Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of State announced today at the Concordia Summit in New York City that Global Partnerships Week 2016 (GPW) will take place from March 7-13, 2016.

GPW is held annually to recognize and celebrate the critical role public-private partnerships play in promoting diplomacy, development, and peacebuilding around the world. The 2016 week is an effort led by the Secretary’s Office of Global Partnerships (S/GP) in collaboration with the U.S. Global Development Lab at the U.S. Agency for International Development, Concordia, and PeaceTech Lab, a non-profit organization created by the U.S. Institute of Peace.

GPW activities and events, held during one week each March, serve to encourage the creative collaboration needed to tackle global challenges while promoting innovation and recognizing the achievements of existing partnerships of all kinds. The kickoff event will be a full day conference on March 7, 2016 in Washington, DC to give public-private partnership practitioners from the government, private sector, and non-governmental organizations the opportunity to discuss common challenges and best practices in building partnerships.

S/GP encourages any organization or individual to organize local events that foster, support, and highlight the impact of cross-sector collaboration, as well as showcase potential partnership opportunities for local public, private, and non-governmental organizations. Registered events are highlighted on the GPW website and promoted to an international audience of partnership practitioners through a variety of media. Past GPW events have ranged from large scale panels and conferences to small networking gatherings and webinars, in Washington and abroad. Event registration will be available on the GPW website in early 2016.