Quid recently presented analysis looking at the importance of private sector engagement in meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at a jointly hosted conference by the World Association for Sustainable Development and the UN’s Joint Inspection Unit in Geneva. To examine the progress made by public and private entities toward these goals, we assessed the market landscape of new companies working on their implementation, narratives around SDG work in the media, and partnership dynamics. Our analysis focused on answering one key question: “How are public and private sectors partnering in order to further the SDGs?”
New companies supporting SDG implementation
When defining the private system ecosystem around the UN as including all non-governmental entities, many of the actors will be non-profits, but the Quid network below reveals that companies are also getting involved with business related to the 17 SDGs. Quid searched over 2 million public and private companies and found that more than 2,000 global startups are offering products or services that focus on at least one of the goals. The largest areas of focus were Quality Education (SDG 4), Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), and Sustainable Cities and Communities (SDG 11).
Companies in this space have raised an estimated $13.6 billion in private investment. While funding for these ventures peaked in 2015—the year of the goals’ adoption—the bar chart below shows a marked decline thereafter.
When we view the company set through a geographic lens, according to the UN’s five regional groups, different areas of sectoral focus are apparent. Africa, seen below, has a strong focus on Sustainable Communities and Equality (yellow), and Equality, Peace & Justice (purple), while APAC is highly focused on Education (light blue).
Private entities flock to SDG partnerships, but public sector remains influential
Quid analyzed 3,810 UN partnership initiatives to better understand the public-private partnership landscape, as well as the different characteristics of partnerships for each goal.
In the scatterplot below, each node represents an organization that is participating in one or more of these partnership initiatives as tracked by the UN. Quid’s Betweenness Centrality metrics measure the influence of a node given how it connects the entire partnerships network. We can see that large public entities such as the UNDP, UNICEF, UNEP, and Small Island Developing States (Samoa, Fiji, and Kiribati) are the most influential in partnerships with other entities. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a non-profit, is one of the few private entities that emerged as influential, according to our analysis.
While they appear to be less influential in partnerships, the chart below shows that private sector entities made up over 50% of partnership participants for every SDG.
Private sector actors were focused on SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 16 (Peace and Justice Strong Institutions); while public sectors actors were more concerned with SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 15 (Life on Land).
It is often said that there is a strong interdependence between many, if not all of the SDGs. However, looking at the relationships between the various goals, we discovered that while largely true, there are few exceptions to this rule. For example, partnerships focused on SDG 14, Life Under Water, tend to focus exclusively on that goal. Quid found that 73% of all partnerships mentioning SDG 14 exclusively focus on it.
Gender equality dominates media narratives
Lastly, we took a look at the media coverage around SDG campaigns and initiatives to better understand narratives around existing public-private partnerships. As seen below, those related gender equality (SDG 5) received the most coverage across multiple topic clusters. The Quid network map identified 7 gender equality-related topics out of a total of 17 related to SDG coverage.
Partnerships for gender equality range from specific pieces of legislation, to industry-specific partnerships (e.g. sustainable stock exchange), to the HeForShe campaign.
Quid also found that media coverage of gender equality partnerships peaks every March, during International Women's Month, but quickly drops off. This suggests that there may be room for improvement in communications strategies that could be tailored to engage audiences on a more regular basis.
For example, the conversation around the HeForShe campaign—launched by Emma Watson during an address to the UN in 2015—consistently declined in volume year after year. That said, it remains relevant in conversations around SDG 5 through its affiliation with newer campaigns. The global law firm Linklaters, for example, recently announced a new gender equality initiativeinspired by HeForShe in March 2018.
Despite the volume of conversation mentioning #HeForShe declining significantly since 2015, it is a pervasive and enduringly powerful campaign.
There are a few key takeaways from this analysis. For one, it sheds light on collective SDG shortcomings and opportunities. Communication about progress toward a goal, after initial coverage of the partnership generates interest, can keep sustainable coverage going. Secondly, we can identify goals that have the exclusive focus of partnerships, such as SDG 14 - Life Under Water. In contrast, goals such at SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities are highly diversified. And finally, it should serve as a reminder that we need to constantly and rigorously analyze and track progress toward these goals. Setting a goal, or announcing a partnership is not enough. We will only achieve these goals when we fully understand the complex strategic challenges at hand, and have the right tactical steps in place in order to execute on our plans.
This article is written by Andrew Brown at Quid. To read the original article, click here.