Mutual Gains in Stakeholder Negotiation and Consensus Building

To meet sustainable development challenges, public and private decision makers must respond to diverse and sometimes conflicting economic, environmental and social interests. The stakeholders in these challenges resist “trading off” their priorities for the sake of reaching an agreement or decision. In most societies, top-down decision making to resolve conflicts is less effective than efforts to engage stakeholders in dialogue, negotiation and consensus building.

Fostering Better Communication and Participation in Projects

In 2012, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) study in support of its Public Communications Policy (PCP) found that 55% of the concerns raised by civil society in 76 of its projects were related to inadequate communication and participation. In addition, the study found that although most of the projects have general communication and participation objectives, they can still be improved to better address the interests and enhance the engagement of stakeholders, including civil society.