SDPI Research and News Bulletin
Vol. 15, No. 1 (January-March, 2008)

Strengthening the Role of Civil Society ‘Major Groups’ in Sustainable Development

Mahmood A. Khwaja
Khwaja@sdpi.org

It has been well realized that broad public participation in decision-making is one of the fundamental prerequisites for sustainable development. Major public groups recognized and generally accepted so far include: non-governmental organizations, farmers, women, religious scholars, the scientific and technological communities, children and youth, indigenous peoples and their communities, workers and trade unions, business and industry and local authorities.

Amongst other things, major groups provide advocacy to foster accountability, expertise, baseline data, public awareness-raising, effective information dissemination and formal and informal education at all levels of society. Major groups have also played an active supporting role in developing a number of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) by states and governments.

The importance of engaging major groups and stakeholders as partners has also been gradually recognized by national governments, as they have come to realize that major groups can help to implement programs beyond a government’s own capacities. This is especially so in developing countries. In the Stockholm Convention 2001, parties have agreed to promote and facilitate, within their capabilities, public participation in addressing issues, developing responses and providing inputs regarding implementation at the national level. Similarly, the High Level Declaration and the Overarching Policy Strategy of the Strategic Approach to International Chemical Management (SAICM 2006), in acknowledging the significant role that major groups can play, ensures their meaningful and active participation in regulatory and decision-making processes.

Some of the important contributions that major groups are making and/or could make towards policy development and implementation processes are:

• Enhancing technical support and capacity building
• Strengthening the base and dissemination of knowledge and information
• Building awareness raising and understanding on national issues
• Building support within multiple sectors of society for reforming policies and practices
• Coordinating and developing multi-stakeholder sub-national, national, sub-regional, regional and international joint forums and networks and
• Developing links between governments and local communities, ensuring those communities due ownership and promoting innovative ideas for local development.

In Pakistan, although some of the Ministries do regularly involve major groups in developing policies and plans for sustainable development, the engagement tends to focus on only a few major groups. Also, the exchange amongst them appears to be limited. Some organizations also seem to monopolize the major groups’ representation on national and provincial committees and bodies, thereby minimizing wider participation and experience sharing.

We would argue that greater use of multi-stakeholder dialogues and consultations would be most useful. Involving various major groups in a systematic way on specific sustainable development issues would provide opportunities to integrate their views and expertise on specific thematic areas (e.g. chemicals, water, climate change and energy) from the very beginning. This would not only improve the quality of the policies, strategies, action plans, guidelines and/or standards developed, but would foster a feeling of ownership and clarity amongst stakeholders. This would also potentially facilitate the early and effective implementation of policies and standards.

There is a need to benefit from our own earlier success stories of stakeholder partnerships in the development and implementation of national policies, while also strategizing the involvement of major groups in the future. Both the national “Environment Standards Committee” and the “Clean Fuel Committee” constituted by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Council (PEPC), met most of their objectives — national environmental quality standards and clean fuels were introduced a long time ago. Some of the salient features of the membership and working modalities of these committees included:

• Committees were constituted by a high level national body of stakeholders such as PEPC, with members from the government, the private sector and a few major groups. These were represented in almost equal numbers.
• The Chairman of the Committee, appointed by PEPC, was a well reputed and respected person from one of the major groups and not a government employee.
• A Line Department of the relevant Ministry and an organization from one of the major groups worked as a joint Secretariat for the committees.
• Venues for the meetings were rotated among government, private sector and major groups.
• The Committee constituted issue-specific ‘Expert Advisory Sub-Committees’ with almost equal representation from the government, private sector and major groups. These sub-committees were tasked with developing policy papers, strategic/action plans, guidelines and so on, and submitting them to the Committee for onward submission with recommendations to PEPC.
• The Joint Secretariat organized and held ‘Stakeholders Round Table’ meetings in the provincial capitals for wider consultations and feedback on the draft documents developed by the Expert Advisory Sub-Committees.
• After consideration by the Committee, the final draft was recommended to the national body of stakeholders and PEPC for approval and implementation.

Constituting issue-specific national stakeholder Committees, with the composition and working modalities described above, could again be a practical and effective way to enhance and strengthen the real involvement of major groups for sustainable development in Pakistan.

The following ideas would further enhance and improve the role and function of the major groups:

• The development, in consultation with representatives of all major groups, of a set of eligibility criteria for official committee membership.
• In consultation with representatives of major groups, development of guidelines for appropriate conduct by NGOs during committees meetings.
• Major groups must be proactive. If for any reason they are not, they should be encouraged to and supported in establishing issue-specific focal points for coordination within and amongst stakeholders. By the same token, any barriers which impede consultation among stakeholders should be discouraged.
• Major groups should be encouraged to form their own issue-specific expert advisory groups. These would develop and express their positions on sustainable development. An efficient coordination mechanism should be implemented for the timely submission of those position papers, followed by participatory and transparent consideration of them.

In conclusion, the major groups’ right to conduct independent research, their full access to information, and their right to express their considered points of view, need to be respected. It must also be acknowledged that, while the major groups may be oriented towards single issues, the state will have to take into consideration many diverse viewpoints and ultimately the national interest.

 

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