Institutes / NGOs

The Center was founded in 1996 as a non-denominational, non-partisan educational center to help people develop the inner resources to be effective leaders and respond creatively to change. They feature internationally known authors and social innovators, citizen dialogues, and consulting services for business, government and the non-profit community.

http://209.41.34.77/index.htm

Go to http://209.41.34.77/multis.htm

for a short list of goals and techniques of "The multi-stakeholder approach to consensus-buiding", 1996 by Corinne McLaughlin

The Center for Civic Networking (CCN)

Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces For the 21st Century

CCN is a non-profit organization dedicated to applying information infrastructure to the broad public good - particularly by putting information infrastructure to work within local communities to improve delivery of local government services, improve access to information that people need in order to function as informed citizens, broaden citizen participation in governance, and stimulate economic and community development. CCN conducts internally initiated projects, conducts projects in partnership with other organizations, consults to government and non-profit organizations, and conducts policy research and analysis. CCN staff members engage in ongoing educational, writing, and speaking activities.

Consensus building involves informal, face-to-face interaction among representatives of stakeholding groups. It aims for "mutual gain" solutions, rather than win-lose or lowest common denominator outcomes. Consensus building approaches are broadly applicable in all parts of the world and to the full range of international issues. Conflicts in the international arena involve multiple parties— nations, private actors, and NGOs. CBI is engaged in the assessment of numerous multilateral negotiations and institutional interventions designed to prevent or resolve conflict.

http://www.cbi-web.org/

The Copenhagen Centre's conference "Partnerships and social responsibility in the new economy" in June 2001 aims at taking further the development and dissemination of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and to encourage the implementation of new social partnerships across national borders and across the borders between private and public, market and society. The concern is to ensure that CSR and new social partnerships will become part of everyday practice and mainstream policies within the realm of the New Economy.
http://www.copenhagencentre.org/main

Coro: Training Tomorrow’s Leaders

Coro’s mission is to strengthen communities and the democratic process by preparing individuals for effective and ethical leadership in the public affairs arena. Coro participants learn the public affairs process in the boardrooms, council chambers, union halls, news rooms, religious institutions and conference rooms where policy is designed and implemented. 

Democracy is clearly the only vehicle through which a sustainable global society can be realised. It however needs to be properly structured in both developed and developing nations to ensure responsible governance through proper empowerment of the common people. Multi-Stakeholder Councils are a key feature of the Earth Charter Initiative: any discord at the grassroots level may be settled by multi-stakeholder statuary councils consisting of representatives of the disadvantaged communities, religions, women, trade unions, farmers, industry, professionals, NGOs, etc, at the sub-district, district and city levels. Such multi-stakeholder councils, a key recommendation of the Rio Conference, instituted as the constitutional upper house at the local, state and national levels as a restraining body, can by being in mainstream governance, play a major role in promoting sustainability.

http://www.earthcharter.org/report/special/peoplefirst/

Page on Participation resources. Find practicial manuals, key websites, bibliographical sources, organisations and networks and a list of discussion lists on the subject.

The Environment Council - an independent UK charity, brings together people from all sectors of business, NGOs, government and the community to develop long term solutions to environmental issues. It facilitates stakeholder dialogues and offers a programme of briefings, seminars and workshops, covering leading edge environmental and sustainability issues and how they impact on business and organisations. The Council also offers training courses as an opportunity to learn more about the role of Stakeholder Dialogue in environmental decision-making, the facilitation skills and techniques necessary to become a trained facilitator and how to design and manage environmental dialogue processes. Find case studies and reports on various multi-stakeholder processes.

http://www.the-environment-council.org.uk/

Also see UNED case study

The purpose of the Global Public Policy Project was to prepare a report that would examine a range of global challenges and the potential contribution of global public policy networks to address them. Since the publication of the final report, the project's staff has presented its findings on multiple opportunities in the United States as well as Europe. The present activities of the Global Public Policy Project are concentrated in the research field as well as providing a platform for interested people to exchange information and 'lessons learned' about global public policy networks.

http://www.globalpublicpolicy.net

Case Studies on GPP Networks at http://www.globalpublicpolicy.net/CaseStudyAuthors.htm

International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED) is an independent, non-profit organisation which promotes sustainable patterns of world development through collaborative research, policy studies, consensus building and public information.

http://www.iied.org

A set of Principles for Stakeholder Engagement has been developed as part of IIED's Mining and Minerals for Sustainable Development project, commissioned by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
http://www.iied.org/mmsd/global_act/stakeh.html#principles

IIED Resource Centre for Participatory Learning and Action

This collection includes over 2500 documents on Participatory Approaches (such as: Participatory Rural Appraisal, Rapid Rural Appraisal, Méthode Active de Recherche et de Planification Participative etc.) from around the world with an emphasis on Africa, Asia and South America. The documentation consists mainly of unpublished literature, case studies and reports, and features material in more than ten languages. Bibliographies, case studies, workshop reports and training aids on all the major aspects of PLA are also available.

The mission of IMTD is to promote a systems approach to peacebuilding and to facilitate the transformation of deep-rooted social conflict. IMTD uses a multi-track approach in its work by involving as many different tracks as possible when implementing projects. This way, even when doing social peacebuilding work, they involve people from government, media, or other social institutions which provide a link between the structural peacebuilding and political peacebuilding processes.

http://www.imtd.org/

Montreal International Forum (FIM) website specialized on civil society participation in multilateral institutions.

FIM provides a neutral setting for an annual forum in Montreal for reflection and active learning about the interaction between civil society and the multilateral system. In so doing, the Forum draws lessons from NGO experiences that can strengthen the voice and participation of civil society actors in the multilateral system. Beginning in May 2002, FIM will also convene a larger biennial conference with a similar objective. Find FIM-commissioned discussion papers of case studies wherein civil society organizations have influenced the multilateral system. Website in English and French.

The REC Public Participation Training Project reinforces the REC's ongoing commitment to increasing public participation in environmental decisionmaking. The Training Project is an outgrowth of the expertise gained through several years of REC policy research and cooperation with environmental leaders throughout the region on public participation issues, and following the development of a series of REC public participation workshops and materials, including a Manual on Public Participation in Environmental Decision-making, and a report on the Status of Public Participation Practices in Environmental Decisionmaking in CEE.

Annual Report 1996: PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PROGRAM

The REC programs department aims to make this complex policymaking process accessible and to improve stakeholders' capacity to influence decisions at all levels. The department's various projects provide objective information about and analysis of key environmental issues and facilitate cooperation among governments, businesses and NGOs to ensure the development of effective and lasting solutions. Through six years of experience, the REC has recognized the complexity of environmental problems in the region and the sometimes widely differing viewpoints of the stakeholders. The REC programs therefore have developed a unique multi-stakeholder approach to the issues involving economic, political and social contexts. In 1996, much of the program department's work involved assessing public participation, developing local environmental strategies, and conducting surveys among environmental businesses.

Manual on Public Participation in Environmental Decisionmaking; Beyond Boundaries.

The International Dimensions of Public Participation for the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe, issued Sept 1996
This report provides practical guidance for citizens and NGOs in using legal and non-formal instruments to encourage governments to fulfill their international environmental obligations.

The Right-to-Know Network provides free access to numerous databases, text files, and conferences on the environment, housing, and sustainable development. With the information available, you can identify specific factories and their environmental effects; analyze reinvestment by banks in their communities; and assess people and communities affected.
http://www.rtk.net/resources.html

Universal Charter of Good Governance for global sustainability

At the turn of the millennium, the world is witnessing major advancements in science and technological innovations. New frontiers are being established in technologies such as information, genetics, ocean, space and nano. The world is also witnessing unprecedented expansion in industrial growth, generation of wealth, financial markets and globalisation.
http://www.peoplefirstindia.org/5universial.htm

Sustainable Development Gateway integrates the on-line information developed by members of the Sustainable Development Communications Network.

This page on Multistakeholder Processes links to articles that discuss the intricacies of establishing successful multistakeholder initiatives and provide examples of initiatives that have been undertaken at local, regional, national and international levels.
http://sdgateway.net/topics/265.htm

The World Resources Institute (WRI), US

with The Environmental Management and Law Association EMLA, Budapest, Corporación PARTICIPA, Santiago, and The Thailand Environment Institute TEI:

The Access Initiative - An Initiative To Promote Access to Information, Participation, and Justice in Environmental Decision-Making

The Access Initiative is a global coalition of public interest groups seeking to promote principles of public access to information, participation and justice in environmental decision-making. Led by WRI, EMLA, Corporación Participa and TEI, the Access Initiative is developing and pilot testing assessment tools designed to assist civil society organizations in promoting the implementation of the access principles at the national level. We are developing assessment tools and taking stock of the degree to which national governments have implemented systems to ensure transparent, participatory, and fair decision-making in accordance with their commitments made at the Rio Summit in 1992. The site presents and seeks input to the assessment tools. It also provides updates on participants and progress.

Contact Minu Hemmati and Felix Dodds for further information.