Moving towards the launch of WBA
Dear friends and colleagues,
In just over a year, the World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) has grown from a concept to a global Alliance of nearly sixty leading organisations – across civil society, company associations, governments, institutional investors, reporting initiatives and research organisations – and momentum continues to grow.
The nine-month global stakeholder consultation has gathered input and insights from stakeholders across the world. Through a range of roundtable dialogues, expert meetings and interviews, as well as online surveys and continued research, we have refined our ambitions, initial priorities, institutional structure and ways of working. We are now digesting the wealth of inputs and are crunching the data to formulate findings and insights gathered from the consultation.
Allies and partners also gathered last week in Amsterdam to explore building an alliance that creates value for all, embarking on a learning journey where we can find the best way of operating in the true spirit of SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals, and to start to shape the future of our work together.
For me, one insight clearly stands out; we have heard that the value of the WBA, both for the Alliance and its benchmarks, will rest in the quality of dialogue. With nearly 500 people joining global roundtables and expert meetings and nearly 11,000 individuals and experts responding online over the consultation we believe this provides the WBA with a strong foundation.
I’m delighted to share that we will move forward to the launch of the World Benchmarking Alliance on September 24, at an evening reception at the New York Public Library on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly 2018.
Stakeholder input and dialogue of course continues as we move towards the launch and we will continue to share insights from the consultation over the summer.
We greatly appreciate your involvement in the global consultation and support for the WBA, and hope to see you in New York for the celebratory launch of the World Benchmarking Alliance!
Warm regards,
Gerbrand Haverkamp
Executive Director Index Initiative – WBA Secretariat