Reflections from the UN Forum on Partnerships

On the Right Track

How cool it was to go to the UN Headquarters in NY for the first time! Not only is the building, artwork, displays, etc. beautiful and inspirational - but I met many beautiful and inspirational humans as well. At several moments during the UN ECOSOC Forum on Partnerships, I felt deeply affirmed — not only in what we are doing, but how and where we are doing it.

Our work sits at the intersection of many of today’s global crises: climate change, conflict, poverty, gender inequity, and access to education and energy. While most of the world now has electricity, our partner community largely does not. I learned that indoor smoke from wood-fire cooking remains one of the leading health risks for women and children in such communities.

The forum speakers also repeatedly emphasized that women, youth, and Indigenous communities must be recognized as leaders — not recipients of aid. That message echoed our own shift away from donation-based models toward true partnership.

Another clear theme: partnerships are no longer optional. No single organization can meet today’s complex challenges alone. This validated our growing focus on building a consortium of aligned organizations and creating shared structures that make collaboration, data-sharing, and funding access more effective. Without this kind of cooperation, the Sustainable Development Goals risk remaining aspirations rather than realities.

At the same time, I noticed a tension running through the conversations. While many speakers emphasized local leadership, cultural preservation, and ecological balance, others framed “development” in terms of industrial growth and labor pipelines. There was a concerning undercurrent from industry speakers that made me concerned about how easily education and technology initiatives can be shaped to serve outside economic systems rather than community-defined wellbeing.

This reinforced something we already believe: our role is not to deliver solutions, but to support communities in leading their own. Our partners are not beneficiaries — they are decision-makers. Their goals include cultural continuity, intergenerational knowledge, local food systems, locally held loans, women-led enterprises, and carefully chosen innovations that improve health and education without eroding identity or ecological balance.

To walk this path responsibly requires what Mi’kmaq Elders call “two-eyed seeing” — learning to view the world through both Indigenous and Western perspectives, and questioning the assumptions each one carries. Our partners are choosing to expand education, technology access, and women-led businesses on their own terms. They invite collaboration because of trust and shared values, not because they need to be reshaped.

The forum reminded me how vigilant we must be about power, funding, and partnerships. Support can either strengthen local resilience — or unintentionally pull communities toward systems that increase stress, migration, and cultural loss.

We remain committed to the slower, more relational path: small-scale, locally led enterprises; education that builds critical thinking rather than labor pipelines; and partnerships that protect culture, land, and community control.

If we stay rooted in those principles, we are not just aligned with global goals — we are aligned with the people those goals are meant to serve.