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United Nations Global Compact
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Policy Dialogues

Dialogue brings together participants to collectively develop solutions and responses to pressing global problems where cooperation can make a difference. The Global Compact organizes numerous multi-stakeholder dialogues to give practical meaning to the initiative's ten principles and the other areas of the Global Compact. Specifically, dialogues aim to:

  • Create international and regional platforms that facilitate mutual understanding and joint efforts among business, labour, civil society organizations, governments, UN Agencies and leading commentators from the academic and public policy communities in order to address contemporary globalization challenges;
  • Provide a neutral forum for constructive engagement and collective problem-solving that will generate innovative and practical solutions with the potential for influencing policy-making and the behaviour of all stakeholders; and
  • Facilitate the development of collective or individual outcomes that can be translated into action by participants.

Dialogues allow Global Compact participants to work collaboratively with stakeholders to address priority issues. Specifically, dialogues seek to develop products to support the actions and initiatives of Global Compact participants; influence policymaking by instigating changes in normative behaviour; and create collective-action initiatives to mobilize like-minded actors to work together.  

Visit the issue section of this website for more information about events and engagement opportunities on the different issue areas.

Ongoing Dialogues

Ongoing: Participate in the 2008 United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) e-Discussion on Achieving Sustainable Development

Part of the Annual Ministerial Review (ARM) of ECOSOC, to assess the progress made towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) MDGs and the implementation of the other goals and targets agreed at the major UN conferences and summits over the past 15 years, which constitute the United Nations Development Agenda.

The AMR e-discussion is a mechanism to engage experts, practitioners and policy-makers from various regions and stakeholder groups in a global dialogue on specific aspects of the 2008 AMR theme. Contributions made by e-discussion participants may be channeled into various parts of the AMR process as appropriate, including the report of the Secretary-General, the regional and national review processes, and the global review at the ECOSOC Substantive Session.

As the 2008 AMR theme is broad, a series of focused questions have been formulated to form the basis of the e-discussion. Please click here for more information about the different sessions or visit: http://www.un.org/ecosoc/newfunct/amredis.shtml .

Representative from the private sector are encouraged to participate and share their views and perspectives. To subscribe to the e-discussion please send an email to mdg-amr@groups.dev-nets.org with the subject: subscription to eDiscussion on Achieving Sustainable Development.

Examples of Past Dialogues

Combating Discrimination and Promoting Equality for Decent Work Dialogue (October 2006)
Discussion of concrete solutions that can be implemented across all areas of workplace relations, such as recruitment, promotion, retention, remuneration, work-life reconciliation measures, performance assessment, etc. Participants received practical advice, exchanged experience with companies, and built a network of contacts for future support.

Business and Sustainable Development Policy Dialogue (Februrary 2002)
A multi-stakeholder dialogue focusing on identifying promising solutions in support of sustainable development. Two significant outcomes of this dialogue was the Growing Sustainable Business Initiative and the Global Compact Performance Model .

Regional Workshops on the Role of the Private Sector in Zones of Conflict (March 2001)  
 Covered a series of three international meeting with over 100 participants. Outcomes of these meetings included: a Business Guide to Conflict Impact Assessment and Risk Management, policy recommendations on transparency, and case studies on multi-stakeholder initiatives and revenue-sharing regimes