The Cambridge Dictionary defines collaboration as, “the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing.” Whereas, cooperation is defined as, “The act of working together with someone or doing what they ask you.” Finally, partnership is defined as, “an agreement between organisations, people, etc. to work together.”
When discussing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), collaboration, cooperation and partnership are used synonymously. Clearly, that is not entirely the case, there are subtile differences.... as per The Cambridge Dictionary. The SDGs focus on partnerships, SDG#17: Partnerships for the Goals, clearly state, “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.” Some interpret that as cooperation, some as collaboration and some as a partnership. I would posit that it is all of the above, depending on the actors involved. Project Everyone puts it best, “To make all the goals a reality will require the participation of everyone. That includes governments, the private sector, civil society organisations and people like you!” Added to the mix, to leverage and facilitate a user friendly atmosphere, ICT can and should be utilised.
Interconnectiveness is the key and the strength, which is at the base of working together to successfully address the SDGs. If we draw on the definitions, actors fall into distinct categories: collaboration shouts out for civil society, cooperation is clearly within the wheelhouse of government and partnership is the bailiwick of business. To effectively facilitate these relationships, technology can be effectively called upon to streamline and leverage knowledge; blockchain technology can be effectively used to evaluate addressing the SDGs under the auspices of collaboration, cooperation and partnership.
Technology masters, World Wide Generation (WWG) has developed a G17Eco, a combined monitoring and marketplace platform, to accelerate the financing and delivery of United Nations 17 SDGs via distributed ledger technology. The G17Eco platform enables corporates, governments, financial institutions and civil society to: 1) Map, 2) Manage, 3) Monitor, 4) Measure, and 5) Market, SDG initiatives from a robust blockchain powered platform. The dashboards visualise the flow of investments and how the financial and impact returns are made in real time. To deliver the SDG's we need to unlock $2.5 Trillion per annum until 2030. G17Eco solves the transparency and trusted data challenge that has hindered the matching of colossal need to substantial available funds.
Distributed ledger technology via smart contracts in concert with blockchain technology will be the catalyst to catapult cooperation, partnership and collaboration to the next level. Distributed ledger technology is a program to recored anything of value; immutable and transparently. This disruptive technology can be effectively used to foster collaboration, cooperation and partnerships to a premium degree.
Collaboration, working together to create or achieve the same thing; civil society relies on the goodwill of individuals, via the volunteering of time, skills and/or knowledge. Yet, volunteering is fraught with inefficiencies and limited availability of both workforce and spread of knowledge. The blockchain technology can solve inefficiencies via public access and accountability of the node. It makes the hard work and shared knowledge open to every one to view and accessible to all; so, someone across the city, country or world can track and follow how knowledge is being shared, and keep track of and the impact of volunteering activities.
Cooperation, working together with someone and doing what they ask, clearly falls within the covenant of government interactions. Governments, in this instance, is achieved only democratically, where the citizenry votes in representatives. A characteristic of a distributed ledger technology is to remove intermediaries, bringing democratic representation closer to their constituents. The ledger information is verified and immutable, removing the whiff of information corruption and diffuses the call of ‘fake news.’ The ledger builds trust in the information and reduces the threat and actual tampering of the data, keeping and tracking communication between representatives and their constituents transparent and open.
Partnership is a term bandied about in the business world, which carries a variety of meanings, both good and bad. Under the auspices of distributed ledger technology, the basis of partnership can be buoyed by the veracity of the data; via proof of work.
Agreements between people require clear and concise parameters, essential when constructing and clarifying contracts between actors. “Good contracts, make good friends.” The network builds trust in the chain for all involved.
Effective distributed ledger technology , via blockchain, can be used for good. To support and enhance collaborative, cooperative and partnership efforts. Essential when using all of these definitions and attributed actors to address the SDGs, which require all of us to lead, if transformational change is to be achieved. The platform, built and supplied by WWG, G17Eco, can serve all of these actors, and thus strengthen the very essence of SDG#17 and the interconnectiveness needed for all involved in addressing and successfully delivering the SDGs.
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