On 28 June 2016, UNV concluded a partnership agreement with Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. marking the first partnership in Japan between UNV and a private sector company.
On 28 June 2016, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme concluded a partnership agreement with Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. UNV has long been engaging with different private sector partnerships, even before the launch of the UN Global Compact in 2000. UNV placed over 200 volunteers from the private sector for short-term assignments to support such diverse areas as food industry and environmental assessments.
The cooperation with Yamaha Motor is an excellent reinforcement of this form of collaboration and it marks the first partnership in Japan between UNV and a private sector company.
Mr. Kenji Mori, an energy expert from Yamaha Motor, will be fielded for one year in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India Office to support Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) improvement projects through the use of renewable energy over a longer period and make lasting contributions.
His tasks will include developing surveys and methodologies to measure and validate renewable energy spread throughout BoP, conducting performance evaluation, collating implementation technology and preparing diffusion roadmaps for solar-heating equipment, and creating reports to related agencies and publicity materials. Yamaha Motor is well-positioned to provide its specific knowledge, expertise and approach.
Yamaha Motor stated that “Yamaha Motor is positioning this initiative to send an employee to UNV as not only making a contribution to international society, but also creating a platform in which globally-performing human resources can challenge themselves, and therefore plans to continue with this partnership.”
UNV Executive Coordinator Richard Dictus announced this partnership with Yamaha Motor on 29 June 2016 in Tokyo at the "UNV's corporate volunteer programme to contribute Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" business seminar, co-organized by UNV and UNDP Representation Office in Tokyo.
Richard Dictus praised the collaboration, noting that “UNV is counting on the technological capability of Japanese private sector companies. The SDGs are driving us to seek new solutions especially for the collaboration between the UN and the private sector. We don’t have the solutions yet, but we are willing to co-create, probe and launch new ideas, as long as it is a win-win-win: for the UN, for the private sector and for the world”.