Coastal and fisheries governance
Collaborative Governance
The notion of collaborative governance suggests the possibility that progress towards sustainable development can be achieved by drawing on the strengths and resources of business, government, and civil society working in partnership. It is motivated by the increasingly important and complex socio-economic and environmental challenges faced by societies at local, national, and global levels, which defy resolution by any one sector working independently of the others. Collaborative governance is therefore an integral aspect of the broader debates surrounding, inter alia, the role of the private sector in sustainable development.
Research on this theme builds on prior work that has included ten case studies of diverse cross-sector collaboration initiatives. For a working paper based on this research, click here. Current research is focused, among other things, on identifying leadership characteristics that make such collaboration initiatives effective. Also note that together with the International Business Leaders Forum / The Partnering Initiative, we are establishing a practitioners’ forum on cross-sector collaboration in South Africa – click here for access to a beta version of the online platform for this forum.
Related to the theme of collaborative governance is our Food Security Change Lab project. This is an action research project that has involved the establishment of a multi-stakeholder steering group and the implementation of a “Change Lab” methodology. This methodology has been successfully implemented in an international initiative with similar objectives to this proposal – the Sustainable Food Lab.
The Change Lab consists of a 12-month process to be undertaken during 2010 comprising three phases: 1) A series of in-depth interviews with leaders in the public, private and civil society sectors; 2) ‘Learning journeys’ in which Change Lab participants obtain first-hand experience of impediments to food security in relevant value chains; and 3) Innovation workshops and prototyping projects in which innovations are tested and refined and, if appropriate, replicated or scaled up. The Change Lab is supported financially by GTZ and implemented together with Reos Partners.
