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Effective Collaborative Action
In the race to build resilient, sustainable commodity and trade systems, much expectation is placed on technological and financial innovations—the “what” of change. However, UNDP’s experience over more than 15 years shows that the “who” of change—the people involved and their organizations—is key to whether change succeeds. Deep collaboration amongst stakeholders is at the heart of every system change.
Yet we know that collaborating is not always easy, particularly in complex spaces with multiple agendas, deeply entrenched power dynamics, global interdependencies and high political, social, and economic stakes. Hence, for change to happen, we cannot just talk about collaboration; we need to find ways to make collaboration happen more effectively on the ground. But what does this look like in practice? UNDP’s Effective Collaborative Action approach and unique contribution to food systems transformation resides in how it offers a method and structure for the being and doing of “deep collaboration”, with practical ways of cradling stakeholders and practitioners to set up and strengthen collaborative spaces and build leadership, trust, and systems change capacities in a sustained, meaningful way.
Donor contributions to systems transformation have been significant, but often focused on changing the system at the global or national/regional levels. What we have learned in our vast experience supporting multistakeholder collaboration and systems change in food and agricultural commodity systems across the world is that systems transformation can only happen if resources and efforts are devoted to bringing change to every one of these scales and crucially to integrating and connecting them in a consistent, cohesive way.
Concretely, this means that we ought to collaborate towards:
Advocating for a global paradigm shift and recreate a new system which can only be done through collective co-creation and shared vision.
Translating the paradigm shift and the new system into concrete policies, action plans and strategies at national and subnational levels that can give life to a new model on the ground.
Equipping individuals with strong systems thinking, leadership and collaborative capacities to firstly, be able to envision a new future and take it forth to action, and secondly to be capable of working with the other actors in the system, in the full, embodied understanding that no single person or organization can hold the breadth and depth of change that is required. We need to equip changemakers to understand how we as individuals can be in service of a wider and bigger purpose beyond our own selves.
Developing and sustaining collaborative spaces where the work on integrating and connecting the global, national and regional, and where critical actors can come together to build trust, leadership, and the individual and group capacities required to sustain collective visioning and action over time.
About Effective Collaborative Action
Effective Collaborative Action (ECA) is UNDP’s flagship methodology that systematically approaches the development and strengthening of collaboration and food systems change. Its four building blocks guide the process and can be used initially as a step-by-step approach. This enables practitioners to follow a practical roadmap, with specific tools and frameworks to facilitate the work in each one. As both the collaboration and practitioners mature in leading a collaborative effort, the building blocks should be approached and used more as a cyclical process, less structured and more fluid, based on the needs that emerge within a given project or intervention.
Understand the System is about building awareness of the different “parts” involved in a particular project or intervention, gaining a deeper understanding of their connections and interactions, the current state of the system and what needs to change.
Co-Create the Approach involves bringing in practices and mechanisms to enable the collective design of visions, plans, and pathways for change, including key stakeholders’ voices, views, and needs. It also involves identifying who needs to be involved, when, and how.
Take Collaborative Action highlights the importance of working together and driving collective action to bring change in the agriculture and land use systems we work with.
Learn and Adapt recognises the complexity of food systems and focuses on establishing regular ways of working to ensure we learn as we go, stay flexible, and adapt our course of action based on the feedback we receive from the system and stakeholders involved.
Our experience is that collaboration is often blocked by the visible factor of participants’ lack of confidence in how to collaborate, and more so by the less visible—yet strong forces—related to human dynamics, values and mindset of the people involved, which shape how participants “show up” to the process and put into action the things they learn and agree in the “doing” through the four building blocks.
Effective Collaborative Action also addresses these soft, relational aspects such as power dynamics, conflict resolution, and building trust and a safe collective space, through what the methodology refers to as the “10 key principles of Effective Collaborative Action”, interweaving them with the technical “doing”, at every step of the process.
How Effective Collaborative Action is implemented on the ground.
Dive into the implementation of collaboration and systems change approaches on the ground by click her to access the full report:
Deep Collaboration: Why it’s needed for Resilient Food Systems | United Nations Development Programme
Click here to access the Master Resources List
Meet the Methodology at a Glance
Our four building blocks of putting systems change into practice, integrated with backbone support and essential practices for stakeholder actions, provide a thoughtfully evolved framework for your own work in Changing Systems through Collaborative Action. We have created this short overview to give you an “at a glance” look at Effective Collaborative Action.
Four Building Blocks to Guide the Process
There are four building blocks to support an Effective Collaborative Action journey.
Click on the image to access the Four Building Blocks page
Click here to download the Methodology
Three Elements to Consider in Each Building Block
As we move through the Building Blocks in our multi-stakeholder work, it is helpful to understand who is expected to do what and how everyone can best collaborate.
