Transformative Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Towards a Common Conceptual Understanding

The 2030 Agenda is the current global blueprint for guiding action towards sustainable development. This agenda is not the first one of this nature, but two flagship characteristics distinguish it from earlier ones. The first characteristic is its ambition for accelerated transformation by recognizing the interlinkages among the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and calling for an integrated approach. The second characteristic is its intended implementation mechanism. Unlike the other 16 goals, SDG 17 “Partnerships for the Goals”, does not focus on a specific issue area for development. Instead, it serves as a convener for all the other goals, calling for (multi-stakeholder) partnerships as the main vehicle of delivering sustainable development globally. With these two flagship characteristics, the 2030 Agenda makes the implicit assumption that Multi-stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) are both able and effective at facilitating nexus-formation among SDGs, providing a space for interaction, and creating synergies for transformation. Whether this is a valid assumption has not yet been scientifically examined, but it is a question that has recently started to receive academic attention, a trend that can be expected to increase during the Decade of Action. In order to ensure a fruitful analysis around this topic allowing comparability of findings, we argue that a common understanding of the foundational concepts is required. In this paper we review different existing definitions in the literature of MSPs, nexus, interaction, synergy, and transformation, and suggest a common understanding of these concepts that is harmonious and provides an analytical framework for new research on transformative partnerships for sustainable development.