Introduction

Some eighty Global Compact Networks are on the ground locally, usually organized as national Networks. Spread across regions and entire continents, the various Global Compact Networks offer each other support, exchange and a link between the central Global Compact Office in New York, at UN Headquarters, and the individual company committed to the Global Compact's ten Principles.

When Kofi Annan envisioned it, the Global Compact started as an initiative without long-term plans concerning its operational structure. As it gained momentum, it became clear that the Global Compact Office in New York could hardly cater to all the different participants worldwide. Companies were joined by hybrid and civil society organizations in their effort to promote the ten Principles; characteristics differed starkly between the different business participants. Locality, sector, size and ownership structure create a variety of challenges; at times the only real connecting component was the commitment to the Global Compact itself. Thus, local support structures started to develop. Some were initiated by the United Nations itself, some grew from self-organized groups of signatories to the Global Compact, and others joined existing initiatives in the field of corporate responsibility. Over the last five years, these Local Networks started communicating and comparing their respective organizational structure and related problems, their output and assumed impact. With the Annual Local Networks Forum (ALNF) bringing together representatives from networks around the world – so-called Focal Points – a platform was created to streamline and coordinate these new structures and ensure their connection to other Global Compact entities.