Progress through Collaboration: Multi-Stakeholder views on the “Decisive Decade”
Returning from a few weeks engaging with key stakeholders in the impact development ecosystem, key takeaways from the UN and GIIN summits provide plenty of lessons for practice, with opportunities for transformations present: renewing a sense of encouraging optimism.
The 2020s are the decade in which the UN Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved: or not.
Photo credit: United Nations Social Development Network
Back on the Road
The last few weeks marked a ThirdWay Africa return to both the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, as well as to the Global Impact Investing Conference (GIIN) in Amsterdam. From our last attendance at UNGA 2 years ago and over the last 12 months since our presence at the 2018 GIIN in Paris, significant shifts have occurred within global political and economic environments. Indeed, the UNGA agenda was in part dominated by geopolitical flash points: detracting from a focus on co-operation, which is vital to solve the world’s most pressing developmental and climatic issues. Our view is that deepening political chasms in an age characterised by divisive politics will only serve to obstruct the realisation of the sustainability and environmental goals. However, co-operation, multi-stakeholder dialogue and shared aims represent great sources of opportunity and revitalised optimism - as our experience through attendance substantiates.
Despite the presence of world leaders and political agendas at the UNGA, Greta Thunberg's address dominated takeaways, warning of impending environmental and climate crises.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
Takeaways from New York
1. We are entering a decisive decade of delivery and action
The usual country-by-country address format of the UNGA carried on with leaders in attendance leveraging an opportunity to platform themselves on the world stage. Yet headlines were grabbed by Greta Thunberg: capturing the global imagination and reflecting a world in protest of the environmental status quo. Such demands commanding immediate attention to global crises coincide not only with the UN’s maturity date for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030: but also, for goals agreed in the UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change to be realised. As Secretary-General António Guterres put it: we are entering a “decade of delivery and action”.
2. Sustainable growth is built on dialogue
From UNGA, the key message was a re-iteration of the importance of co-operative, shared dialogue for effective action. Attending both the pre-UNGA Africa kick-off event hosted by Concordia and being invited to subsequent Concordia events provided insight into agendas and discussions as they were taking place at the decision-making and thought leadership levels. An encouraging step to this effect was the inception of Secretary-General Guterres’ “Decade of Action” Annual Platform: convening Government, civil society, private sector, and other stakeholders in order to address systemic gaps in SDG implementation. Arguably, the hard work of impressing the importance of sustainability upon stakeholders seems to broadly have been completed, with “buy-in” evidenced on several levels. The challenge remaining is to define and operate upon agreed contours of co-operation in order to execute shared aims most efficiently
Working together to seed the transformation: combining the comparative advantages of separate stakeholders can allow for truly catalytic (and sustainable) growth.
Photo Credit: Markus Spiske
3. Shared language and unified metrics can frame effective action
A side-event at the conference evidenced this; an acceleration workshop run by our friends at P4G (Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030) on the topic of Special Sustainable Economic Zones (SSEZ). SYSTEMIQ, a sustainable consultancy and long-time associates of ours, were mentioned as execution partners on the world’s first SSEZ, working with P4G furthermore in Kenya and Ethiopia on similar projects: demonstrating significant and laudable execution capacity. Key action points from the workshop refer back to the importance of shared dialogue: with the requirement of a unified “sustainability” metric and definition complemented by integrated and precise datasets emerging as a conclusion.
4. Co-operation must overcome Public-Private sector differences, instead recognising complementary strengths
Also highly insightful was a side-event hosted by Queen Máxima of the Netherlands in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. A high-profile panel included Secretary-General Guterres, Mr. David Malpass, President of the World Bank Group, Ms. Melinda Gates: Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the CEOs of PayPal and MasterCard, all discussing Financial Inclusion. Not only was there praise for progress made over the past decade, but also the theme of Public-Private Partnerships was raised: noted as central towards furthering development agendas worldwide
Queen Máxima speaking on Financial Inclusion at UNGA 78: reflecting on a decade’s progress and exploring the opportunities the future has to offer.
Photo Credit: Cynthia Van Elk
Learnings from the GIIN in Amsterdam
The GIIN annually hosts the largest global gathering of impact investors, bursting with old and new faces together discussing trends, progress and challenges. A highly engaging two-day agenda including panels and sessions was supplemented by our involvement with a full day’s workshop on Frontier Finance.
The GIIN presents the world’s largest global gathering of impact investors; we were delighted to participate in a Frontier Finance Workshop whilst also being present for a highly exciting agenda.
Photo Credit: The Global Impact Investing Network
1. The importance of local understanding to effective success
Workshops and sessions were stimulating and inclusive: day 1 consisted of a session on “Structuring Relationships for Impact” - centering around the importance of understanding operating environments and complexities. As a firm with regional experience, know-how and network reach, we were pleased to hear the discussion supported an approach such as ours as being the most effective for stakeholder engagement, retention and collaborative success. Our experience includes constructing a Multi-Stakeholder Platform for Northern Mozambique, where the local context includes Africa’s biggest-ever private investment catalysing regional transformation. Execution has required and deepened our appreciation and familiarity with the local context, deploying the best practices required for success.
2. Innovation can attract institutional capital, key to realising sustainable goals
Enter day 2, and a highlight for us was a session on “Scaling up finance for the water & sanitation (WASH) sector”. A key sector for sustainability and inclusive development, the discussion intermediated by a @PGGM representative consisted of best-in-class practitioners from a multitude of professional backgrounds sharing insights as to how best to develop and market assets in a way that is scalable and that can engage institutional capital. One clear takeaway was that private and institutional capital is crucial to the sustainability effort and realising success in this “Decade for Action” is no longer negotiable nor questioned; and such conversations are central towards achieving win-win results in a transparent and scalable manner.
Water access and availability is a significant problem across the African continent; the sanitation and quality of this water a second one. The risks of water-borne diseases and industrial contamination can only be mitigated through inclusive and co-operative solutions.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Nyimas Laula
3. Frontier Finance has space for a wide range of stakeholders to effectively de-risk propositions and encourage investor entry
To our participation as part of the GIIN Frontier Finance Workshop: there was a certain amount of circularity with our learnings from the Big Apple. Returning to the point that challenges are defining and operating upon pre-agreed contours of co-operation rather than convincing stakeholders of the emergency afoot, the discussion centred around leveraging the de-risking and technical assistance potential of Grant Capital in a manner best facilitating private sector involvement and execution. Thirdway’s CEO, Gonçalo Neves-Correia participated in the discussion regarding enabling environments, referencing ThirdWay Africa’s experience and expanding upon the local context in Mozambique. The USAID-funded Supporting the Policy Environment for Economic Development (SPEED+) programme was cited as a model instance of grant capital serving to create and develop enabling environments for business.
A slide on “Uses of Grant Capital – Inventory” presented to attendees as part of the GIIN Frontier Finance Workshop. Gonçalo participated in the discussion on creating enabling environments, citing work done at ThirdWay Africa and commending the SPEED+ programme.
Bringing learnings to practice
Recent news of Italian Oil & Gas giant Eni signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Mozambique’s Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy on sustainable development and decarbonisation demonstrates that everybody, including Oil and Gas players themselves, are seemingly alert to the urgency of climate action. Now back and continuing to work across our business divisions out of London, Harare, and Maputo we are ready to capitalise upon this shift in organisational mindset, combining our learnings from the last few weeks with a core strategy focussed on sustainability.
The key challenge going forward is fostering co-operation in a manner best suited to the local context in a way that maximises the potential support offered by each and every stakeholder involved. We continue to aim for inclusive and sustainable development: working as a key conduit for action ensuring an alignment of commercial success and sustainability for all.