Governance and Multi-stakeholder Processes

This paper was commissioned by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco) to inform the organizational work of the Sustainable Coffee Initiative, initiated by IISD and UNCTAD, as a mechanism to promote sustainability within the coffee sector. The objective of this report is to make a survey of issues regarding multi-stakeholder governance. Part one discusses key elements on multi-stakeholder governance, such as representation, inclusiveness in decision-making and duration, so as to ensure legitimacy and power sharing. Part two presents current institutional structures and governance mechanisms of specific institutions of interest for the conformation of the Sustainable Coffee Initiative. Part three presents some conclusions and recommendations to the Sustainable Coffee Partnership.

The purpose of the Sustainable Coffee Initiative is to provide generic policy, research and infrastructural support towards the development and promotion of transparent, multi-stakeholder, market-based sustainability initiatives in commodities trade and production.