Consultation, engagement and collaboration are the backbone of many of the approaches seeking to tackle today’s most entrenched sustainability issues. Consulting stakeholders and encouraging them to represent their interests and expertise can give us a broader and more meaningful perspective, increasing our understanding of issues within a sector, and building consensus to define good practice.
However, poor quality engagement leads to a sense of ‘consultation-fatigue’, and risks disenfranchising the very same groups it seeks to involve. The decision-making processes that underpin consultations can still privilege the most influential and well-resourced, and those seeking to resolve conflicts or complaints sometimes find that engagement isn’t a two-way street.
In recognition of these challenges, and the need to rethink how we collaborate and connect with stakeholders, we hosted a webinar on 10 December 2020 to unpack what makes for effective stakeholder consultation and practices, and highlighted good practice examples along the way.
Led by ISEAL Alliance, the global membership organisation for credible sustainability systems, and GlobeScan, a world leader in identifying, understanding and engaging stakeholders, this webinar explored findings from the ISEAL Credibility Principles consultation and the latest GlobeScan surveys on why we as a community must work harder to ensure meaningful stakeholder engagement and collaboration.
Karin Kreider, Executive Director, ISEAL Alliance, and Caroline Holme, Senior Director, GlobeScan were thrilled to have the following guest speakers join to share their insights:
- Shatadru Chattopadhayay, Managing Director, Solidaridad Asia
- Adrian Sym, Executive Director, Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS)
- Sven Sielhorst, Systems Director, Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform
