Development Cooperation Forum Special Policy Dialogue: The Role of Philanthropic Organizations In the Post-2015 Setting – 23 April 2013, UN Headquarters, NYC

Watch the LIVESTREAM of the UNDP Special Policy Dialogue: The Role of Philanthropic Organizations in the Post-2015 Setting on 23rd April at 10AM EDT, and join the conversation on Twitter at #phil2015. Download the background PDF here.

Background

The United Nations Economic and Social Council, UNDP, UNDESA, the OECD Global Network of Foundations Working for Development (net-FWD) and the Worldwide Initiative for Grantmaker Support (WINGS) are co-organizing a Special Policy Dialogue on the role of private philanthropic organizations in international development cooperation. The meeting will build on the 2012 Special Policy Dialogue of the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF). It responds to a call by the 2010 MDG Summit on foundations to enhance their role in supporting national development efforts and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Purpose

The Special Policy Dialogue will provide a forum for cross-regional and cross-thematic policy dialogue and knowledge exchange among private philanthropic organizations and with member States. It will explore the increasingly important role of private philanthropic organizations in international development cooperation and how their contribution can complement flows from other stakeholders, leverage other forms of financing for development and bring about innovative ways to achieve more impact in developing countries. It will focus in particular on modalities and successes of innovative forms of philanthropic engagement.

Key objectives

• Assess recent experiences of cooperation between governments and philanthropic organizations and the extent to which collaboration is conducive to achieving development results in support of the MDGs.
• Discuss efforts by private philanthropic organizations to contribute to objectives set out in national development strategies and to evaluate their development impact.
• Seek to identify operational ways to optimize partnerships among foundations, member States and other relevant development cooperation actors at the global, regional and country levels and how they can contribute to the global partnership for development needed to underpin a post-2015 development agenda.
• Identify how aid can further leverage such partnerships.
• Identify and discuss innovative approaches of philanthropic contributions to development and the challenges to further scaling up these initiatives.

Outcomes

The key messages and outcomes of the Special Policy Dialogue will feed into ongoing discussions and initiatives geared towards shaping the contours of development collaboration in the post-2015 setting, including:

1. The Ethiopia High-Level Symposium in preparation for the 2014 Development Cooperation Forum (6-7 June 2013) focusing on a renewed global partnership for development in a post-2015 era;
2. The High-Level Segment of the 2013 Substantive Session of the Economic and Social Council (July 2013);
3. The Ministerial Meeting of the Busan Global Partnership on Effective Development Cooperation (October 2013);
4. Ongoing discussions of the OECD Global Network of Foundations Working for Development (netFWD) and initiatives of other global and regional networks.

Participation

Participants will include practitioners from philanthropic organizations and senior representatives from United Nations member States. They will share insights and contribute to crafting key messages aimed to enhance the development impact of their activities and partnerships at the operational and policy levels.

A global e-discussion will be facilitated by UNDP and WINGS prior to the event, allowing a broad range of stakeholders to contribute inputs.

For more information, please contact: philanthropy@undp.org T +1 212 906 6853. Download this press release here. Visit the United Nations online.