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MAJOR GROUPS SPECIAL STUDIES

Analytic Study of the CSD's Experience with the Multi-Stakeholder Dialogues
[A joint project of Consensus Building Institute and the Summit Secretariat ]

Since 1998, the Commission on Sustainable Development included a two-day Multi-stakeholder Dialogue in its official programme of work. These dialogues provide the CSD the opportunity to directly interact with and consult the views of major groups on a specific sustainable development issue. So far, multi-stakeholder dialogues have focused on the Role of Industry in Sustainable Development (1998), Sustainable Tourism (1999) and Sustainable Agriculture (2000). In 2001, the CSD's work programme includes a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Sustainable Energy and Transport.

Multi-stakeholder dialogues are unique to the CSD although they appear to have generated interest to test their replication potential in other inter-governmental organizations and processes.

As a joint effort of Consensus Building Institute (based in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT, USA) and the Summit Secretariat, this study sought to answer the following questions:

Have the dialogues been effective in meeting the primary goals of organizers and participants?
Have the dialogues influenced the formulation or the implementation of sustainable development goals in the topic areas they have addressed?
What aspects of the dialogue process have been most effective in promoting meaningful consultations between governmental and non-governmental actors?
Have the dialogues generated useful follow-up actions or processes?
In what ways can or should the dialogues be improved?
What broader lessons can stakeholders in sustainable development initiatives (both in the UN system and beyond it) learn from the CSD experience with multi-stakeholder dialogues?

This study was submitted to Prepcom III of the World Summit on Sustainable Development as additional background material. Click here to download a copy of the study.

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24 August 2006