Back | Programme Area: Research-Related Activities
Partnerships, Power and the SDGs
Date: 25 Feb 2016
Networks are now established with the goal of enacting the ideals of multi-stakeholder partnership, which will be central to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
Many studies of 'partnership' have been conducted to understand how such partnerships work. However, they often investigate only the formal rules that bring new development actors to the table and assume that inclusion automatically means that existing power inequalities are mitigated.
In this seminar, Moira Faul argues that development ‘partners’ may informally depart from these formal rules and relationships. Behind formal ‘partnership’ lies a dense network of informal governance relationships and practices that require investigation in order to understand how partnership works, and prescribe effective solutions for policy and practice.
In order to create more egalitarian relationships among development actors, reframing their connections formally as partnerships is necessary, but it is not sufficient.
If network members rewire relationships, they may be able to keep the promise of inclusion inherent in the 2030 Agenda.
Speaker
Before joining UNRISD as a Visiting Fellow in September 2015, Moira Faul led a UK Research Councils-funded programme on knowledge exchange between research and policy at CSaP (University of Cambridge). She has also worked as an international consultant for organizations in the academic, government, private and voluntary sectors, including Arup International, the Belgian government, UNESCO, and ActionAid.
In her previous role as Oxfam GB’s Head of Education and Youth Policy (UK), she led an extensive programme of policy research and advocacy. Prior to this, she worked in senior managerial roles in the private sector in China and Spain. Originally from Zimbabwe, she completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge in 2013.
Remote Access to the Seminar
We will be tweeting key messages live from the seminar and welcome your comments and questions, which, time permitting, we may be able to put directly to the speaker. Follow us on @UNRISD and use the hashtag #UNRISDseminar.
This event will be video and audio recorded. If you would like to be notified when the video and the podcast are online, please send an email with "Audio/video notification: Partnerships” in the subject line to sandoval@unrisd.org.