Goal 17 Partners was an entity created in 2016 by the firm Handshake, supported by Guggenheim Partners and several other organizations in the early years of the Sustainable Development Goals. Its initial objective was to socialize the SDGs among the private sector, through convening in-person discussions at important global moments, to support the business case for investing in the sustainable development agenda. Goal 17 Partners was the first entity to convene leading with the SDGs at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, hosting a space branded around the new agenda just months after it was adopted by the UN in September 2015.
When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, Goal 17 Partners’ reason for being, like many entities whose business model was based on convening in-person events, was in question.
Susan was brought in as a Strategic Adviser by Handshake and Guggenheim Partners to spearhead the organization’s work with the global development community and ensure it stayed relevant during the COVID-19 era. Under Susan’s leadership, Goal 17 Partners was not only able to pivot to be one of the first entities convening virtual discussions on the impact of the pandemic on the trajectory of the SDGs, but also to iterate a project that the Gates Foundation agreed to fund to capture lessons learned from private sector partnerships and the innovation that emerged during COVID-19 in real time, ensuring they could be applied to future efforts on global health and development.
The result, a report, Reimagining Private Sector Partnerships in a COVID-19 World, and playbook, The Power of Partnerships, can be found below.
