In support of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the global follow-up and review process which is centralized around the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the Division for Sustainable Development (UN-DESA), in collaboration with ESCAP, and the United Nations Office for Partnerships, is organizing an Expert Group Meeting in the Asia and Pacific region on "Developing Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals", which is taking place on 28 November 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand. [More information]

The following online discussion will directly feed into the meeting, which has four inter-related sessions. To join the discussion, click on the sessions to which you would like to contribute and address the various issues that have been outlined. To contribute, please first Sign in.

In order for partnerships to effectively contribute to the SDGs through national development priorities, it is crucial that there is a national enabling environment which allows multi-stakeholder platforms to fully engage with all sectors of society.

In carrying out its work, multi-stakeholder partnerships interact with various international, national, and local institutional frameworks. Therefore, national political and social context could in large determine its effectiveness, and by extension, its success.

In order for partnerships - in all its forms - to thrive, they should be consistent with national laws, be fully aligned with national development strategies and the priorities of countries where they are implemented, bearing in mind the relevant guidance provided by governments, as well aligned with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Similarly, governments should strive to create an enabling environment – a set of interrelated local and national conditions that allows all stakeholders to fully engage in national development processes in a sustained and efficient manner, for all types of partnerships to be able to fully contribute to national development priorities.

Mapping the governance architecture and the social and political context in which a multi-stakeholder partnership is situated is crucial to understanding the opportunities and challenges to its implementation. It increases the possibility for tailor-made solutions rather than a "one-size fits all" approach.

Guiding questions

• What are some of the examples of existing inter-related institutional national conditions that foster effective multi-stakeholder partnerships