Dear friends,
Thanks to you, global public investment is in reach. We are looking forward to making this the breakthrough year together.
At the start of this new year, we are all discussing the many crises the world faces. And quite rightly. Global politics is fragmented, and attention is drawn toward conflict, short-term crisis response, and national insularity. Resources seem to keep disappearing, even as the shared challenges we face, such as climate instability, health risks, economic shocks, and insecurity, grow more acute.
But this is not only a time of crisis. It is also a window of opportunity. As a result of your research, advocacy and campaigning, there is growing momentum for remaking international cooperation by leveraging pooled resources.
As Josephilda Hlope, Chair of the G20 Development Working Group, noted last year, “South Africa, as President of the G20, sees the need to fix the participation gap in international cooperation, and the need for new financing instruments to ensure the provision of public goods. The need for global public investment is a no-brainer.”
Global public investment is increasingly recognised as a necessary response to shared risks that no country can manage alone; as a pathway to shared security, resilience, and prosperity; as essential, practical and achievable.
Thanks to you, global public investment has moved from discussion topic to concrete policy proposition that a growing group of pioneer governments are already readying for implementation. Last July, a coalition of governments for GPI was declared a flagship initiative of the Sevilla Platform for Action the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development. And this year, accompanied by the GPI Network and the Club de Madrid, the government coalition will organise dialogues, high-profile events and pilot projects, working with civil society and international institutions to develop and scale a framework for GPI. Among the first issues the governments will focus on are ways to advance progress on infectious disease prevention, disaster response, and renewable energy research – issues of major political and public concern on which strengthened international collaboration is essential.
The work with governments is complemented by work to support public mobilisation. Last year your collaboration made it possible to step up communications and strengthen coordination, securing powerful endorsements and record media reach for global public investment, and expanding GPIN’s membership.
This year, we look forward to working with you to mobilise every part of our ecosystem from across the world to encourage the governments already building GPI to be bold, to persuade more countries to join them, and to campaign for increased public investment and inclusive governance of global challenges.
As our annual report shows, global public investment is an approach whose time has come.
As former New Zealand Prime Minister and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark has noted, “Before this decade is out, GPI could be a reality. It could be operating as a form of financing and decision making for tackling shared challenges. It could be enshrined in an international agreement. It could be securing resourcing from new additional budget lines, and it could have the UN overseeing its norms.”
Our role in the Secretariat is to support you. Do keep us updated about how we can best enable and reinforce all that you do for global public investment. Because of your work, global public investment can be won – if the moment is seized. Thank you for your leadership and partnership in building GPI.
With best wishes,
Andrea & Jonathan
Andrea Ordoñez and Jonathan Glennie
Co-Executive Directors (interim)
Global Public Investment Network