Allies Assembly

Last year’s event was the largest Allies Assembly to date and the first open to the public. Throughout the Assembly, we organised multiple workshops and sessions designed to foster networking and engagement within our global, multi-stakeholder community. Some of our key sessions included a workshop on sustainable finance stewardship, a consultation on closing the corporate accountability gap, and policy discussions featuring high-level regional stakeholders who shared insights on sustainability progress in Asia. Additional workshops focused on our benchmarks and key sustainability themes, with a World Café session offering Allies a platform to engage with us on shared priorities.

Participants highlighted the Assembly’s value in promoting collaboration, enhancing their understanding of WBA’s mission, and emphasising their role in advancing corporate accountability. The ‘public day,’ open to non-Allies, attracted over 200 stakeholders.

Key takeaways from last year’s Assembly include the need for more time dedicated to in-depth discussions and breakout sessions. To address this, we are considering a biennial schedule for future assemblies, complemented by smaller, focused regional and sector-specific workshops to encourage deeper discussions on sustainability issues. See the full programme.

Attendees included WBA Allies from around the globe as well as regional stakeholders. Over the course of the Assembly, WBA organised multiple workshops and sessions, each intended to provide our global and multi-stakeholder community with a platform to network and engage. Sessions included a consultation on the then soon-to-be launched white paper on corporate accountability, a discussion with Mexican SDG2000 companies, a multi-stakeholder high-level panel discussion on corporate accountability, multipl workshops focused on different transformation themes (social, nature, urban, financial system), a workshop on WBA data and insights and an Ally World Café, a networking platform for Allies to interact with us on topics of shared importance. During each session, we noted a high level of interest and engagement from our participants. Over 200 stakeholders participated during the ‘public day’ open to non-Allies. See the full programme.

The Assembly helped us gain concrete insights into different stakeholder expectations and their data needs, it helped identify ways of framing communications to increase impact, and identified different ways in which this community could continue to collectively prioritise accountability mechanisms for business in this ‘decade of action’. See the full programme.