ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with private finance and partnerships at the UN and provides a brief history of support from the private sector over the world organization's 75-year history. It continues with a discussion of the main UN interfaces with the private sector, the shifting funding patterns, the approaches to risk assessment, and the implications for the future of the United Nations. The UN-World Economic Forum Memorandum of Understanding enumerates the focus areas of financing the 2030 Agenda, climate change, health, digital cooperation, gender equality and the empowerment of women, education, and skills and commits to multi-stakeholder partnerships and the promotion of public private partnerships as the main means of implementation. The United Nations Fund for International Partnerships has played a central role in the evolving relationship between the UN system and the private sector. The United Nations Foundation has also played a leadership role in the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria as an alternate member of the Global Fund’s board.
