Shift Strategy 2026–2031 /
The context to our strategy /
The urgency of putting respect for human rights at the core of how business gets done has only increased since the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were adopted in 2011.
The economic inequalities enabled by unfettered globalization, which the UNGPs were designed to confront, now sit at the center of political debate and movements across regions and ideologies. Today’s extreme inequalities both act as a brake on the climate action we need and are set to worsen if it isn’t achieved. The role that effective implementation of the UNGPs must play in enabling more stable societies, a liveable planet and more sustainable economies has never been clearer.
It is in this context that Shift’s strategy for 2026–2031 is grounded.
From the UN Guiding Principles to Shift’s Strategy /
Before the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were endorsed in 2011, it was widely assumed that governments alone bore duties in relation to human rights, while companies’ responsibilities were largely voluntary and often framed through philanthropy rather than core business conduct.
Since their adoption, that understanding has shifted significantly, with real consequences in policy, practice and law.
- Governments across all regions have adopted national action plans for implementing the UNGPs, followed by a growing number of regulatory initiatives designed to embed their expectations within reporting and human rights due diligence laws.
- Companies, business associations, investor and banking groups have made commitments and developed sector-specific guidance grounded in the UNGPs, with increasing movement beyond policy adoption and impact assessment towards more assertive action to prevent, mitigate and remedy harms.
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives have emerged to address shared human rights challenges, bringing together diverse actors around a common set of expectations rooted in the UNGPs.
- Complaints mechanisms and legal actions in national and regional courts have increasingly cited the UNGPs in pursuit of remedy for people harmed by business activity.
With the growth in standards based on the UNGPs, the pace of uptake by companies and financial institutions is increasing. So is the number and range of organizations providing advice and other services. This makes it all the more important that regulation is enforced
and interpreted effectively, so it can meet its aims. It is through continued alignment with the letter and spirit of the UNGPs that this is best achieved. This requires clarity in the market on what that alignment looks like in practice and how it delivers improvements in the lives of workers, communities and consumers.
No law or standard can, on its own, eliminate the harms it seeks to address, and far more progress is still required. Yet the fact that thousands of enterprises and dozens of governments now recognize that respect for human rights must be integrated into business practice, and are working to give effect to that recognition, marks a significant transformation. It provides a foundation on which more substantial change can be built in the decade ahead.
Who we are and what we do /
Shift is a non-profit, mission-driven organization.
Our vision is a world in which business gets done with respect for people’s dignity.
Our mission is to shape the standards, incentives and practices that embed respect for human rights into business. We do this by drawing on the UNGPs as a practical framework for enabling a fairer economic system in which everyone, not just the few, can thrive.
Our team combines deep expertise in business and human rights together with leading skills in facilitation, consensus building and strategic advisory work. We bring experience and insights from diverse professional backgrounds, including in government, law, business, finance, trade unions and civil society.
Our values are principled pragmatism, purposeful curiosity and respectful collaboration. We strive for these to be evident in how we behave in all of our internal and external interactions.
Why this strategy, and why now /
Over the past fifteen years, Shift has helped turn the UNGPs from principles on paper into operational reality, working across policy, corporate practice and multi stakeholder collaboration. This strategy reflects continuity of mission and our foundational role in the UNGPs alongside a deliberate evolution in how we apply our experience in response to a more complex and demanding external environment.
How Shift creates
change /
The human rights of workers, communities and consumers affected by harmful business practices are at the centre of everything we do.
We work with businesses, financial institutions, standard setters and civil society partners as the critical agents of change. We use our distinctive ability to bridge policy and practice to identify where innovative practices, stronger rules or collaborative initiatives can have measurable impact in improving human rights outcomes.
In practice, this means that:
- We work with companies and financial institutions to demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of business practices that respect people, and the governance arrangements, business models and market incentives needed to support them.
- We support standard setters to align due diligence and reporting standards with the UNGPs, informed by practical lessons from their real-world implementation, in order to clarify expectations and strengthen incentives for progress.
- Where we see barriers to scaling change, we convene collaborative, cross-stakeholder initiatives to generate insights, pilot new approaches and crystallize solutions to shared challenges.
Our strategy /
Strategic Goal
By 2030, respect for human rights is embedded in the business practices that matter most for reducing economic inequality, strengthening resilience in global value chains, and enabling a fair transition to a carbon-neutral future.
Strategic priorities /
1- Maximize the positive impact of standards
Standards, laws and regulatory frameworks play a critical role in shaping expectations of responsible business conduct. Over the next five years, Shift will focus on helping ensure that influential standards and regulatory regimes are both aligned with the UNGPs and supported by practical insights and resources that enable effective implementation by business and robust enforcement, and normalize respect for people in the ways business gets done.
To achieve this, we will:
- Engage with governments to ensure that the transposition and enforcement of existing human rights due diligence and reporting laws, and the development of new laws, are substantially aligned with the UNGPs.
- Develop practical resources and common methodologies, grounded in the UNGPs, to support effective implementation of human rights due diligence and reporting standards.
- Build the evidence base of what makes implementation both impactful for people and feasible for companies, drawing on lessons from practice across contexts.
- Push for convergence in reporting standards, grounded in the connections between impacts on people, rising inequality and risks to business resilience, and supported by indicators and metrics that provide meaningful insight into companies’ social performance.
This work will remain grounded in the principle that standards should enable improved outcomes for people, not merely procedural compliance.
2- Advance fair business practices
Companies and financial institutions play a decisive role in whether human rights are respected across their operations and value chains. Shift will continue to support and influence these actors to implement the UNGPs and related regulation through business strategies and practices that deliver better outcomes for workers, communities and consumers, while strengthening business resilience.
To achieve this, we will:
- Partner with individual businesses and business associations that are committed to advancing better practices for respecting human rights, and to sharing the lessons learned from their experience.
- Develop thematically focused practice groups within and across business and finance to generate insights into strategies that deliver better outcomes for workers, communities and consumers.
- Strengthen credible business voices in support of better practice and effective standards, including through engagement with influential businesses and associations that remain cautious about regulation.
- Equip business leaders to advocate for the ways that addressing human rights impacts reduces inequality and builds resilient operations and value chains
Recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all model of implementation, this work is designed to strengthen the capacity of businesses and financial institutions to act responsibly within their specific contexts.
3- Tackle structural barriers through collaboration
Some of the most persistent human rights challenges cannot be addressed by individual actors acting alone. They reflect structural barriers in incentives, governance arrangements and value distribution across global value chains that require coordinated, cross-stakeholder responses.
Building on its history of flagship initiatives, Shift will launch a dedicated forum for convening cross-stakeholder groups to pilot new ways of tackling these barriers to delivering fairer outcomes at scale.
To achieve this, we will:
- Incubate and support cross-stakeholder collaborations involving companies, financial institutions, civil society and governments, with an initial focus on:
- Collaborative approaches to human rights due diligence across global value chains that can demonstrate positive outcomes for workers and communities in specific places.
- Integrated approaches to managing environmental and social risks and opportunities that help ensure that climate, nature and technological transitions do not deepen inequality.
- Interventions that address short-term incentives in markets and business models that undermine companies’ ability and willingness to reduce human rights impacts and inequality.
In delivering this work, we will build on our track record in designing and facilitating processes that foster trust, enable experimentation and generate new approaches among diverse stakeholders and disciplines.
Approach to delivery /
In service of this strategy, we will:
Build on our experience of partnering with diverse organizations by exploring where new and enhanced partnerships could help us achieve greater impact.
Expand our work in geographies where the regulatory, economic, and political context creates need and opportunity to advance our mission, and where our expertise can add value.
Produce differentiated resources for distinct audiences, ranging from in-depth analysis and practical guidance to concise commentary and thought leadership.
Leverage a new website and social channels to extend our reach, amplify our insights, and help shape discussions.
Sustain our team’s deep expertise across business and human rights, and leading skills in workshop facilitation, consensus-building, strategic change consulting.
Maintain a hybrid funding model of fee-based and grant-based work, with grant revenue supporting our work to advance effective standards and convene cross-stakeholder collaboration that address structural barriers to progress.
