UNSDG Common Approach to Prospect Research and Due Diligence for Business Sector Partnerships

This concept note proposes an efficient and flexible due diligence approach that can be applied across the UN Sustainable Development Group (UNSDG) members. It takes into account different priorities and specific mandates established for organizations and should be viewed as a basic framework to harmonize around a set of principles and operational standards for due diligence. It sets the UN Global Compact Ten Principles, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other integrity and sustainability standards as the benchmarks around which UN partnerships with business should  be designed and move towards. In addition, the note outlines a series of action-oriented guidelines, differentiated for, and reflecting the different modalities for engagement that UNSDG members may consider maximizing to optimize results, while at the same time continuing to protect and project UN credibility. This approach recognizes that UN organizations will need to retain the flexibility to further develop specific systems adapted to their particular needs and internal decision-making processes.