What is the UN Global Compact?

The Global Compact is a voluntary initiative bringing together the private sector, civil society organizations, trade unions, UN agencies, and other stakeholders to advance ten universally accepted principles in the areas of  human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. As the world's largest, global corporate citizenship initiative, the Global Compact is first and foremost concerned with exhibiting and building the social legitimacy of business and markets.

Business, trade and investment are essential pillars for prosperity and peace. But in many areas, business is too often linked with serious dilemmas - for example, exploitative practices, corruption, income equality, and barriers that discourage innovation and entrepreneurship. Responsible business practices can in many ways build trust and social capital, contributing to inclusive development and sustainable markets.

The Global Compact involves all the relevant social actors: governments, who defined the principles on which the initiative is based; companies, whose actions it seeks to influence; labour, in whose hands the concrete process of global production takes place; civil society organizations, representing the wider community of stakeholders; and the United Nations, the world's only truly global political forum, as an authoritative convener and facilitator.

Objectives

The Global Compact is a purely voluntary initiative with two objectives:

• Mainstream the ten principles in business activities arounf the world
• Catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the Millenium development goals (MDGs)

To achieve these objectives, the Global Compact offers facilitation and engagement through several mechanisms: Policy Dialogues, Learning, Local Networks, and Partnership Projects.

Organizational Structure

At the core of the UN Global Compact network are the Global Compact Office and six UN agencies:

• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
• International Labour Organization (ILO)
• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
• United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
• United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

The Global Compact Office and these six UN agencies comprise the Inter-Agency Team, which is one of the elements in the Global Compact's multicentric governance framework.  Other UN agencies are also encouraged to engage in the initiative and to use and promote the Global Compact and its principles wherever relevant in the context of their own programmes.

Governance functions are shared by six entities, each with differentiated tasks within a multi-centric framework:

• Global Compact Leaders Summit
• Local Networks
• Annual Local Networks Forum
• Global Compact Board
• Global Compact Office
• Inter-Agency Team

Local networks play an essential role in the initiative and are an integral part of the overall governance of the Compact. They and their annual meeting - the Local Networks Forum - comprise two of the six entities with differentiated tasks within the Global Compact’s multicentric governance framework.

Role of Networks

Local networks are clusters of participants who come together to advance the Global Compact and its principles within a particular geographic context. They perform increasingly important roles in rooting the Global Compact within different national, cultural and language contexts, and also in helping to manage the organizational consequences of the Compact's rapid expansion. Their role is to facilitate the progress of companies (both local firms and subsidiaries of foreign corporations) engaged in the Compact with respect to implementation of the ten principles, while also creating opportunities for multi-stakeholder engagement and collective action. Furthermore, networks deepen the learning experience of all participants through their own activities and events and promote action in support of broader UN goals.

How to participate in the GC

Joining the Global Compact is a widely visible commitment to the  ten principles. A company that signs-on to the Global Compact specifically commits itself to:

1. Set in motion changes to business operations so that the Global Compact and its principles become part of management, strategy, culture, and day-to-day operations;
2. Publish in its annual report or similar public corporate report (e.g. sustainability report) a description of the ways in which it is supporting the Global Compact and its principles (Communication on Progress); and
3. Publicly advocate the Global Compact and its principles via communications vehicles such as press releases, speeches, etc.

To become a participant in the Global Compact, please follow the link on How to Participate.