Local Networks in Africa Gather in Lagos for Annual Regional Meeting

(Lagos, 25 November 2015) – On 23 and 24 November, Global Compact Networks in Africa gathered in Nigeria for the Local Networks Regional Meeting to learn more about available resources, future events, and to explore opportunities for greater engagement with local business participants and stakeholders.  The meeting began with a Global Compact Network Nigeria dinner on 22 November where several key members and supporters of the Global Compact Network Nigeria met to discuss the network and how to further scale up impact on corporate sustainability in Africa. The dinner event was hosted by UN Global Compact Board Member, Bola Adesola, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria.

The annual regional meeting brought together networks and organisations from all regions of sub-Saharan Africa as well as representatives from several UN agencies. Representatives in attendance discussed the enormous potential as well as complex challenges faced in the African private sector and how networks are working to link local business priorities with the Global Compact’s Ten Principles in order to create value.  A major part of the meeting focused on the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and networks expressed their enthusiasm in seeing the SDGs as an opportunity to align the Global Compact core messages with critical business needs and operations.  The networks were introduced to the Bottom Up approach, a process in which Local Networks identify stakeholder priorities while linking them to the SDGs and Global Compact issue areas. 

Networks identified challenges and potential solutions for increasing engagement among the private sector in their respective countries, particularly among subsidiaries of multinationals that are UN Global Compact participants.  The Local Networks also dedicated time to discussions on how to better utilize local resources and capacities of other institutions, such as UN agencies, academia and civil society.  Global-local coordination and collaboration was a key takeaway from the meeting and networks emphasized the need to ensure that alignment at the global and local levels is effectively communicated to participants.  The event ended with a look toward the future and the growth of the UN Global Compact in sub-Saharan Africa with Local Networks looking forward to the establishment of new Networks on the continent to provide opportunities for further collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Learn More

• Local Networks in Africa
• The role of Local Networks in implementing the SDGs