EGA 3: Build Bridges Between Separate Stakeholder Groups
Our Berlin Arena (learn more here) brought practitioners, researchers, and activists together to share their experiences working towards change. Let’s continue to learn from one another here by critically considering the 6 Enabling Governance Arrangements (EGA) described by the University of Freiburg team.
EGA 3: Build Bridges Between Separate Stakeholder Groups
Metaphorically building bridges between separate groups of stakeholders often requires the establishment of formal or informal roles (institutionalisation) for individuals or organisations to intermediate, broker information and translate language between different stakeholders of a project. Such “intermediaries” play a crucial role by translating and enabling communication e.g. between civil society groups and governmental actors in order to realize a joint project. They have to be recognised in a way that both civil society groups and institutional/municipal actors feel heard and valued and thus build trust in stakeholders which follow different rationales and have developed different cultures of interaction. More important than how exactly the intermediary operates is its function, which at its core is often about enabling communication and furthering democratic participation on a decentralised, local level. Such bridging roles are not exclusively found between institutional actors and citizens. Connecting/ translating language/ and intermediating between interests of different departments within a municipality can be equally important (to break up ‘silos’ or to counter ‘compartmentalization’). (Learn more here!)
1) Which parts of this EGA do you consider important for making cities more sustainable and just?
2) What are barriers faced by city-makers who are trying to implement this EGA? Also think about context-specific barriers (e.g. between wealthy/poor, big/small, eastern/western cities etc.)
Let’s continue the conversation!
