Stakeholder Dialogue
What are Stakeholder Dialogues?
Stakeholder Dialogues, also referred to as Roundtable Discussions, are structured, facilitated discussions with participants from various parts of the industry, including co-operative members, with the goal of making the industry more competitive or finding a way to work more effectively together. They are often facilitated after some type of analysis has been conducted in order to have key market actors understand any recommendations from the analysis and make a plan for moving forward. They can be used when there are recognized constraints within the market system, such as in co-operatives group contexts where there are recognized marketing bottlenecks between producers and buyers. When do we use Stakeholder Dialogues? Stakeholder Dialogues can be very beneficial under the following conditions:
Stakeholder Dialogues may not be most ideal in the following circumstances:
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Update: This learning theme is still being explored. Click here to become involved.
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Insights from the FieldGlobal Communities invited EcoVentures International (EVI) to run learning workshops with its co-operative development programs in Rwanda, Uganda, and Mongolia. These are insights contributed by the Global Communities' field staff who work closely with co-operatives in the field.
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Stakeholder Dialogues benefits for smallholder farmers
Tips and recommendations for organizing and running stakeholder dialogues
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Example from the Field - National Co-operative Forum, Uganda |
The Global Communities' co-operative development program in Uganda, Developing Economic Strengthening Interventions for Group Production (DESIGN), participated in stakeholder roundtable discussions facilitated by the National Co-operative Forum in Uganda in December 2014 and November 2015. According to the DESIGN field director, Chris Ibyisintabyo,"the main objective of the Co-operative Stakeholders’ Forum is to enhance information sharing, document best practices, lessons learnt and to understand the critical challenges affecting co-operative development in Uganda. The forum ends with a commonly agreed upon action plan highlighting the roles of the various stakeholders." At the most recent forum in December 2015 in Kampala, Uganda, a total of 52 participants attended, representing various institutions and organizations.
From a project's perspective, DESIGN has recognized the importance in having other, non-project based actors involved in the organization and mobilization of this type of forum. Under the first stakeholder forum, in 2014, Global Communities and HealthPartners Uganda were the key mobilizing actors; for the second National Co-operative Forum, the Uganda Co-operative Alliance was also a key partner, which is an important development in terms of sustainability. The forum was designed to achieve the following specific objectives:
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