Articles

The United Nations is a vast and complex organization. The UN System is made up of the Secretariat, headquartered in New York, and a wide variety of specialized agencies, funds, departments, commissions and other bodies. WHO (and PAHO in the Americas) is the specialized health agency. View the overarching structure of the United Nations.

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) is a strategic framework, adopted by United Nations Member States in 2000. The objective of the UNISDR is to guide and coordinate the efforts of a wide range of partners to achieve substantive reduction in disaster losses and build resilient nations and communities as an essential condition for sustainable development.

The private sector is becoming an increasingly important partner in the field of disaster risk reduction and humanitarian aid. Establishing partnerships with the business community or with private sector foundations or individuals can benefit both development and humanitarian aid. Developing strong partnerships takes time and effort and the most successful relationships are those in which both partners fill pre-existing gaps or bring complementary skills to the situation.

The private sector often offers its expertise to NGOs and the UN system. Corporations are increasingly interested in going beyond merely funding humanitarian organizations to forging closer collaboration with the humanitarian sector. This requires finding innovative ways to develop corporate partnerships that respond to both parties’ needs, and have a longer duration.