Competencies for Multi-Stakeholder Strategies

What do multi-stakeholder partnerships and networks have to do very well, if they are to realize their potential? And what is distinctive about these competencies, in comparison to traditional organizations?  These are among the questions that Steve Waddell has been addressing as a researcher, educator and developer of multi-stakeholder collaborations and networks.  He will share his thoughts about these questions, framed around eight competencies: leadership, network development, measuring impact, change and conflict, communications, learning systems, advocacy and resource mobilization.  He explains that what he is aiming for is a comprehensive framework, rather than focus on one or two “…because a full range of competencies must be developed, for networks and partnerships to be effective.”  

BIOGRAPHY: Responding to the 21st century’s enormous global challenges and realizing its unsurpassed opportunities require new ways of acting and organizing.  For the past 30 years I’ve been supporting this organizational, network, and societal change and development, through consultation, education, research, and personal leadership.  For the last 10 years I’ve focused largely on Global Action Networks, including the Global Reporting Initiative, Transparency International, the Global Reporting Initiative, the International Land Coalition, the Forest Stewardship Council, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  Through these strategies we can create a harmonious and flourishing global future. 

I am a Canadian-American, living in Boston, with a PhD (Sociology) and MBA.  I work independently and with numerous colleagues through Networking Action (www.networkingaction.net).  My publications include Societal Learning and Change: How Governments, Business and Civil Society are Creating Solutions to Complex Multi-Stakeholder Problems (2005), and Global Action Networks:  Creating our future together (2011).