The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide This page intentionally left blank CHAPTER 2 Partnerships 2.0 Introduction Sustainable development requires the negotiation of a balance among the three distinct, everyday development processes: economic development, community development, and ecological development. The importance of maintaining a balance among these three processes is evident in cities and towns throughout the world. For example, if a local water supply is not affordable (economic development), clean and hydrologically sustainable (ecological development), and available to all inhabitants (community development), then the livability and viability of that community will eventually decline. Balancing the diverse interests of business, the environment, and community development requires partnerships. This is especially true in today’s environment of rapid urbanization and globalization. The pressures facing local communities today make it increasingly difficult for any one institution to single-handedly develop, supply, and maintain an essential service. Traditional service roles (of government, the private sector, community organizations, trade unions, religious organizations, neighbors, and families) are rapidly changing due to fiscal constraints, constitutional and legal reforms, resource scarcity and ecological concerns, globalization of economies and market liberalization, changing values and social norms, and demographic pressures. Balancing the diverse interests of business, the environment, and community development requires partnerships. As a result of such changes, local communities are taking a partnership approach to service provision. Services are increasingly provided through the coordinated efforts of service users, local authorities and their affiliated service departments, private investors, local businesses, interest groups such as taxpayer associations, trade unions, religious groups, community organizations, provincial and central governments, and even international development and financial institutions. These partners, often called “stakeholders,” http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (18 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide are groups that have a “stake” in the quality, distribution, and sustained delivery of local services. Only when the stakeholders agree to develop and implement a common strategy is it likely that a service will be sustainable. Who, then, will coordinate the actions and desires of different stakeholders within this increasingly complex local environment? And how will these stakeholders agree upon a common purpose to guide their work together over a period of many years? 2.1 Objectives The process of building partnerships among stakeholders must be facilitated by some institution that is seen to be legitimate by diverse community interests. Sometimes this institution is the local authority. In other cases, new institutions must be created to serve as an acceptable intermediary among these interests. Over the past decade, local authorities on a worldwide basis have been establishing new structures for partnership planning to engage stakeholders in addressing service problems and in developing new service approaches. These partnership structures, called “Stakeholder Groups,” range from round tables and forums with specific, limited-term mandates to new statutory committees and councils with long-term planning mandates. The process of building partnerships must be facilitated by some institution that is seen by diverse community interests to be legitimate. The case studies in this chapter provide examples of Stakeholder Groups such as the Lancashire Environmental Forum in Lancashire County, United Kingdom; the Inter-Institutional Consensus-Building Committee of Cajamarca, Peru; the Popular Citizen Councils of Santos, Brazil; and the Consultative Committees of Johnstone Shire, Australia. These cases highlight six key objectives for involving stakeholders in sustainable development planning. These objectives are: 2.2 Steps • to create a shared community vision of the future; • to identify and prioritize key issues, thereby facilitating immediate measures to alleviate urgent problems; • to support community-based analysis of local issues, including the comprehensive review of long-term, systemic problems that confront particular service systems and the need to integrate different service strategies so that they are mutually supportive; • to develop action plans for addressing key issues, drawing from the experiences and innovations of diverse local groups; • to mobilize community-wide resources to meet service needs, including the joint implementation of sustainable development projects; and • to increase public support for municipal activities and local understanding of municipal development needs and constraints. The six basic steps in the establishment of partnerships for sustainable development planning purposes are: STEP 1. Determine the scope of the planning exercise and define goals and objectives. This should be done by the initiating organization (e. g., the municipality) in consultation with stakeholders. It should include a preliminary educational campaign to generate public interest and support. STEP 2. Create or designate a Stakeholder Group to coordinate and guide the overall planning effort, and to integrate the results of discussions, research, and planning into an Action Plan(s). STEP 3. http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (19 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
Page 1 and 2: The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide
Page 17: The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide
Page 69 and 70:
The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180:
show all

The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?