in humanitarian action. We look forward to continuing our work, pursuing our vision and our mandate of greater coordination and cooperation to save more lives and livelihoods.