One of the most welcome improvements of the recently released Sustainable Development Goals over their predecessor the Millennium Development Goals is the recognized role of the private sector in achieving them. The creators of the goals have rightfully understood that bilateral aid and development projects alone have no chance of achieving the goals. All hands are going to need to be on deck, and that means the multinational companies who invest in developing countries will need to be active partners in all our efforts to achieve the SDGs.
In the global mining sector — where our initiative Mining Shared Value, for example, works to promote local procurement — there is now a huge surge in activity working with the private sector on new initiatives to create meaningful economic and social development. Recently, the World Economic Forum and others released an exciting draft paper examining how mining can potentially contribute (and sometimes hamper) achieving the SDGs. Similar efforts are taking place across other sectors too.
Central to the SDGs and discussions on mining and development is the role of partnership. It is now difficult for us to attend any major mining conference without hours of content devoted to partnership with nongovernmental organizations for projects.
About the author
Jeff Geipel
Jeff Geipel is the founder and venture leader for Mining Shared Value at Engineers Without Borders Canada. Working with a wide variety of partners including mining companies, the World Bank, and host countries, this initiative works to improve the development impacts of mineral extraction in developing countries through increasing local procurement by the global mining industry.
