DESIGNING PROJECTS IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD

Multi-stakeholder
Engagement
Project cycle
RAPTA
Resilience
Social–ecological
system (SES)
Specified
resilience
Stakeholders
Stakeholder
Analysis
Sustainability
and Sustainable
Development
System
Scenarios or
Futures
Threshold (aka
critical transition)
Transformability
Transformation
Transition
A (structured) process used to ensure participation on a specific issue and based on a set of
principles, sometimes inspired by the rights-based approach to development (i.e. freedom of
association, the right to participate in political processes and freedom of opinion, speech and
expression). The process aims to ensure participatory equity, accountability and transparency
and to develop partnerships and networks among different stakeholders. Specific tools and
approaches can be found in UNDP (2006) and DiFD (2002).
The cycle of project development spanning inception, design, delivery or implementation and
aftermath or legacy. This generic approach is more refined for GEF projects which include
identification, design, implementation and impact legacy.
Resilience, Adaptation Pathways and Transformation Assessment (RAPTA) is an integrated
assessment process to guide management and monitoring of complex social–ecological systems.
It has broad application in supporting project planning and implementation for sustainable
land management and other social–ecological systems.
Resilience is a property of a social–ecological system. It refers the ability of a system to absorb
shocks, such as drought, but reorganise so as to retain the same functions, structure, and
feedbacks (ie the same identity). Resilience is neither good nor bad – a system could be in an
undesirable state but still be resilient to shocks, such as, a grassland that has been invaded
by unpalatable shrubs. This contested term has many other definitions, as discussed in the
literature (e.g. Adger, 2000; Barrett & Constas, 2014; Manyena, 2006; Mastern et al., 1990;
McCann, 2000).
Interacting system of ecosystems and human society with reciprocal feedback and interdependence.
The concept emphasizes the humans-in-nature perspective.
Resilience of particular parts of a system to identified disturbances “of what, to what?” i.e.
where their potential future occurrence is known or suspected, though the timing and magnitude
may be unknown.
A stakeholder is any entity with a declared or conceivable interest or stake in a system. The
range of relevant stakeholders to consider varies according to the complexity, issue, area and the
type of intervention proposed. Stakeholders can be individuals, organizations or informal groups.
A methodology used to understand stakeholders. It takes various forms but usually incorporates
understanding four attributes: 1) the stakeholders’ position on the issue;2) the level of
influence (power) they hold; 3) the level of interest they have in the specific intervention; and, 4)
the group/coalition to which they belong or are linked.
Sustainability is a contested term used in a “universalist sense” encompassing the notions
that the planet and its people endure in perpetuity, while maintaining health, prosperity and
well-being. This is commonly translated into a concept of three interdependent “pillars” of
sustainability, i.e. maintaining environmental, social and economic health.
Sustainable development is “Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987).
There is increasing recognition that in order for human goals to be met, prerequisite ecosystem
functions must be maintained.
See Social-Ecological System (SES)
Narratives that describes a possible future, by identifying characteristic features, significant
events, actors and mechanisms. A set of scenarios that bracket the range of possible futures
is a useful tool for examining the kinds of processes and dynamics that could lead to a SES
developing along particular trajectories.
The point at which a relatively small change or disturbance in external conditions causes a rapid
change in an system.
Transformability is the capacity for a system to be transformed to a different system. See
Transformation.
A system change to a new identity.
The course of the trajectory from one domain of a system to another, or from one kind of
system to another (i.e. a transformational change).
96 Appendices