Earlier this week I had the opportunity to work with UNICEF in Jordan. I was helping to run a seminar for senior representatives across the Middle East and North Africa. The aim was to explore how UNICEF can broaden and strengthen its partnerships with the private sector to deliver its strategic goals – achieving sustainable improvements in the welfare of children and women across the region.
In helping people think through the issues I was stuck by two thoughts.
The first is the huge diversity and complexity of the problems facing societies in this part of the globe. These range from children being drawn into the conflict in Iraq, through to child labour in Sudan, and the health problems of obese young people in Dubai.
Second, it is clear that UNICEF can bring real strengths to any partnership with business aiming to address these disparate issues. These centre on its legitimacy (derived from its governance structure and remit), the specialist knowledge and expertise of its staff, and perhaps most importantly is the organisation’s convening power and ability to bring together disparate parties to address common goals.
The examples of partnership initiatives we explored and discussed were hugely impressive. I left Amman thinking that UNICEF is an organisation I would recommend to any business leader who was serious about taking action to help young people achieve their full potential, wherever they are in the world.