Multi-stakeholder Initiatives

Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) are vital in today’s world. Indeed, these type of initiatives “may well be the best hope of identifying and supporting lasting solutions [to complex large-scale problems]”, according to the World Bank’s conference report entitled ‘Increasing the effectiveness of multi-stakeholder initiatives through active collaboration’.1 The past decade has seen a proliferation of MSIs and other forms of collective action, from diffuse systems of wide networks to tight public-private partnerships, aiming to tackle tough global problems like climate change, natural hazards, pandemic influenza, international drug trafficking, nuclear energy, and weapons. While MSIs are not the right tool for every problem, they provide a breadth and diversity of participation around shared system-level issues, as well as structured formats and governance structures to underpin concrete action towards change.