1. Magdalena Gerger, CEO, Systembolaget AB
On the 13th of May 2013 Sida invited a group of business leaders and a few expert organizations, to discuss how we could work in partnership for a sustainable development Post2015. Of course, his meeting was very much organized in the context of the process of designing the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Again this was in the spring of 2013.
And actually – most of those invited showed up, wich can perhaps be seen as a sign of how times have changed. Today, we are ever more often finding ourselves – an actor of development aid – disucssing common challenges with the corporate sector.
So in this meeting room in the picture, everyone agreed to keep working together, to learn from each other and to explore what opportinities for collaboration there might be, with sustainable development as the guiding star. And so the network Swedish Leadership for Sustainable Development was born. Everyone also agreed that they did not want to be another network talking about sustainability. This group of people wanted to be in the driver seat, be action-oriented and lead by example.

2. As you can see the Swedish Leadership members come from a number of different industries – textile, food and beverage, transportation, ICT, investment companies, mining and more. What they have in common however, is that they are leaders in terms of sustainability in their respective industry.
Today the network consists of 22 companies and three expert organisations; SIWI, SRC and SEI. Sida – the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency - is the facilitator of the network. There are several companies knocking on the door, wanting to become a member which is really great. At the same time, we are consious about not growing too big. Much of the positive results come from the companies feeling comfortable sharing theri experiences and collaborating.

3. Collaboration for Sustainable Development
- why and when?
Opportunities for collaboration
Development goals
Business
goals

4. The SDGs and our Joint Commitment
I said before that the network was founded in the midst of the SDG process. We were largely focusing on giving input to this process and highlighting the need for private sector engagement throughout the process. Well, with the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015, this changed of course. You could say that we have now moved from influencing the global agenda for sustainable development, to implementing it. Therefore the network came together in a Joint Commitment, presenting how – together and through their core businesses – the members will contribute to the fulfilment of these goals. The commitment concentrates on three main areas of focus:
Environmental impact
Decent Work
Anti-corruption
In addition, the network is committed to promoting gender equality and equal opportunities for all,
throughout all operations, as fundamental necessities for systemic change.
In other words, special focus is put on SDGs 5, 8, 12 and 16. And of course number 17 about partnership. Of course, Sida and all the network members do tons of work relating to other areas of the SDG-agenda, but this is however the focus of our network.

5. How we work Round table Influence Exchange Projects
These boxes is a try to demonstrate how we have organized our work.
Round table = the network gathers 6 times a year at operational level (heads of sustainability) and once a year on CEO-level. The meetings hold the network together and builds an important platform for new connections to be made and new partnerships to arise, within and across industries and sectorial borders.
Influence = the network’s presence at international high-level meetings or fora.
Exchange = learning, knowledge-exchange and sharing of experiences is an absolute core-element of the network. Of course, this demands a certain amount of trust to built up between the network members.
Projects = the network activities does give rise to concrete collaborative projects between network members, and between network members and Sida. These projects and initiatives build on mutual gains and co-creation.

6. Three years of collaboration - a few lessons learnt:
Cooperation key to bring innovation, investments and results;
Invest in relationship-building
Identify common interests to set multi stake holder goals – for follow up
Respect and understanding of different roles and mandates
I would like to urge all actors of development cooperation, business leaders, civil society organizations, research institutes and others not to back away from partnerships because it is easier to pursue “business as usual”. In fact, me standing here today is very much a result of successful cross-sectorial partnership. Therefore, I would like to urge you;
- To invest in relationship-building. Relationships take time and demand resources to maintain, but the ROI will often surprise you.
- To dare to identify common interests with unexpected partners
- And finally, to be respectful of the fact that we all are driven by different roles and mandates. For any partnership to function, clarity and recognition of the fact that we are different and that it is these differences that will take us further together, is absolutely key.

7. Some examples: H&M Social Dialouge in Asia – ILO
STWI – Sweden textile water initiative
Volvo; African Vocational training

8. State owned (sole rights retailing wine, beer, spirits)
State owned (sole rights retailing wine, beer, spirits). 436 stores, 5000 employees around Sweden, Sales of 27 billion SEK. 700 suppliers and 20,000 articles. 77% of Swedish population “pro”. Goal to reduce alcohol harm. Customer /society satisfaction is to be optimized. Ensure effectiveness.
Intro Magdalena; Ledarskap röd tråd

9. Some examples at Systembolaget:
Code och follow up; Nordic/international co-ordination through-out global value chain
Environmental targets – customer driven for instance over 10% of sales organic.
Internal and external equality targets and programs

10. Thank you! sleaders@sida.se www.sida.se/swedishleadership