New York, NY 25 August 2018 – The World Development Foundation joined a core of supportive NGOs, working alongside the professional team at United Nations Department of Public Information, to welcome delegates from hundreds of Global NGOs to the 67th annual UN DPI Conference at UNHQ in New York. Together Finding Global Solutions was a main theme – and the World Development Foundation provided its lead team as volunteers, serving in a variety of capacities.
President MacDonald addressed the delegates several times and at the highest levels.
Mr. Sciarratta continues to donate service to the NGO DPI organization on the UN campus through his work as Program Director at WDF. He is volunteer co-editor of their NGO Reporter and was invited to co-chair the Logistics Subcommittee for the UN 67th Annual DPI Conference.
WDF General Manager, Ms. Fan, served on the highly successful Exhibits Committee, which proved to be a highlight of the entire conference.
A major portion of the official Outcome Document focused on the need to discuss and launch public private partnerships to ensure that all stakeholders are involved in a transparent, corruption-free zone of enterprise and sustainable development for all – a major tenet of all WDF programming.
WDF sponsored and led workshops to discuss public private partnerships (PPP). There were a mix of opinions and the foundation sought to act as a thought leader but with a hope to discover answers that move forward the possibility for large-scale development in support of the SDGs.While some expressed a danger in any relations with large corporations, others saw the basis of SDG #17 (partnerships) alongside the obvious need for SDG #16 (strengthening institutions), in order to ensure PPP viability.Another issue raised is accountability of Member States. The UN Member States ratified this initiative; now: are they living up to its goals or merely asking others to do so? How would Member State success for the SDGs be measured, in relation to PPP?The audience among several sectors of civil society was standing room only at WDFs workshop during the UN events. At the LIU extension, former, longtime PepsiCo executive Dan Bena presented a wonderful presentation, uploaded to our website, on goals for successful public private partnerships in the future.WDF brings together and supports the dissemination of information and education to Member States, the United Nations, civil society, academic communities, businesses, and everyday people throughout the world, in order to ensure that all stakeholders contribute to global, sustainable development efforts, worldwide.
