The Multilateral Reset: Where Decisions Are Made and How to Shape Them
About the Session
The multilateral system is entering a period of unusually consequential change.
The UN80 process, reform within the World Health Organization and other institutions, shifting U.S. engagement, severe fiscal pressure, geopolitical fractures, and the selection of the next UN Secretary-General are unfolding at the same time. Meanwhile, commitments already made through processes such as the Pact for the Future still need to move from paper into practice.
For civil society, funders, advocates, and organizations working across climate, health, development, peace, and humanitarian issues, the question is no longer simply what multilateral reform should look like. It is where influence is still possible while that reform is happening.
Organizations often know what they want governments and international institutions to do. Navigating how decisions actually get made is harder. Who has influence over a particular outcome? When do government positions begin to lock? What makes an ask useful to a policymaker rather than simply compelling to an advocate? When should civil society engage publicly, work through governments, build coalitions, or influence the institutional processes happening behind the scenes?
These questions matter particularly for Global South actors navigating a system in which resources and geopolitical relationships are shifting rapidly. Reform will shape not only the institutions themselves, but whose priorities receive attention, how global health and climate action are financed, which countries and communities have influence, and whether international cooperation can continue to deliver under sustained pressure.
This session will examine the multilateral reset from the perspective of people trying to shape it. Where are the real openings for influence? What decisions are approaching? How can organizations develop government-ready asks and sequence engagement around the multilateral calendar? And if you were advising the next UN Secretary-General, what would you tell them needs to change first?
Discussion Group Leaders
Andrew Henck is Lecturer in Organisation Studies & Leadership Facilitator at Context Change Consulting, strengthening organizational culture, leadership, and team dynamics through facilitated approaches to change and collaboration.
Jane Kinninmont is CEO at UN Association U.K., advancing international cooperation and stronger multilateral institutions to address shared global challenges.
Katherine Urbáez is Executive Director at Health Diplomacy Alliance, advancing collaboration and diplomacy to strengthen global health systems and outcomes.
Kirsten Gagnaire is Sr. Advisor at Camber Collective, advancing global health strategy through health financing, digital health, AI-enabled facilitation, and more effective collaboration.
Christina Bruff is Founder and Principal at True North Strategy and Consulting, helping mission-driven organizations navigate multilateral institutions and advance effective advocacy on women’s empowerment, human rights, and global policy.
What to Expect
A practical and interactive conversation about how multilateral influence works during a period of institutional change. Rather than another high-level discussion about whether the UN system needs reform, participants will examine decision points, political timing, advocacy strategy, implementation, and accountability.
The conversation will draw on current reform processes across the UN and global health architecture while bringing in perspectives from climate, development, finance, peace and security, and the Global South. Participants will also have an opportunity to consider what priorities they would put in front of the next UN Secretary-General.
Who This Is For
This session is for civil society leaders, funders, advocates, policy professionals, diplomats, multilateral institutions, Global South leaders, global health and climate practitioners, development organizations, and others trying to influence international cooperation during a period of significant change.
What You Will Get Out of It
A clearer picture of where influence is possible as the multilateral system changes
Practical insight into who makes decisions, when positions lock, and how to develop government-ready asks
Approaches to sequencing advocacy and engagement around the multilateral calendar
Perspectives on how Global South actors can exercise greater influence amid geopolitical and fiscal shifts
A chance to identify priorities for the next generation of multilateral leadership