World Benchmarking Alliance: Allies Assembly 2022

Did you know? Out of the 2000 most influential companies in the world with the power to create a sustainable world by taking action on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 39 are headquartered in South Africa. With this massive influence, South African stakeholders are playing a pioneering and critical role in implementing the SDGs on ground by collectively inspiring business and other groups to do their part.

Our annual gathering will take place in-person in Cape Town this year with the aim to mobilise collective action on the ground across multiple SDG areas (e.g. digital inclusion, food and agriculture, urban, climate and just transition), and bring in local multi-stakeholders in South Africa to connect, collaborate and contribute towards this change. This year’s Assembly will be built on the theme of “Community Building”, exploring the potential of global and diverse partnerships to drive action on sustainable development.

With WBA Allies from over 35 countries and 7 diverse stakeholder groups in attendance, this is an excellent opportunity for stakeholders at both global and local level to connect, share learnings and experiences, and create collaborative impact.

We’ll have a specific section of the program open to local South African stakeholders, who work on the SDGs across the spectrum. The event is free to attend and open to all. The program for this day will be as follows:

• Topic: SDG-led Transformation – Closing the Accountability Gap
• Date: 7 July 2022 (Thursday)
• Time: 9:30 am to 06:30 pm
• Location: Cape Town, South Africa
• Audience: Multi-stakeholder and global
• Attendance: Free and open to all (limited spots available, register quickly!)

09:30 to 10:00 – Registration and Welcome (with coffee/tea)

10:00 to 12:30 – Morning Plenary

Business holds a key role in achieving the SDG Agenda and are becoming increasingly more valuable and powerful, with many stepping up and committing to help deliver the global goals. The plenary will be an engaging dialogue with local and international speakers on how to shape and influence corporate accountability for the SDGs in an era where some of the world’s largest companies hold more power than entire countries. With 39 of the most influential companies headquartered in South Africa, how can we draw inspiration from their best practices and regional learnings? How can we use the power of collective action and benchmark data to close the accountability gap urgently on the global agenda: with business, financial institutions, civil society, NGOs, industry associations, government, academia and all other stakeholders?

12:30 to 13:45 – Lunch

13:45 to 17:30 – Workshops on SDG Transformation Areas: Turning Data to Action (in parallel, held in 4 different rooms)

Please choose one of the following roundtables:​

• Digital Inclusion: A dialogue on collective multi-stakeholder action to drive digital inclusion efforts by the most influential tech companies globally, and deep dive into the topic of responsible and ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI), all to bring change in this catalytic sector
• Urban: A consultation roundtable on the Urban System Transformation Benchmark. Be amongst the first voices to help shape the approach towards benchmarking corporate action on SDG 11
• Just Transition: A session on defining an eco-system view of financial leverage and the Just Transition. A globally relevant lens on financial actors and the Just Transition will be scoped in the South African context and workshop participants will come away with concrete ways to contribute to the Just Transition in their respective roles
• Food and Agriculture: A dialogue to address what is needed for the most influential food and agriculture companies to transition to regenerative agricultural practices, focusing on collective actions to drive change and exploring experiences from stakeholders in the region

17:30 to 18:30 – Closing Plenary

18:30 onwards – Networking Reception (followed by an informal dinner)​​