Michelle Cangelosi acknowledges that multi-stakeholder collaborations require a significant amount of effort and time. We live in a complex society with challenges inherent in any interdependent system. No matter what lens you look through or what scale you focus on, there are few simple answers to the world’s issues like climate change, poverty, food security, human rights, ecological and social resilience, and resource sustainability.
When approached thoughtfully and done right, multi-stakeholder collaborations provide a way forward. This approach isn’t easy but can promise progress. Multi-stakeholder partnerships often accomplish more than one-party approaches which may pit differing sectors against one another, rather than capitalizing on strengths of each organization united to solve a problem. Michelle Lynn Cangelosi reveals why she believes involving different actors from government, businesses, civil society, non-profit organizations, and academia can produce important, life- changing results in communities.
Table of Contents
Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations Promote Trust
Trust can be difficult to come by in some contexts. By engaging several parties, it helps to hold each one accountable and increases the likelihood of success. When an earnest effort is made to pull multiple groups together toward a common goal, and all parties feel they have a voice and a meaningful seat at the table, it can bridge divides between different sectors of society. It also helps embed solutions at each level – local, regional, national.
Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations Produce Creative Solutions
Finding solutions to complex problems often requires thinking outside the box. These collaborative efforts bring people from different backgrounds and perspectives together to think through which solutions may work in a local context. Michelle Cangelosi has seen first-hand how introducing a diversity of skills, knowledge and experience can spark new ideas and creative solutions. It also inherently tackles the problem from many angles to encourage a more productive outcome.
Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations Create Transparency
Making real progress in solving systemic problems requires multiple parties to come together in a transparent way. Transparency builds trust which is necessary in successful partnerships. By remaining open, each party can bring concerns, ideas and views to ensure that they work together for the best outcomes. It also allows them to quickly address short-comings as each stakeholder is aware of what the intentions are and how they plan to execute the proposed solution. These complex relationships require negotiation and by being and remaining open, each stakeholder can exercise their voice, develop more trust which creates an environment that encourages members to work together and troubleshoot any issues that arise. This transparency also helps to hold parties accountable.
Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations Encourage Participants To Take Ownership
When everyone in these working groups has a stake in the game, they become more invested in the outcomes. Cangelosi says that this is one of the most important reasons you can accomplish more when you engage in multi-stakeholder collaborations. This may be one reason this approach plays a central role in the most recent iteration of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are 17 SDGs and #17 is focused on Partnerships. Specifically, two targets address multi-stakeholder partnerships:
17.16 Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries
17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
Mobilizing resources, taking ownership, and bringing together various perspectives and representatives helps to ensure problems are solved with nuanced solutions that fit the community.
Michelle Cangelosi Offers Suggestions for Avoiding the Pitfalls
While this approach is promising and can lead to more progress than traditional forms of governance, policy development and problem solving, there are pitfalls. When groups with varying interests come together, it requires strong leadership and negotiating skills to move from talk to action and mitigate any conflicts that may arise. It is common for parties to be on different pages but it is in the discussion from these various vantage points where best solution can be identified.
Then, a key next step is to establish a framework for outlining and reaching benchmarks. Each party will need to have a clear role and metrics to reach their desired outcomes. Timelines are also key to ensuring that all parties are in agreement on deliverables. Michelle Cangelosi says that a multi-stakeholder collaborative method is a powerful approach for addressing systemic issues, and serving the greater good, despite challenges that are sure to arise.