Not all key actors will engage in Stakeholder Dialogues in the same way. Some stakeholders are more difficult to engage. In many organizations, people continually change positions, send new people to meetings without briefing them or drop out of engagement processes pressured by other commitments. This can compromise the momentum and content of dialogue within and beyond the core group. For some new participants, everything may need to slow down or stop until they have been brought up to speed in their role as core group members, supporters or high-level sponsors. A Stakeholder Dialogue process cannot always be delayed, so it pays off to invest very consciously in container-building when new people are brought on board. In such a situation, relationship-building is the key. Weiterlesen
3 Pitfalls of Engagement Processes
Community-based natural resource management in Namibia
On www.StakeholderDialogues.net we regularly feature success stories of initiatives and projects that have applied a dialogic stakeholder approach. The last story to be featured this year is the story of how community based natural resource management was turned into a succes in Namibia.
After the apartheid in Namibia the black population in Namibia was left with no chance of owning land titles or wildlife. As a result there was no incentive for them to care for the land they lived on – as a consequence over the years wildlife and natural resources soon decreased. To tackle this problem a new conservancy policy was introduced in 1996. Under the policy communities can register for the land they live on to be declared a conservancy – the communities in return have to look after the wildlife and are entitled to benefit from the utilization of wildlife.
© IRDNC
A couple of weeks ago I interviewed Karine Nuulimba of the Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) an organization that, together with the WWF, played a major role in initiating this change process in Namibia. The interview with Karine was very inspiring – she passionately shared her insights with me on the success factors of the people-centered community-based natural resource management – an approach that is rooted in the fruitful collaboration between local communities, government bodies and NGOs.
So here is what worked for them: Weiterlesen
Making Stakeholder Engagement in Public-Private Partnerships work
Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, especially African infrastructure development is facing a major challenge in attracting private sector and foreign direct investment. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) hold great potential for sustainable development that can be leveraged further by applying a stakeholder engagement focus.
© merial – Fotolia.com
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has acknowledged this and contracted the Collective Leadership Institute with our expertise in stakeholder engagement to support the Public Private Dialogue Forum that takes place this week in Johannesburg. Until my colleagues are back to report new insights and experiences made in Johannesburg, here are some tips on improving PPPs efficiency through applying a Stakeholder Dialogue approach.
How to make Stakeholder Engagement in PPPs work:
- Create resonance and mobilise positive feedback for investing into a PPP project development among crucial public and private sector players Weiterlesen
10 Tips for Stakeholder Engagement with Activists
Today I am very happy to announce a partnership with Future 500 – a non-profit organization that envisions a world that realizes sustainable economic growth by addressing social and environmental externalities with market-based solutions. Future 500 unites the corporate and NGO sector to break through gridlock, encourage thoughtful solutions, and achieve broad systemic change.
There are lots of interesting collaborations planned for the future – in the meantime I am delighted to feature an article on engaging with activists which Future 500 recently shared on their blog:
From toxics to human rights, advocates are increasingly focusing on consumer facing brands to drive change on environmental and social issues. Corporate campaigns have been going strong for decades, but with the rise of social media, higher demand for supply chain transparency and increasingly savvy coordination between activist networks, companies are scrambling to address stakeholder concerns before they bubble into conflict. Weiterlesen
Only dedicated circles give birth to something new
This saying by a circle of African wise women captures an important lesson in Stakeholder Dialogues: engagement requires a team of committed people.
In order to bring a project forward, it is important to have a group of people that are dedicated to the change envisaged and to implementing the intended change jointly. At the CLI we call this a Container – and as methodology it is the core of our work. Many stakeholder involvement processes fail or have little impact because there is no solid Container of people who feel collectively responsible for fostering and holding the process from beginning to end.
Leave your To-Do Lists at the Check-In please!
You probably know those typical meeting situations: People arrive one by one, some don´t take their eyes of their laptops to write last-minute mails and at some point the meeting is opened and starts by jumping right to the first agenda point.
© kalafoto – Fotolia.com
At the CLI we try and do it differently. Meetings – no matter how small – start with a check-in and end with a check-out. We are not big fans of airports, but we like to think of our meetings as little journeys. And to leave our “mental luggage” outside for the while. The check-in is a great tool to frame your meetings in a different atmosphere, get people into a conversation and focus on the topics to be discussed. Weiterlesen