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

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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
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