Facilitating Multi-Stakeholder Platforms: Unraveling the Challenges and Opportunities

Deepali Chadha, Prama Mukhopadhyay, Hom N. Gartaula, Ranjitha Puskur

• Multi-stakeholder platforms can help solve complex challenges by pooling diverse expertise and experience, but balancing the diverse priorities and conflicting interests of various stakeholders presents its own challenges.
• A specific multi-stakeholder platform itself may not be sustainable, but the habits of collaborating to solve complex challenges, the development processes triggered and resulting outcomes can be, provided there is effective facilitation.
• Inculcating the discipline of periodic self-reflection and learning among stakeholders is crucial for documenting the process, but it can face resistance and requires continuous support and capacity building.

Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSP) have gained significant popularity and are widely accepted for their promising potential in addressing complex economic, social, and environmental issues. They have emerged as popular vehicles for promoting collaboration and innovation in agricultural research for development (AR4D), propelled by the burgeoning interest and investment in collaborative endeavors. MSPs act as hubs for learning and catalytic change, bringing together individuals and organizations with diverse backgrounds and objectives to address pressing challenges. Called by various names such as living labs, social labs, innovation platforms, and learning labs, all of them are united by their aim of nurturing partnerships and fostering sustainability of desired results. Through continuous interaction and collaboration among stakeholders such as farmers, extension officers, policymakers, researchers, NGOs, donors, the private sector, and others, each contributing unique insights, expertise and resources, these platforms aim to enhance the "capacity to innovate" and contribute to the "scaling of innovations."

While the rising popularity of these platforms has sparked optimism about their potential to drive meaningful development, there is also considerable concern regarding the challenges inherent in their implementation. Often perceived as a panacea for driving change due to their collaborative and inclusive nature, the reality of implementing MSP and nurturing partnerships is far more nuanced. It entails more than just collaboration, demanding a comprehensive understanding of the platform's ecosystem of actors, networks and varying capacities, and the diverse factors influencing their efficiency and effectiveness for a broader impact.

This blog provides an account of the insights gained while implementing the EMPOWER work package (led by IRRI,) of the CGIAR Initiative on Gender Equality spearheading efforts to develop and test Socio-Technical Innovation Bundles (STIBs) in India through multi-stakeholder platforms called "learning labs". STIBs aim to enhance the uptake and benefits of technologies and social innovations for women, fostering climate resilience and strengthening gender equality and social inclusion in the agri-food system. The learning labs are aptly named for their dynamic environment that facilitates continuous experimentation, learning, and adaptation in relatively less or no hierarchy. They serve as collaborative spaces where context-specific, climate-smart, and gender-responsive STIBs are co-designed and implemented.

Navigating stakeholder diversity and power relations

Bringing together diverse stakeholders cultivates a rich tapestry of ideas and perspectives, enhancing the opportunities for innovative solutions to address sticky and complex challenges. However, embracing diversity, especially when stakeholders hold different and often conflicting interests, perspectives and experiences is demanding and time-consuming. The process of identification and prioritization of innovations that constitute the STIBs relevant for each context and their implementation has been an intense and long process of negotiation and alignment of diverse perspectives.

Smaller grassroot NGOs, pivotal for community mobilization, often faced challenges voicing their perspectives amidst louder voices of more influential stakeholders. The grassroots organizations with a more practical vision, being aware of realities on the ground, aimed to adapt the project demands to fit farmers' schedules and personal circumstances. In contrast, others emphasized maintaining a structured approach to training formats and schedules without much flexibility. The grassroots organizations often have a distinct advantage due to their in-depth understanding of local contexts and established community relationships. It is therefore important to recognize this and ensure their voices are heard and adaptive management adopted.

Government entities, on the other hand, typically operate within a defined hierarchical structure and decision-making protocols. While this ensured thoroughness and adherence to regulations, it often led to delays in implementing planned actions. This is especially concerning given the tight project timelines and impacts on schedules of other stakeholders, causing additional delays and inefficiencies.

The short timeframes for NGOs to implement various activities and conduct research tasks led to resistance from women farmers, who found these additional tasks burdensome to handle alongside their existing household responsibilities. Acknowledging this challenge, stakeholders tried to plan project activities and training with sensitivity to women's schedules and workloads.

While navigating this diversity, it also became noticeable how these learning labs inadvertently became locations of subtle power dynamics, where dominant voices often attempted to influence decisions, potentially marginalizing others. However, recognizing and navigating these dynamics also presents an opportunity to empower smaller organizations and actors through capacity building and mentoring support.

To address some of these issues, the IRRI team held regular meetings for open discussion amongst partners, encouraging reflections on the challenges. Additionally, the team proactively supported smaller organizations, helping them articulate their ideas effectively, highlighting their organizational strengths and leveraging their deep community connections. Through mentoring sessions, IRRI encouraged these organizations to assert their perspectives confidently within collaborative forums.

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Creating the habit of reflection and documentation for collaborative learning

While the project primarily aims to design and pilot context-specific STIBs in specific learning lab locations, it also seeks to document the process to contribute to the development of a toolbox that guides and supports the replication of efforts to use STIBs. It is not just important to know what to do, but equally or more important is knowing how to do it. While no blueprints are possible, and processes have to be adapted based on the context and the configuration of stakeholders, some good principles distilled from these experiences can be helpful.

Stakeholders were encouraged to document their reflections, but initially this faced resistance as their field staff had limited capacity to do this, they had no prior documentation practice in other projects, and this was perceived as a burdensome additional task without adequate incentives. The project team viewed this resistance as an opportunity for capacity building among stakeholders. The team guided them through process documentation and provided constructive feedback to improve their overall documentation abilities.

This monthly documentation process, especially among NGOs, not only aided in cultivating their strategic thinking and critical analysis skills but also bolstered their proficiency in documentation. This approach also strengthened their ability to strategize meticulously and execute result-oriented actions.

Encouraging 'women lead farmers' to engage in reflection and documentation also proved challenging due to low literacy levels and cultural norms that deter their involvement. Our initial approach of monthly process documentation was ineffective because many women struggled to systematically capture their experiences of change. However, with substantial support from NGOs, they began sharing their thoughts on the project's progress. Some provided brief reflections on what they liked the most, while others crafted detailed narratives about their daily challenges and how project activities prompted them to address these issues. Over time, women also began expressing their thoughts during training sessions or workshops, highlighting how the opportunity to voice their thoughts empowered them.

Imperative for continuous engagement and motivation

Our journey of facilitating learning labs entailed a series of workshops and meetings with potential stakeholders to foster a transdisciplinary exchange of ideas. Throughout these sessions, we analyzed the STIBs design from diverse lenses, progressing from theoretical discourse to the implementation of tangible project activities on the ground. This journey has been both challenging and enriching, shaping our understanding and approach at every stage.

While assembling diverse stakeholder groups is crucial, it is essential to recognize that this alone does not ensure innovation or its scalability. Success requires meticulous planning, translating ideas into actionable strategies, and effective implementation on the ground. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of activities is indeed crucial to ensure activities remain on track and adapt to evolving circumstances. Moreover, we realized that such multi-stakeholder processes take time to establish and mature to deliver desired results and the need for tailored and continuous facilitation and engagement to sustain the motivation.

Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) are not just arenas of collaboration; they are living and dynamic entities that demand continuous facilitation, nurturing and active participation and management of power dynamics. Success lies not in numbers of people engaged, but in fostering ownership, commitment, and adaptability among all stakeholders that continues beyond time-bound projects that initiate such partnerships. It is this engagement that fuels their potential to continue to drive meaningful change over time.

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