ABSTRACT
Collaboration is often painfully difficult even between commercial organisations with similar financial bottom-line interests and comparable competencies and approaches. Businesses are more or less unanimous in their criticism of the un during partnership start-up periods. The presence of champions within multilaterals and businesses is obviously crucial in helping to overcome historical barriers and real differences of interest. Equally, however, there is a need to move beyond a champion-led process if the partnership is to survive beyond the initial entrepreneurial stages. In practice, accountability of un agencies engaging in partnerships with business is more often rooted in personal, rather than institutional, forms of accountability. The issue of accountability in relation to the Global Compact was cited by many of those interviewed as reflecting many of the underlying issues. International experience of public–private partnerships more broadly has highlighted the inadequacy of traditional approaches to public accountability once applied to the more complex operating environment of today's public bodies.
