Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives

Cooperatives serve both social and economic collective purposes and the members of a cooperative are at the same time both owners and users of the cooperative. This dual character leads to ambiguity, and the contradictory activities of cooperatives can make their coordination problematic, especially when they involve multi-level innovation networks with diverse stakeholders. Specific problems include coordinating multi-level stakeholders with different interests, competing institutional frameworks and different professional backgrounds or cultures. It is also necessary to resolve the paradoxes associated with the users of cooperatives being accountable to themselves as the owners. Further problems relate to maintaining the stable participation of members in complying with contract conditions (e.g. production and quality demands) while opening the network to new members according to the principle of open ownership. The paper explains how innovation networks that cooperate with smallholder farmers are coordinated to balance exploration and exploitation when tackling challenges in an innovation process, and the governance coordination mechanisms that are used. It is based on six study cases of farmer groups involved in different configurations of innovation networks, research and development interventions and multi-stakeholder innovation platforms that aim to tackle challenges in the potato netchain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. It uses and adjusts social network and value chain analyses (netchain analysis) to track relational-structural governance dynamics with a longitudinal approach, introducing the concept of innovation netchain as a variant of innovation networks. It finds that in the paradigm of open innovation, more open governance and management mechanisms emerge to respond to globalized and complex societal challenges. The paper proposes the concept of mobile hubs of innovation networks and their dynamic meta- governance and a typology of different modes of management mechanism for innovation networks. It concludes that the dynamic orchestration of activities facilitated by the multi-level fora of multi-stakeholder innovation platforms (i.e. a mobile hub of innovation networks) democratically at the farmer, national, regional and even the virtual levels should decide on the modes of governance and leadership required for coordinating activities. Ambidextrous management of the multi-stakeholder cooperative balances the exploration and exploitation dynamics of an innovation process. Published on: http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/a9e9b1ac-59d4-4cce-84e5-13535312bbb1 In book: FAO. 2016. Enabling more inclusive and efficient food and agricultural systems in Africa . FAO session at the IFAMA World Forum, 18 June 2014, Cape Town, South Africa, by Da Silva, C., Mpagalile, J., van Rooyen, J. & Rizzo, C. Rome, Italy., Chapter: 9, Publisher: Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Stellenbosch University, pp.131-154

This paper analyses only the results of the mapping of companies, multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs), and stock exchanges. This paper is divided into three sections. The first section deals with the analysis of a selected number of companies, the second with the survey of MSIs and the third with stock exchanges and their listing requirements. Each section breaks down the trends and gaps in their language pertaining to specific human rights and reporting mechanisms.

Multi-stakeholder initiatives (i.e., partnerships between governments, civil society, and the private sector) are an increasingly prevalent strategy promoted by multilateral, bilateral, and nongovernmental development organizations for addressing weaknesses in public sector governance. Global public sector governance MSIs seek to make national governments more transparent and accountable by setting shared standards for information disclosure and multi- stakeholder collaboration. However, research on similar interventions implemented at the national or subnational level suggests that the effectiveness of these initiatives is likely to be mediated by a variety of socio-political factors.

This dissertation examines the transnational evidence base for three global public sector governance MSIs—the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative, and the Open Government Partnership—and investigates their implementation within and across three shared national contexts—Guatemala, the Philippines, and Tanzania—in order to determine whether and how these initiatives lead to improvements in proactive transparency (i.e., discretionary release of government data), demand-driven transparency (i.e., reforms that increase access to government information upon request), and accountability (i.e., the extent to which government officials are compelled to publicly explain their actions and/or face penalties or sanction for them), as well as the extent to which they provide participating governments with an opportunity to project a public image of transparency and accountability, while maintaining questionable practices in these areas (i.e., openwashing).

The evidence suggests that global public sector governance MSIs often facilitate gains in proactive transparency by national governments, but that improvements in demand-driven transparency and accountability remain relatively rare. Qualitative comparative analysis reveals that a combination of multi-stakeholder power sharing and civil society capacity is sufficient to drive improvements in proactive transparency, while the absence of visible, high-level political support is sufficient to impede such reforms. The lack of demand-driven transparency or accountability gains suggests that national-level coalitions forged by global MSIs are often too narrow to successfully advocate for broader improvements to public sector governance. Moreover, evidence for openwashing was found in one-third of cases, suggesting that national governments sometimes use global MSIs to deliberately mislead international observers and domestic stakeholders about their commitment to reform.

Commissioned by the Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment to help inform its next phase of studies, this literature review explores recent research and debates around the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17, partnerships for the goals, and particularly target 17.17, which deals with the “encouragement and promotion of effective public, public-private, and civil society partnership, building on the experience and resourcing strategy of partnerships.” Although this analysis is exploratory in nature and only scratches the surface of the larger discussion on partnering for the SDGs, efforts were made to provide a comprehensive picture of the topics which are prominent in the broader extant literature, with five thematical angles being identified as key areas for investigation.

With that, section 1 unpacks the essentials of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSIs) and their architecture within the 2030 Agenda; section 2 explores the debate around Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a possible mechanism for sustainable development; section 3 discusses the complex orchestrating process of MSIs, placing a spotlight on multi-stakeholder dialogic processes and the role of skillful interlocutors; section 4 focuses on issues of inclusion and context in MSIs, speaking to the central position of civil society in helping localize the SDGs; finally, section 5 reviews several frameworks that shed light on some of the opportunities and challenges of MSIs, with insights on conditioning elements and strategies for effective partnering. For each of these thematics discussed, a short list of essential messages to consider is provided. The report concludes with a brief analysis of key takeaways from the larger literature review exercise.

The private sector, comprised of transnational corporations (TNCs) and smaller-sized domestic firms, has become an important partner for governments, non-governmental organizations, and intergovernmental (international) organizations in the process of economic, social, and human development in conflict or post-conflict areas. By creating multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) and multisectoral partnerships, an attempt has been developed by non-state actors, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the private sector, to construct a collective way of finding solutions for various problems. The expansion of the strategic alliances between these actors paves the way for creating a collaboration that can facilitate better transmission of information, knowledge, and experience and enhance the allocation of resources. This kind of a strategic alliance will not only be advantageous for both parties in their efforts to fulfill their own action plans, but also create a new way of thinking and acting as a result of integrating the social, political, and economic life of the globalized and more complex world by combining diverse types of powers. Moreover, this new way of relations will help domestic and international companies act together to support norms with respect to transparency, participation, and accountability of “collective governance.”
The conflict in Syria has resulted in devastating consequences-250,000 Syrian people dead, seven point six million displaced, and four point five million migrating into neighboring countries- as well as negative social and economic effects for many other countries in the region. The Syrian refugee crises can be a significant case to comprehend the need for "collaborative partnerships" and reveals the importance of cross-sector partnerships as an alternative to the traditional belief that the governments are the only problem solvers in conflict and post-conflict areas. The number and the quality of these partnerships and projects should be increased to support social, economic, and cultural integration, rehabilitation, and relief of the Syrian refugees and migrants.
Keywords: Multi-stakeholder initiatives, multisectoral partnerships, transnational corporations, civil society organizations, collective governance, Syrian refugee crisis, Syrian refugees and migrants.

This report is about the grievances of young women, predominantly from disadvantaged Dalit and low caste communities, who are recruited from remote and impoverished rural villages to work in textile mills and garment factories (herein the ‘garment sector’) in a number of districts of Tamil Nadu in South India. The report discusses the issues facing these young women, many of whom are employed under bonded and forced labour conditions, commonly referred to as ‘Sumangali’ schemes and ‘camp labour arrangements’. The terms Sumangali, camp labour or camp labour coolies are frequently used interchangeably.  The term ‘Sumangali’ is used to refer to a form of bonded labour where young women have a fixed-term contract and a significant portion of the legal minimum wage and/or other payments to which they are entitled are withheld until they have completed the contract. The term ‘camp labour’ refers to arrangements whereby workers live in company-controlled hostels with no freedom of movement so that they will be available to work on call, will not seek work in other factories or mills and will be deterred from joining a union. Both Sumangali and camp labour are forms of forced labour. In this report we use the term forced labour to encompass both practices.

This restriction of these workers’ freedom of movement is commonly associated with other labour rights violations including forced overtime, low pay and poor work conditions. These workers are routinely denied their rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining and they frequently do not receive the minimum employee entitlements stipulated under national and state laws. Child labour is also a common occurrence.

The social and economic disadvantages experienced by these women and the power imbalance in their relationships with their employers are emphasised through recruitment and employment practices based on discrimination of gender and caste. This report considers efforts by civil society actors to bring these ongoing rights violations to an end. We concentrate on three claim-making strategies: social movement campaigns; complaints to national and state judicial and non-judicial institutions; and complaints to an international non-judicial mechanism, the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).

Partnership is not the first word that usually comes to mind when one thinks about business and NGOs. Over the past three decades, most relationships between the commercial sector and civil society have been founded upon conflict. In different sectors and geographical settings, this pattern of business–civil society relations started to change in the early 1990s with the emergence of new forms of partnership between these long-standing adversaries.