Speech by the UNDP Country Director, Dominic Sam
Launch of the Philanthropy Platform for Ghana
9 July 2015 at La Palm Royal Hotel, Accra
The Honorable Deputy Minister of Finance, Government
Representatives, the Vice President of Grant Program, Conrad N.
Foundation and senior representatives of major philanthropies,
foundations and trusts, UN colleagues, experts, invited guests, the
media, ladies and gentlemen.
I am very pleased to welcome our philanthropic partners, who have
come from afar, and who have collaborated with the government and
ourselves in the organization of this event and offer a few opening
remarks.
The timeliness of this forum
The launch of Philanthropy Platform in Ghana and the focus on
“Fostering Commitment and Leadership for Philanthropy’s Engagement
in the Post 2015 and Ghana’s own Development Agenda is very timely.
This is the first time that the United Nations, The Government of Ghana
and Foundations are coming together to strategically discuss long term
collaboration on the sustainable development of the country. These
discussions are coming at an important time with only a few months to
the end of MDGs, and at a time when the world is in the final stages of
deciding upon the next set of development goals, the sustainable
development goals (SDGs).
Moreover, for middle income countries such as Ghana, philanthropy is
likely to play an ever more important role in the future .
What will be the focus and what do we hope to achieve
today?
We know that there is a lot of charitable giving, philanthropic and CSR
activity in Ghana. There are individual trusts, grants and support from
major philanthropic foundations, contributions to religious institutions,
corporate social responsibility etc.
However, in Ghana, as in many other countries, we don’t have good
data. Further, it also seems like the opportunities and platforms for
formal engagement with philanthropy, to identify challenges as well as
to explore how they might contribute in priority areas or align
themselves better with national or global development goals is still in
its infancy.
There are many opportunities that can be tapped into going forward
which is why the UN is so pleased to collaborate in organizing this
forum, which we hope will be the start of many fruitful discussions and
engagements going forward.
There are a number of themes that we will explore together today.
We will begin with a conversation with government and key
stakeholders about the national development agenda and the
implications of the post-2015 global development agenda, particularly
the sustainable development goals which will be agreed to in
September at the general assembly. What are priority areas for
government and where philanthropy can make the most difference?
There will also be a session on the enabling environment as this is key
for Ghana. Is it easy for wealthy and ordinary individuals to make
contributions? How many domestic philanthropy organizations are
there?
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The session on data will cover a number of different areas not least the
kind of information that would assist philanthropy and all of us in
aligning our interventions. There will also be a focus on data and
reporting about philanthropic activities so that there is an awareness of
value added and also so that people can see where the money is going!
In the afternoon there will be more focused discussions on specific
sectors and thematic areas – education, water and sanitation and how
to promote livelihoods and productive inclusion of women and youthto deepen the discussion as to where philanthropy can make the most
difference and what are the platforms for engagement with
government and key stakeholders?
Imperative for collaboration to meet the transformational
development agenda
Before I conclude, I want to speak a little about the global and national
development landscape against which these discussions are taking
place since that provides both context and I hope, additional
momentum, to the reasons that I have already alluded to which come
from Ghana’s own development context.
We live in a time of change. A number of new global agreements will be
signed onto by world leaders this year. Come September 2015, the
sustainable development goals (SDGs) will replace the MDGs. Next
week in Addis Ababa, the third financing for development conference –
the FfD -will be held. Then there is also the climate change agenda.
These agreements call for change in the way that development take
place. It is becoming increasingly clear to all that we cannot continue
with business and development as usual if we care for what happens
to people and what happens to the planet.
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The SDGs raise the bar. There is a focus on the ‘unfinished MDG
agenda’ but there is also a concerted focus on goals that seek to ensure
economic, social and environmental sustainability, peace and
governance as well as a much more holistic global partnership for
development.
More importantly, the SDGs promise to be transformative and set new
higher level of ambition across a number of different dimensions. The
goals will be universal in that will apply to all countries around the
world and they seek to ensure that no one will be left behind.
The scale of change and transformation that is needed is significant.
For example, the total African population is expected to nearly double
to almost to 2 billion over the next 25 years. More children will need
access to good schools and tertiary institutions so as to be equipped
with skills that will get them jobs in the changing global environment.
The demand for water, for example, is expected to triple or even
quadruple over the next 20 years as Africa’s urban population doubles.
Meeting these types of development imperatives at the national,
regional and global levels will require broad based partnerships to be
achieved because no government or the UN has the human, financial,
or technical resources needed.
This is where philanthropy comes in. In the recent years, we have seen
an increase in philanthropic giving to development from both from
institutions and individuals. It is our responsibility to ensure that this
giving is matched with improved lives at the grassroots.
Collaboration among different players is critical. We all need to ensure
that our activities are aligned to national development agendas – i.e.,
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the Ghana shared growth and development agenda (GSGDA II) and the
realization of the post-2015 Agenda in Ghana.
To deliver on the unfinished business of the MDGs and also on the
broader and even more ambitious sustainable development goals, we
need must create a broad based partnerships between governments
both local and national, Private Sector, Philanthropy and the Civil
Society.
This type of consultative process and engagement has in fact already
begun at the global level and to some extent at the national level.
The current proposal of the SDGs, which are expected to be adopted at
the UN General Assembly this September has been broadly consulted
with millions of individuals and institutions around the world. The UN
alone engaged in a conversation with over 5 million people around the
world to understand the development priorities. What we heard laud ,
including here in Ghana, is that while the core issues of the MDGs -poverty reduction, health and education -- are extremely important,
people are also concerned about the state of natural environment, lack
of jobs and growing inequalities. Therefore the current proposal of 17
goals integrates social, environmental as well as economic concerns
which reflect these aspirations and priorities of the majority of global
citizens. These concerns and ideas have also been contributed by
Ghanaian organizations through a number of national consultations.
To meet these vast development aspirations of the global citizens as
well as us here in Ghana, we must acknowledge the importance of all
development partners. We will need a lot of resources that lie outside
of the UN and the government and therefore cross sectoral
partnerships are crucial in making progress towards the goals.
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Role of Philanthropy
Philanthropy brings with it many unique strengths such as agility,
flexibility and commitment to innovation and experimentation which
are important assets for the development community. We have the
responsibility to create strong links between foundations, the UN and
the government and build solid foundations for a dialogue and
partnerships.
Looking Forward
To conclude, I am really excited that Ghana was selected as a pilot
country for the collaborative initiative on philanthropy - the Post-2015
Partnership Platform for Philanthropy which we are officially launching
in Ghana today.
This is therefore a milestone Workshop. By launching this partnership,
we aim to demonstrate that collective action is the way forward in
implementing the long term development vision for Ghana. The
partnership will test new approaches and methodologies of working
together where our unique strengths can be put to best use.
We, at the United Nations are committed to learn and adapt to new
ways of engaging with Foundations. This will help to skillfully facilitate
philanthropic partnerships, appreciate their ways of doing business,
and leverage each other's resources and networks in responding to
challenges.
Here in Ghana, our efforts will focus on developing capacities of local
partners – actions which are crucial as we support the government and
civil society partners in prioritizing the SDGs.
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I am delighted to see such as strong buy-in and leadership on the SDGs
from the government. During pivotal times like this year, which will see
the general adoption of the SDGs and set the development priorities for
the next fifteen years, visionary leadership is essential in creating unity
that will drive large national level cross sector coalitions to achieve
goals which are important for Ghana.
Finally I take this opportunity to congratulate all our partners in the
Platform, thank you all who travelled from many places to contribute to
the discussions today.
I would like to wish you all stimulating and productive discussions. I
advise that each session and all the conversations have specific actions
points for follow up. We are very excited about the next steps and
shaping up specific action plan for the Platform.
Thank you.
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