Governance, institutions and policy

The social, institutional and political setting is of critical importance to achieving improved livelihoods, environmental sustainability and strengthened resilience. By supporting an enabling environment for policy making and implementation of sustainable development, this theme contributes to the strengthening of community-level institutions that are the basis of sustainable livelihoods and which provide access to external markets and institutions.

At its heart, sustainable development is about giving people the opportunity to build resilience by providing them with more options in their lives and livelihoods. This theme aims to provide new insights into good governance for sustainable development in the face of social and ecological change.

Guidance on various approaches for Transforming Governance

This theme aspires to develop methodologies and/or tools, conduct analysis and provide evidence (while understanding barriers and limitations) in the following areas:

• stakeholder engagement and dialogue tools to generate concrete understanding that empowers, build capacities and facilitates different modes of learning.

• livelihoods improvement and change processes with particular emphasis on institutional dynamics.

• the analysis of politics and policy processes including cross-scale and multi-level interactions.

• innovative knowledge-sharing with a range of stakeholders and policymakers on the impact of action plans, governance arrangements and practices for sustainable development.

• monitoring, evaluation and learning that encourages a participatory approach.

This guidance will continue to grow and evolve based on feedback. If you have new methods, tools or applications to add, please create a new article so it can be linked to the guidance pages.

Related resources

• Factsheet on the Stockholm Environment Institute’s work on Transforming Governance