Partnerships and the Sustainable Development Goals

Enda Murphy is Professor of Regional and Urban Planning in the School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy at University College Dublin and also acts as Advisor to the SDG Academy at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). He is author/co-author of more than 100 academic journal papers, book chapters, conference papers, and reports and is co-author of three books. He has held visiting professor positions at the University of Hartford, USA; Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town; CRENoS, University of Cagliari; and at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm and is a former Fulbright Scholar.

Aparajita Banerjee is a postdoctoral research fellow in the College of Business at the University College Dublin. She received her PhD in environmental and energy policy from the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University, USA. She is interested in research that examines societal and policy challenges to address wicked problems like climate change, energy and environmental (in)justice, inequality, and biodiversity conservation.

Patrick Paul Walsh is Professor of International Development Studies at University College Dublin. He is currently Vice President for Education at the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). He received his PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and has held academic positions at Trinity College Dublin, K.U. Leuven, Harvard University, and Columbia University. He has also consulted with the United Nations, European Commission, and World Bank. His current research is on sustainable development.

This volume fills a significant gap in the scientific and policy literature on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and on SDG 17 which focuses on partnership as a means of implementation (MOI) for the SDGs. The collection offers a strong theoretical context, and outlines the nature of partnerships (e.g. alternative forms, multi-level forms, barriers to take-up) using the most recent UN database as well as through key case studies that highlight partnership successes and failures at local, national and global scales. The text covers a brief history and background of partnerships and the SDGs, an analysis of existing SDG partnership using UN data, a scalar analysis of case studies involving multi-stakeholder partnerships, and recommendations for successful partnership models and implementation strategies. The book will be relevant for a wide variety of readerships including academics in different policy fields and disciplines, policymakers, SDG advocates and practitioners, and NGOs active in the promotion of the SDGs and environmental issues. 

Provides a unique outline of partnership theory and its application to the SDGs

Outlines the nature of partnerships, including their multi-level forms and barriers to take-up using UN data

Analyzes key SDG partnerships case studies that highlight partnership success stories for practitioners