EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UN FUND FOR INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS PRESENTS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S MILLENNIUM VISION TO LISBON CIVIL SOCIETY SUMMIT

Press Release
DEV/2243
NGO/349

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UN FUND FOR INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS PRESENTS SECRETARY-GENERAL'S MILLENNIUM VISION TO LISBON CIVIL SOCIETY SUMMIT

LISBON, 23 May (UNFIP) - Amir A. Dossal, Executive Director of the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships (UNFIP), this morning presented the millennium vision of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Trans-Mediterranean Civil Society Summit, held in Lisbon (22-23 May). He shared with participants the United Nations experience with the philanthropic community, as well as the current thinking of the Secretary-General on partnerships between the United Nations and the public-private sector.

The Summit is an initiative led by the Lisbon-based Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD), in conjunction with the Institute for Luso-Arab Cooperation (ILAC) within the overall framework of the European Foundation Centre (EFC) Trans-Mediterranean Civil Society Dialogue Programme, which is co- chaired by FLAD, the Turkish Third Sector Foundation (TUSEV), based in Istanbul, and the United Nations Arab Gulf Programme for Development Organizations (AGFUND), based in Riyadh. A supporting role is played by the Brussels-based EFC as the representative umbrella association of leading international foundations active in/with Europe.

The Summit was designed to address issue- and sector-specific concerns in the Euro-Mediterranean region. At its core, however, were fundamental considerations that are central to the advocacy role of independent funders, associations and non-governmental organizations, including respect for human rights and basic freedoms, the rule of law, and the encouragement of participatory democracy.

Sharing with participants the Secretary-General's millennium vision, outlined in his report "We the Peoples: the Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century", Mr. Dossal stressed that the report contains the Secretary- General's thoughts and suggestions on how and where Member States may wish to take the Organization into the new millennium, ultimately for the benefit of the poor and the needy of the world.

He said the Secretary-General had identified some pressing challenges faced by the world's peoples and had proposed a number of priorities for consideration. In the report, Member States have been called upon to redouble their efforts to, among other aims, narrow the gender gap in the education sector and to ensure full primary education by 2015, halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2005, and reduce joblessness among youth. Also, he has sought a

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special focus for Africa, with all the challenges and difficulties it is currently facing. As he stated, new technology offers a range of opportunities to help countries "leapfrog" into the new information age. It is against this background that three of the four new initiatives contained in his report concern building digital bridges, which he then summarized.

Mr. Dossal also spoke about the Global Compact, the initiative launched by the Secretary-General at the World Economic Summit in Davos, Switzerland, in 1999. He said that it is intended to promote responsible corporate citizenship in support of universal values and broad United Nations goals, and is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the core labour standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. He stressed that the Global Compact represents an effort to safeguard sustainable growth within the context of globalization by promoting a core set of values that are fundamental to meeting the socio-economic needs of the world's people, today and tomorrow. "It is an effort to give a human face to the global market", he said.

Speaking on the UNFIP/United Nations Foundation partnership, he recalled that the generous donation Ted Turner announced in late 1997 in support of United Nations causes had been a gesture that made headlines worldwide. Stemming from that, Mr. Turner established a private charity - the UN Foundation - and the Secretary-General established a small, core operation -- UNFIP -- which reports directly to the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette.

He said the collaboration entered its third year of operation in March 2000, and can proudly boast a portfolio of 124 approved projects in the amount of over $237 million in the areas of children's health, population and women, environment and humanitarian/institutional strengthening. This unique effort has brought together virtually the entire spectrum of United Nations organizations through joint programming, thereby encouraging complementarity of action and cohesion of response, and has done so in almost 100 countries. He underscored the special role the UN Foundation plays, under the leadership of Tim Wirth, in assisting the United Nations family to build new partnerships and alliances with other foundations.

Further, Mr. Dossal explained how foundations and the private sector can enter into partnership with the United Nations, focusing on two main approaches: by working directly with one of the United Nations programmes, funds or specialized agencies (of which there are over 30 with a vast array of expertise in specialized areas); or by entering into what he defined as a "strategic alliance" with the Secretary-General.

He said the UNFIP/UN Foundation partnership represents such a strategic alliance in that it provides the donor with a single mechanism -- UNFIP -- that can facilitate a dialogue with the entire United Nations family and thus bring the wealth of experience of that family to one single table. Potential partners could consider co-financing innovative projects funded by the UN Foundation in a broad range of areas, including environment, women and population, children's health and peace, security and human rights.

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