A Participatory Multi-Stakeholder
Approach to Implementing
the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable
Development: Theoretical Basis
and Empirical Findings
Sebastian Eichhorn , Moritz Hans,
and Martin Schön-Chanishvili
Abstract
The Agenda 2030 provides a universal target
system covering a broad thematic spectrum
including the key areas of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. There is a consensus
among policy-makers and scholars that the implementation of the global goals relies on both an
integrated (nexus) approach and the participation
of all levels, especially the local level. Therefore,
the paper focuses on the research question of how
integrated management and participatory multistakeholder approach can be systematically realized at the local level, thus contributing to the
implementation of the Agenda 2030. The authors
aim to answer this question on the basis of
experiences and results of a project which took
place between January 2016 and April 2018 in
North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). In this
two-and-a-half-year process, 15 municipalities
developed individual Integrated Municipal Sustainability Strategies (IMSS) in the context of the
Agenda 2030. The paper presents the methodical
approach of the participation process and the
results of a project-internal process-oriented monitoring and evaluation. The results show that the
participation design has a direct influence on the
outcome of the process. The central influencing
factors identified are (1) political support from the
heads of the administration, (2) the avoidance of
creating parallel working structures by forming
project-related working groups, (3) the independent working of the working groups, (4) the
composition of steering committees (the representation of relevant stakeholders), (5) the involvement of important political decision-makers, and
(6) an open negotiation process that ensures the
participation of all participants/stakeholders.
Keywords
Participatory approach Á Stakeholder
engagement Á SDG implementation Á
Municipal sustainability strategies
1 Introduction
For more than two decades, sustainable development (SD) has been part of the political and
scientific discourse. Appropriate groundwork
S. Eichhorn (&) Á M. Hans
Research Institute for Regional and Urban
Development, Brüderweg 22-24, 44135 Dortmund,
Germany
e-mail: Sebastian.eichhorn@ils-forschung.de
M. Hans
e-mail: mhans@stadtdo.de
M. Hans
City of Dortmund, Betenstraße 19, 44137 Dortmund,
Germany
M. Schön-Chanishvili
Germanwatch E.V, Stresemannstr. 72, 10963 Berlin,
Germany
e-mail: schoen-chanishvili@germanwatch.org
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Hülsmann and M. Jampani (eds.), A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57530-4_15
239
Approach to Implementing
the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable
Development: Theoretical Basis
and Empirical Findings
Sebastian Eichhorn , Moritz Hans,
and Martin Schön-Chanishvili
Abstract
The Agenda 2030 provides a universal target
system covering a broad thematic spectrum
including the key areas of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership. There is a consensus
among policy-makers and scholars that the implementation of the global goals relies on both an
integrated (nexus) approach and the participation
of all levels, especially the local level. Therefore,
the paper focuses on the research question of how
integrated management and participatory multistakeholder approach can be systematically realized at the local level, thus contributing to the
implementation of the Agenda 2030. The authors
aim to answer this question on the basis of
experiences and results of a project which took
place between January 2016 and April 2018 in
North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). In this
two-and-a-half-year process, 15 municipalities
developed individual Integrated Municipal Sustainability Strategies (IMSS) in the context of the
Agenda 2030. The paper presents the methodical
approach of the participation process and the
results of a project-internal process-oriented monitoring and evaluation. The results show that the
participation design has a direct influence on the
outcome of the process. The central influencing
factors identified are (1) political support from the
heads of the administration, (2) the avoidance of
creating parallel working structures by forming
project-related working groups, (3) the independent working of the working groups, (4) the
composition of steering committees (the representation of relevant stakeholders), (5) the involvement of important political decision-makers, and
(6) an open negotiation process that ensures the
participation of all participants/stakeholders.
Keywords
Participatory approach Á Stakeholder
engagement Á SDG implementation Á
Municipal sustainability strategies
1 Introduction
For more than two decades, sustainable development (SD) has been part of the political and
scientific discourse. Appropriate groundwork
S. Eichhorn (&) Á M. Hans
Research Institute for Regional and Urban
Development, Brüderweg 22-24, 44135 Dortmund,
Germany
e-mail: Sebastian.eichhorn@ils-forschung.de
M. Hans
e-mail: mhans@stadtdo.de
M. Hans
City of Dortmund, Betenstraße 19, 44137 Dortmund,
Germany
M. Schön-Chanishvili
Germanwatch E.V, Stresemannstr. 72, 10963 Berlin,
Germany
e-mail: schoen-chanishvili@germanwatch.org
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Hülsmann and M. Jampani (eds.), A Nexus Approach for Sustainable Development,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57530-4_15
239