During the week of Sept. 23, Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) had a uniquely significant presence at the 79th annual UN General Assembly in New York City. RPA hosted a series of events on the sidelines of the global forum and supported many of its partner organizations throughout the week.

Setting the tone for the week, USAID and UNICEF officially launched the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA) is proud to be a key partner in the effort, launching a $10 million fund to support research and design, innovation, and technology to address the lead crisis worldwide. As part of its “Big Bet” initiatives, RPA will complement the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future’s country-level coordination strategy, and the fund will focus on advancing lead-detection technology, both in the blood and the environment. The initiative is the first global public-private partnership dedicated to eliminating lead exposure in low- and middle-income countries.

More than 50% of children in low- and middle-income communities suffer from significant levels of lead in their blood, and lead poisoning claims at least 1.5 million lives annually—more than HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Despite the scale of these harms and the tractability of the problem, donors spend only $15 million each year tackling this key matter of environmental justice and equity. RPA will leverage its expertise as an industry-leading philanthropic service organization to fund promising innovations and technologies to advance low-cost, portable, and affordable tools to measure blood lead levels and lead in the environment. Additionally, RPA will launch an innovation prize program to elevate breakthrough solutions that may have been previously underfunded.

RPA continued its week at the General Assembly, hosting “Futures-Focusing Philanthropy for Lasting Change: A Practical Workshop” as part of its ongoing Foresight & Futures Initiative (FFI). The session asked foundations to reflect on philanthropy’s role in addressing future challenges and the implications of the Pact for the Future, including how philanthropic organizations can incorporate a future perspective into their decision-making processes to complement these global commitments. FFI seeks to democratize the field of foresight and futures, as it has been traditionally led mainly by white men from the Global North. As part of that effort, RPA hosted a hands-on foresight workshop with the UN Futures Lab and a lunch and reception with workshop attendees and the School of International Futures to spotlight NextGen foresight practitioners.

RPA’s Shifting Systems Initiative also hosted a discussion later in the week titled “Collaborating to BUILD Transformational Change,” which detailed the Ford Foundation’s successes in implementing its BUILD program to shift systems by strengthening key social justice institutions worldwide. Participants then joined one of 10 interactive conversations around shifting power specifically in two key areas: tackling climate change and investing in narrative-change strategies as a critical component of funders’ systems change work.

Climate Week NYC coincided with the UN General Assembly, and RPA supported many of its sponsored projects and partner organizations leading the way in climate advocacy. The Youth Climate Justice Fund, an RPA sponsored project, hosted an event called “The Rise of Youth-Led Funds: Building Next Generation Leadership,” which allowed attendees an opportunity to learn more about the impact of youth-led intermediaries and youth-led funds to drive equitable climate action.

RPA also proudly supported the African Philanthropy Forum’s (APF) “Road to Marrakech” event, which was a collaboration with the Global Philanthropy Forum, to gather philanthropists, high-net-worth individuals, and foundation CEOs from across the world ahead of the APF’s upcoming conference in Marrakech, Morocco. The APF announced at the event that Latanya Mapp, RPA President and CEO, would be a speaker at the annual conference in Marrakech this month.

Mapp attended many events throughout the week in addition to the APF discussion, including as a speaker at both the International Fund for Public Interest Media’s Impact Summit (through her role as a board member of the Luminate Fund) and the Shifting Systems Initiative’s “Collaborating to BUILD Transformational Change” event. She also attended “Securing Gains and Resisting Backlash,” an event hosted by the Colmena Fund (formerly known as the Women’s Political Leadership Fund), which launched in 2023 with RPA serving as the fiscal sponsor.

The annual General Assembly is a highly restricted affair with limited organization access. In recognizing this disparity in access, RPA used its accreditation and donated access badges to several of its sponsored projects, including the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative, Future of Climate Cooperation, and the Climate Emergency Collaboration Group. This access allowed these organizations to participate in Climate Week NYC, attend the Summit of the Future Action Days, and supply their expertise on the topic. Equity remains at the forefront of RPA’s mission, and attendance from these smaller organizations is crucial to a more inclusive conversation with organizational voices that may have been excluded for reasons of access and security.

Click here for more information on the Shifting Systems Initiative, learn more about the Foresight & Futures Initiative, and click here for more details on the Eliminating Lead Poisoning Innovation Fund.

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