Over the years, I have observed multi-stakeholder ‘steering committees’ or ‘governance’ groups. These refer to, for example, the steering committee of a network of member organizations, the steering group of a particular collaborative project or program, or the governing council of an organizational entity that includes members from other organizations that have an interest in it. The functioning of such groups can be more or less formalized.

They are ‘multi-stakeholders’ because the members of that group are not there as independent individuals with no other connection to the network, program, or organizational entity, but because they come from an (other) organization with its self-centered interest in what is being steered. In other words, there always is a risk of ‘conflict of interest’.

An important characteristic of a multi-stakeholder group is that not one person or organization has formal authority over the others. Those different organizations that members of the multi-stakeholder group belong to, are independent. Not even the chair can simply ‘impose’ her or his will, or that of the ‘majority’.

Koenraad Van Brabant, co-director GMI