The Hub for Innovative Partnerships

The United Nations recognizes the increasingly important role ofregional and local communities (subnational governments, regional and local actors from the private, associative and academic sectors) in the field of development. They represent an essential level of governance to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Because of their responsibilities and expertise, and their accountability in planning and developing strategies for their own territories, regional and local communities represent an important level between "the global" and "the local".

In September 2005, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) established, within its Liaison Office in Geneva, the Hub for Innovative Partnerships, aiming at recognizing the role of regional and local communities and supporting them in facing development challenges.

The objectives of the Hub are to support national governments in their ongoing decentralization processes by assisting regional and provincial governments in identifying and implementing their own development strategies and through facilitating innovative partnerships with all stakeholders: intergovernmental organizations, governments, communities, civil society, universities and the private sector. A Trust Fund, managed by the Hub, has been implemented for this purpose.

HUB ACTIVITIES

In line with its mandate and structure, the Hub coordinates a number of programmes that support the decentralization, empowerment and strengthened capacity of regional and local communities in support of development. These include the ART Initiative, the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty, the UN-Regions Partnerships "Towards Carbon Neutral and Climate Change Resilient Territories" and the mobilization of the private sector for the territorial approach to development.

  1. The ART Initiative: Articulating Territorial and Thematic Networks of Cooperation for Human Development

    The global ART Initiative promotes a cooperation modality that enables local, national and international actors interested in supporting local development to jointly identify and implement development initiatives in compliance with national policies.

    To this end, UNDP promotes in countries that request its intervention:

    • the establishment of a Framework-Programme at national level: an institutional and operational framework that facilitates the articualtion between the development activities implemented in a region and the decentralization policies.

    • a service to promote local development at the international level: the Hub mobilizes its network of local partners from the North and South around this modality of intervention, based on the principles of complementarity and articulation. The Hub facilitates the exchange of knowledge and innovations in the fields of development and local governance.

  2. The World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty

    The World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty(WACAP) is a network of cities launched in 1996 by UNDP. Its mission is to fight urban poverty through awareness actions, good practice dissemination, promotion of city to city cooperation, fundraising and implementation of pilot social projects.

    During the 6th Forum of the Alliance, which was held in Athens in March 2008, 300 cities adopted a set of concrete local goals in order to contribute to the achievement of the MDGs. Within this context, the Alliance facilitated the gathering of local communities committed in working together in a certain number of priority fields, such as:

    • Fighting HIV/AIDS: communities committed themselves to support the implementation at the local level, of all awareness actions and national HIV/AIDS programmes, in collaboration with United Nations' specialized agencies.

    • Water and sanitation: various European governments have integrated legislative instruments that allow local communities to use part of their budgets to finance partnership projects in the field of water. In order to prevent the fragmentation of these initiatives, different French, Italian and Spanish communities are establishing, with UNDP's support, a platform aiming at generating synergies and articulating their solidarity actions in territories of common interest.

  3. The UN-Regions Partnerships "Towards Carbon Neutral and Climate Change Resilient Territories"

    Different United Nations programmes and agencies have established partnerships with a number of local and regional government associations in order to assess the modalities of integrated implementation of strategies and climate projects at the intra-state level, in developing countries. This initiative aims at promoting:

    • The creation of methodological tools for regional authorities to guide them in assessing their carbon footprint and their climate vulnerability, so that they can define their regional and local "Climate Action" plans.

    • The establishment of partnerships between all stakeholders, in order to carry out, at the local level, projects on climate change attenuation and adaptation.

    Moreover, the Hub supports the implementation of a network of gas and petroleum producing regions, willing to favour local development and the achievement of the MDGs.

  4. Mobilizing the private sector for the territorial approach to development.

    The private sector is a key actor in the global partnership for development. Many in the private sector now recognize that business can both make a significant contribution to development and be commercially successful at the same time. While the private sector is a crucial partner in meeting the MDGs by 2015, their role is most effective when coordinated as part of a broader partnership that includes governments, civil society and multilateral organizations, all of which have critical parts to play. The HUB works with the private sector and other actors in a number of important areas:

    • Promoting new pro-poor commercial opportunities: the Hub supports UNDP's strategy with the private sector, in the field of advocacy, as well as from an operational point of view, through fundraising for the global programme Growing Sustainable Business.

    • Establishing partnerships with the Local Economic Development Agencies, in the framework of the ART Programme:through experience and expertise exchange, and financial support, the private sector favours the development of the local entrepreneurial network in a territory.

    • Establishing partnerships between economic and local actors within the scope of the Clean Development Mechanism:aiming at strengthening the regions' capacities to implement their own policies on climate change's attenuation and adaptation.

Contacts

Christophe Nuttall Director of the Hub for Innovative Partnerships
christophe.nuttall@undp.org
Giovanni Camilleri International Coordinator of the ART Programme
giovanni.camilleri@undp.org
Mohand Cherifi Coordinator of the World Alliance of Cities against Poverty
mohand.cherifi@undp.org