Global Development
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“Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.”
– Nelson Mandela
We recognize the importance of collective development as a society and a planet that acknowledges the interconnectedness of social, economic and environmental goals.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has tried to capture the commitment of the global community to achieve sustainable development through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals represent both a shared ambition and a shared responsibility of all nations to care for people and planet through our investments, policies and actions.
We believe that all of our work should be grounded in the principles of sustainable, inclusive development.
Our work connects and reinforces many aspects of sustainable development. We focus on education, gender equality and meeting the basic needs of vulnerable populations. We recognise that livelihoods and economic opportunity are closely linked to health outcomes and the potential for communities to thrive.
In addition, we partner with organisations that have a deep connection with the places and communities where they work. We see our role as providing skills, knowledge-sharing and capacity to supplement locally embedded knowledge and expertise. We learn as we go, and use this understanding to support our partners to ask the right questions to guide their work.
Examples of questions we have addressed or are thinking about include:
- What are the key links between global public health and global development, and how can foundations, non-profits and change-makers work with vulnerable communities to help them to meet multiple needs?
- How can Chinese investment in industry and agriculture support localised benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa?
- What is the role of the private sector in partnering with philanthropy to grow key agricultural sectors?
- VIDA VASU-DEVAN
Program Investment Officer, Program-Related Investments, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Colin Boyle, University of California San Francisco (UCSF)
Examples of our work include:
Private-sector ‘playbook’
GIA partnered with a global philanthropy to develop a ‘playbook’ of models for collaborating with the private sector to tackle global health and development challenges. The case studies created were based on a broad range of past projects and demonstrated how a variety of cross-sector engagement structures could be applied in practice.