Current Research
2015 will be a year involving a number of research initiatives that are already underway and to be planned.
Multi-Stakeholder Initiatives
Since 2013, the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) has hosted the Secretariat of a multi-stakeholder Task Team on CSO Development Effectiveness and Enabling Environment (TT). The agreement to do so foresaw the value of studies. With a priority for multi-stakeholder initiatives, a comparatively oriented programme was devised to address three principle questions:
1. What country conditions work for and against the effectiveness of MSIs?
2. What attributes do interlocutors require and apply to make MSIs successful?
3. What do stakeholders experiences say about improving MSI performance?
A scoping exercise to be completed in January will lead to selection of countries and three types.
Type 1: Multi-stakeholder collaboration (MSCs) requiring ongoing cooperation associated with an internationally promoted agenda in this case the Scaling up Nutrition initiative.
Type 2: Multi-stakeholder dialogues (MSDs), including but not limited to (non-measurement) issues of an enabling environment for civil society.
Type 3: Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSDs or MSCs) driven by a country's domestic issues.
Potential country sites are Costa Rica, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Indonesia. In addition to micro cases, the Index of Social development (ISD) hosted at ISS will be used to identify macro contextual parameters which, alongside theory and existing literature will inform in-country data gathering. Results are scheduled for publication in September/October. For multi-stakeholder concepts, theory and typologies, click here.
Intra-Organisational Conflict of International NGOs
In late 2013, six INGOs met to see if there was common interest in ensuring that ?disputes? within their respective families are made productive. The affirmative outcome was taken forward by Amnesty International and Intermediation International as a voluntary effort with an overall objective of: Increasing ICSOs capability for management of internal conflicts with a view to making them productive sources of organizational change.
A web-based survey was designed and is currently being completed by members of a number of INGO membership organisations, such as Interaction, Alliance 2015 and the Norwegian NGO council. In the New Year, others are expected to join in this initiative. The intention is to follow up the survey with a series of interviews that explore critical and interesting findings. One planned outcome is practical resources for INGOs to take up and adapt. Details about the study on gaining the upside of conflict in INGOs is here.
Civic Innovation
A series of conference presentations with my colleague Kees Biekart and other related work are giving direction to the definition of a research programme that will concentrate on civic innovation citizens' ingenuity, creativity and inventiveness in gaining the imagined futures they aspire to - from three angles. (1) The polycentric nature of the governance structures that civic innovators face. (2) E mergence of interlocutors as pivotal agents in institutional re-configurations of the socio-political order. For more on the emergence and attributes of interlocutors, click here. (3) A global and empirical perspective provided by homing in on the transition of civic innovations from developing countries the South - long subordinated to and recipients of 'modernity' from developed societies the North - projected as normative models for inspiration and eventual convergence. The process for research definition and design will follow the pathway for civic driven change by inviting interested parties for critical debate on ideas and plans. A proposal for funding should be formulated by the second half of the year.
