IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v127y2020ics0305750x19304024.html

Designing for engagement: A Realist Synthesis Review of how context affects the outcomes of multi-stakeholder forums on land use and/or land-use change

Author

Listed:
  • Sarmiento Barletti, Juan Pablo
  • Larson, Anne M.
  • Hewlett, Christopher
  • Delgado, Deborah

Abstract

This Realist Synthesis Review (RSR) examines the scholarly literature on multi-stakeholder forums (MSFs) set up to support efforts towards more sustainable land use. In this review, we focus on subnational MSFs that include at least one grassroots and one government actor. MSFs have been presented, especially by practitioners, as a panacea to address land-use change and support climate mitigation, such as through “landscape” or jurisdictional approaches. However, it is not clear that these initiatives are learning from past experience, particularly from research analyzing the effect of context on the ability of such approaches to reach their objectives. To address this gap, the academic literature was assessed using the RSR method to elucidate the key contextual variables affecting outcomes. In addition to analyzing context, this review identifies four common lessons learned for MSFs: the importance of commitment (to the people, the process and its goals); engaging the implementers (key middle level brokers and government officials who determine what happens on the ground); openness to learn from and listen to stakeholders; and having a design that is adaptive to this context, with time and resources to do so. Findings suggest that the most successful MSFs are those that are recognized as part of a wider process that seeks to transform practices at multiple levels; entail a period of research and meetings at upper levels to identify potential roadblocks and existing capacities with those who would implement the project locally; build consensus and commitment from higher levels, and thus political will; and are designed as adaptive learning processes. The central lesson, then, is not one of how to design initiatives, given such different and distinct contexts. Rather, it is about how to design for engagement to address context, whatever its distinct features, in order to develop and implement initiatives with greater chance of success.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarmiento Barletti, Juan Pablo & Larson, Anne M. & Hewlett, Christopher & Delgado, Deborah, 2020. "Designing for engagement: A Realist Synthesis Review of how context affects the outcomes of multi-stakeholder forums on land use and/or land-use change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:127:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19304024
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104753
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X19304024
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.104753?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agrawal, Arun & Chhatre, Ashwini, 2006. "Explaining success on the commons: Community forest governance in the Indian Himalaya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 149-166, January.
    2. Bastos Lima, Mairon G. & Visseren-Hamakers, Ingrid J. & Braña-Varela, Josefina & Gupta, Aarti, 2017. "A reality check on the landscape approach to REDD+: Lessons from Latin America," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 10-20.
    3. Buchy, M. & Hoverman, S., 2000. "Understanding public participation in forest planning: a review," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 15-25, May.
    4. Ludger Brenner & Hubert Job, 2012. "Challenges To Actor‐Oriented Environmental Governance: Examples From Three Mexican Biosphere Reserves," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 103(1), pages 1-19, February.
    5. Floriane Clement, 2010. "Analysing decentralised natural resource governance: proposition for a “politicised” institutional analysis and development framework," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 43(2), pages 129-156, June.
    6. Agarwal, Bina, 2001. "Participatory Exclusions, Community Forestry, and Gender: An Analysis for South Asia and a Conceptual Framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 1623-1648, October.
    7. Cornwall, Andrea, 2003. "Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(8), pages 1325-1342, August.
    8. Sessin-Dilascio, Karla & Prager, Katrin & Irvine, Katherine N. & de Almeida Sinisgalli, Paulo Antonio, 2015. "The Dynamics of Co-Management and Social Capital in Protected Area Management—The Cardoso Island State Park in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 475-489.
    9. Arturo Escobar, 2006. "Difference and Conflict in the Struggle Over Natural Resources: A political ecology framework," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 49(3), pages 6-13, September.
    10. Paavola, Jouni & Adger, W. Neil, 2006. "Fair adaptation to climate change," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(4), pages 594-609, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amorocho-Daza, Henry & Sušnik, Janez & van der Zaag, Pieter & Slinger, Jill H., 2025. "A model-based policy analysis framework for social-ecological systems: Integrating uncertainty and participation in system dynamics modelling," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 499(C).
    2. Starfinger, Marcel & Tham, La Thi & Tegegne, Yitagesu Tekle, 2023. "Tree collateral – A finance blind spot for small-scale forestry? A realist synthesis review," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    3. Montero-de-Oliveira, Fernando-Esteban & Blundo-Canto, Genowefa & Ezzine-de-Blas, Driss, 2023. "Under what conditions do payments for environmental services enable forest conservation in the Amazon? A realist synthesis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    4. Lara M. Lundsgaard-Hansen & Christoph Oberlack & Glenn Hunt & Flurina Schneider, 2022. "The (In)Ability of a Multi-Stakeholder Platform to Address Land Conflicts—Lessons Learnt from an Oil Palm Landscape in Myanmar," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-40, August.
    5. Anastasia Zabaniotou & Christine Syrgiannis & Daniela Gasperin & Arnoldo José de Hoyos Guevera & Ivani Fazenda & Donald Huisingh, 2020. "From Multidisciplinarity to Transdisciplinarity and from Local to Global Foci: Integrative Approaches to Systemic Resilience Based upon the Value of Life in the Context of Environmental and Gender Vulnerabilities with a Special Focus upon the Brazili," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-32, October.
    6. Brandão, Frederico & Befani, Barbara & Soares-Filho, Jaílson & Rajão, Raoni & Garcia, Edenise, 2023. "How to halt deforestation in the Amazon? A Bayesian process-tracing approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    7. Subbarayan Sathiyamurthi & Youssef M. Youssef & Rengasamy Gobi & Arthi Ravi & Nassir Alarifi & Murugan Sivasakthi & Sivakumar Praveen Kumar & Dominika Dąbrowska & Ahmed M. Saqr, 2025. "Optimal Land Selection for Agricultural Purposes Using Hybrid Geographic Information System–Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process–Geostatistical Approach in Attur Taluk, India: Synergies and Trade-Offs Among Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-29, January.
    8. Andersson, Krister & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S. & Nehring, Ryan & Zhang, Wei, 2024. "Why do multistakeholder processes emerge and flourish? Identifying and operationalizing the leading hypotheses," IFPRI discussion papers 2312, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Larson, Anne M. & Sarmiento Barletti, Juan Pablo & Heise Vigil, Nicole, 2022. "A place at the table is not enough: Accountability for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in multi-stakeholder platforms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    10. Bahruddin, & Macdonald, Kate & Diprose, Rachael & Delgado Pugley, Deborah, 2024. "Scaling-up sustainable commodity governance through jurisdictional initiatives: Political pathways to sector transformation in the Indonesian palm oil sector?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    11. Sarmiento Barletti, Juan Pablo & Heise Vigil, Nicole, 2024. "More than a meeting? The potential and limitations of invited multi-stakeholder spaces in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    12. Eko Priyo Purnomo & Abitassha Az Zahra & Ajree Ducol Malawani & Prathivadi Anand, 2021. "The Kalimantan Forest Fires: An Actor Analysis Based on Supreme Court Documents in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-12, February.
    13. Andersson, Krister & Nehring, Ryan & Zhang, Wei & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth S., 2024. "Why do multistakeholder processes emerge and flourish? Identifying and operationalizing the leading hypotheses," IFPRI discussion papers 2312, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Hagar ElDidi & Shivanyaa Rawat & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Rahul Chaturvedi & Richu Sanil, 2025. "Polycentric governance of commons through multi-stakeholder platforms: insights from two case studies in India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(12), pages 29797-29823, December.
    15. Peter Cronkleton & Kristen Evans & Thomas Addoah & Emilie Smith Dumont & Mathurin Zida & Houria Djoudi, 2021. "Using Participatory Approaches to Enhance Women’s Engagement in Natural Resource Management in Northern Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-20, June.
    16. Pauliina Upla & James Reed & Kaala B. Moombe & Benjamin J. Kazule & Brian P. Mulenga & Mirjam Ros-Tonen & Terry Sunderland, 2022. "Assessing the Potential for Private Sector Engagement in Integrated Landscape Approaches: Insights from Value-Chain Analyses in Southern Zambia," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-28, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Larson, Anne M. & Sarmiento Barletti, Juan Pablo & Heise Vigil, Nicole, 2022. "A place at the table is not enough: Accountability for Indigenous Peoples and local communities in multi-stakeholder platforms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    2. Nandigama, Sailaja, 2020. "Performance of success and failure in grassroots conservation and development interventions: Gender dynamics in participatory forest management in India," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    3. Naidu, Sirisha C., 2011. "Gendered effects of work and participation in collective forest management," MPRA Paper 31091, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Ezgi Canpolat & Meerim Shakirova & Vince McElhinny & Kame Westerman & Alli Cruz & Theresa Buppert, 2022. "Fostering Gender-Transformative Change in Sustainable Forest Management," World Bank Publications - Reports 37127, The World Bank Group.
    5. Baijayanti Rout, 2023. "Relationship between the value of forest products and economic condition: a case study of Gandhamardan hill Odisha, India," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(10), pages 1-19, October.
    6. Novak Colwell, Julia M. & Axelrod, Mark & Salim, Shyam S. & Velvizhi, S., 2017. "A Gendered Analysis of Fisherfolk’s Livelihood Adaptation and Coping Responses in the Face of a Seasonal Fishing Ban in Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 325-337.
    7. Ruppen, Désirée & Brugger, Fritz, 2022. "“I will sample until things get better – or until I die.” Potential and limits of citizen science to promote social accountability for environmental pollution," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    8. Sattler, Claudia & Schröter, Barbara & Jericó-Daminello, Camila & Sessin-Dilascio, Karla & Meyer, Claas & Matzdorf, Bettina & Wortmann, Lukas & de Almeida Sinisgalli, Paulo Antonio & Meyer, Angela & G, 2015. "Understanding governance structures in community management of ecosystems and natural resources: The Marujá case study in Brazil," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 182-191.
    9. Acharya, Krishna P. & Gentle, Popular, 2006. "Improving the effectiveness of collective action: sharing experiences from community forestry in Nepal," CAPRi working papers 54, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Frank Biermann & Michele Betsill & Joyeeta Gupta & Norichika Kanie & Louis Lebel & Diana Liverman & Heike Schroeder & Bernd Siebenhüner & Ruben Zondervan, 2010. "Earth system governance: a research framework," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 277-298, December.
    11. Margareta Amy Lelea & Lydia Madintin Konlan & Rashida Chantima Ziblila & Lara Elena Thiele & Araba Amo-Aidoo & Brigitte Kaufmann, 2022. "Strategies to Promote Sustainable Development: The Gendered Importance of Addressing Diminishing African Locust Bean ( Parkia biglobosa ) Resources in Northern Ghana’s Agro-Ecological Landscape," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    12. Naidu, Sirisha C., 2009. "Heterogeneity and Collective Management: Evidence from Common Forests in Himachal Pradesh, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 676-686, March.
    13. Macqueen, Duncan & Bolin, Anna & Greijmans, Martin & Grouwels, Sophie & Humphries, Shoana, 2020. "Innovations towards prosperity emerging in locally controlled forest business models and prospects for scaling up," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    14. Esther Mwangi & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Yan Sun, 2009. "Does Gender Influence Forest Management? Exploring Cases from East Africa and Latin America," CID Working Papers 40, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    15. Grillos, Tara, 2018. "Women’s participation in environmental decision-making: Quasi-experimental evidence from northern Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 115-130.
    16. Agarwal, Bina, 2009. "Gender and forest conservation: The impact of women's participation in community forest governance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2785-2799, September.
    17. Shrestha, Sujata & Shrestha, Uttam Babu, 2017. "Beyond money: Does REDD+ payment enhance household's participation in forest governance and management in Nepal's community forests?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 63-70.
    18. John‐Michael Davis & Yaakov Garb, 2019. "Participatory shaping of community futures in e‐waste processing hubs: Complexity, conflict and stewarded convergence in a Palestinian context," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(1), pages 67-89, January.
    19. Rebecca Nixon & Francis Owusu, 2017. "Choice, Inclusion, and Access to Information: Understanding Female Farmers’ Participation in Kyrgyzstan’s Water-User Associations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Breuer, Anita & Asiedu, Edward, 2017. "Can Gender-Targeted Employment Interventions Help Enhance Community Participation? Evidence from Urban Togo," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 390-407.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:127:y:2020:i:c:s0305750x19304024. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.