About Us

The UN Office for Partnerships is your global gateway to co-create partnerships to deliver the SDGs.

Working globally, regionally and in countries—we convene, connect and co-create opportunities to accelerate solutions for people and for the planet. 

Decade of Action, ten years to transform our world.

Guided by the priorities of the UN Secretary-General, the UN Office for Partnerships (UN Partnerships) is mobilizing partners.

• The Office of the Executive Director convenes and connects thought leaders and drives innovation initiatives.
• The Secretary General’s SDG Advocates lead transformative change in their spheres of influence.
• The SDG Strategy Hub, chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General, leads a coordinated consultative multi-stakeholder platform and co-creates global SDG initiatives.  
• The Secretary General’s climate mobilization team drives coalition building and public mobilization for ambitious climate action.
• The UN Democracy Fund funds, co-designs, manages, mentors, and generates projects that empower civil society, promote human rights, and encourage the participation of all groups in democratic processes.
• The UN Fund for International Partnerships works with the UN partnership ecosystem to enable and develop the necessary instruments for partnership building and cooperates with the UN Foundation on innovative cross-sector projects implemented by the UN system globally.

See more information here. 

SDG Advocates: Mobilizing for People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace

In 2016, the UN Secretary-General appointed the first class of 17 SDG Advocates. Holding influential positions in governments, entertainment, academia, sports, business, and activist organizations around the world, the SDG Advocates are public figures who use their unique platforms to bolster ambition and action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Each Advocate holds specific interests and expertise in areas ranging from poverty, health, education, equality, climate action, sexual violence, child labor, and much more. Their voices nudge world leaders, impact policy design, and rally millions of activists and followers to join the movement in building a sustainable future. 

In addition, the Secretary-General meets with the SDG Advocates annually to discuss the current state of the 2030 Agenda and to listen to their particular assessments and recommendations.

Since 2018, the United Nations Office for Partnerships (UN Partnerships) has hosted the SDG Advocates. UN Partnerships manages the day-to-day operations of the group, facilitates new partnerships within the group as well as with external global initiatives, and serves as the main point of contact for the UN system at large.

Current SDG Advocates

• Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados (Co-Chair)
• Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (Co-Chair)
• Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium
• His Highness Muhammad Sanusi II, 14th Emir of Kano
• Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Qatar, Founder of the Education Above All Foundation
• Richard Curtis, Screenwriter, Producer and Film Director
• Hindou Ibrahim, Coordinator of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad
• Graça Machel, Founder of Graça Machel Trust
• Dia Mirza, Actress and Producer
• Edward Ndopu, Humanitarian and Activist
• Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University
• Forest Whitaker, Actor, Producer, Director and Founder of the Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative
• Valentina Muñoz, STEM expert
• Kailash Satyarthi, Children’s Rights Activist
• Brad Smith, President of Microsoft 
• Black Pink, K-pop group
• Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO, Chobani and Founder of Tent Partnership Refugees

SDG Strategy Hub

In September 2018, the SDG Strategy Hub (The Hub) was revitalized and relocated to the United Nations Office for Partnerships. The Hub serves as a one-stop shop to proactively engage, convene, and leverage stakeholders and existing initiatives in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Chaired by the UN Deputy Secretary-General, the Hub is guided by a core member group comprising United Nations entities and external organizations.  

The SDG Strategy Hub has played a central role in the conceptualization, development, and rollout of the Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs. It convenes senior strategy, policy, and communication officers across sectors to advance a more strategic and coordinated development of the SDG advocacy narrative.  

In its work around the Decade of Action, the Hub has also mobilized external partners around public-facing SDG activations, such as the annual SDG Action Zone, the global film Nations United, the COVID-19 Creative Open Brief, the SDG Flotilla at the UN Climate Adaptation Summit, and the billboards takeover at Times Square and on the LinkNYC digital publicity screens across New York City.

The SDG Strategy Hub continues to galvanize diverse activists, industry leaders, youth, UN officials, and media around the Secretary-General’s global call for a Decade of Action to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.  

Climate Action Mobilization 

The United Nations Office for Partnerships (UN Partnerships) builds and leverages its networks and mobilizes support around climate action. Working side by side with partners across the UN system and far beyond, UN Partnerships provides strategic planning support and issues expertise to help convene key stakeholders to drive ambitious action on climate change. 

In partnership with the UN Secretary-General's Climate Action Team and his Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change, UN Partnerships supports the Secretary-General’s climate priorities:

• Growing the global coalition of countries, regions, cities, businesses, investors, and organizations committed to achieving net-zero emissions;
• Mobilizing key stakeholders to push governments for more ambitious national climate plans and concrete near-term actions ahead of the UN Climate Conferences (COP);
• Ensuring COVID-recovery spending is aligned with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
• Ending fossil-fuel subsidies and phasing out coal globally by 2040, and by 2030 in OECD countries;
• Ensuring at least half of climate finance is devoted to building resilience to climate impacts in developing countries;
• Ensuring a just transition from the grey to the green economy, leaving no one behind.

United Nations Democracy Fund

The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) was created by UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan in 2005 as a United Nations General Trust Fund. It was welcomed by the General Assembly in the Outcome Document of the 2005 World Summit (A/RES/60/1, paragraphs 136-137).

UNDEF supports democratization efforts around the world. It funds, designs, manages, mentors, and generates projects that empower civil society, promote human rights, and encourage the participation of all groups in democratic processes. 

UNDEF initiatives focus on the following areas:

• Community Activism;
• Electoral Processes;
• Gender Equality;
• Media and Freedom of Information;
• Rule of Law and Human Rights;
• Strengthening Civil Society Interaction with Government;
• Tools for Knowledge;
• Youth Engagement.

The majority of UNDEF funds go to local civil society organizations — both in the transition and consolidation phases of democratization. The Fund subsists entirely on voluntary contributions from governments. So far, UNDEF has supported over 880 projects in more than 130 countries.

United Nations Fund for International Partnerships

Established by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in March 1998, the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP) was set up as an autonomous trust fund, headed by an Executive Director and operating under the leadership of the Deputy Secretary-General.  

UNFIP serves as the main interface and partnership facilitator between the United Nations system and the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation), the public charity responsible for administering Ted Turner's historic $1 billion contributions in support of the United Nations and its priorities. Over the past two decades, UNFIP has collaborated with the United Nations Foundation on 676 innovative, cross-sector projects implemented by the United Nations system globally.

UNFIP serves as the primary interface between the UN Foundation and the UN system, specifically for Foundation-grantmaking and fiduciary services to UN entities. Key achievements of UNFIP over the past 20 years include:

• Developed the legal, operational, and financial management frameworks to increase the scale of philanthropic grant funding to support the UN system's vital work in advancing the SDGs at the country level;
• Demonstrated effectiveness and track record in the programming, financial management, and administrative oversight of large-scale,
  cross-sector technical assistance projects and programs implemented by UN entities with extra-budgetary philanthropic funds;
• Brokered and facilitated cross-sector initiatives and collaboration between the UN and non-state actors in support of the 2030 Agenda.

The work of UNFIP is overseen by the UNFIP Advisory Board, which is chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General.

The Advisory Board, aside from the Chair, is composed of high-level UN representatives, including the President of the Economic and Social Council, Chairman of the Second Committee of the General Assembly, Under-Secretary-General for Management and Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, as well as experts from academia, foundations, and civil society organizations. The members of the Board serve by virtue of the office that they are holding, which means that some of the Board members rotate on an annual basis. The Executive Director of UNFIP serves on the Advisory Board as an ex-officio member. 

As per the Revised and Restated Relationship Agreement between the United Nations and the UN Foundation, the UNFIP Advisory Board shall primarily provide the Secretary-General with advice of a strategic nature concerning the relationship between the United Nations and the UN Foundation, about any important reputational issues arising from the activities of the UN and the UN Foundation under the Relationship Agreement as well as concerning projects, campaigns, fiduciary grant-making or grant-management activities, and other activities funded by the Foundation or otherwise coordinated with the Foundation. The UNFIP Advisory Board shall also monitor the operations and activities of UNFIP.

Current Members: 

• H.E. Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General (Chairperson)
• H.E. Ms. Lachezara Stoeva, President of the Economic and Social Council and Chair of the Second Committee, UN General Assembly
• Mr. Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs
• Ms. Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for Management, Strategy and Compliance
• Ms. Yassine Fall, Economist
• Mr. Luis A. Ubiñas, President of the Board of Trustees, The Pan American Development Foundation
• Ms. Annemarie Hou, Executive Director, UN Office for Partnerships (ex officio)