48 Resources found
For more than 20 years, CBI has been working with multilateral development banks and local stakeholders to address concerns about the impacts of development projects. A recent evaluation of local stakeholder engagement in the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) – a global partnership to help developing countries address climate change – has revealed some new insights. Read Managing Director David Fairman’s account of the challenges he has observed in effective stakeholder engagement and key lessons from the CIF’s experience.
Large-scale international projects hold promise for local community development; yet promises sometimes fall flat, and communities are left worse off. Climate change often compounds these negative impacts on communities, particularly in extractive projects. CBI Senior Mediator Merrick Hoben and Larry Dixon, Senior Consultant for Triple R Alliance, reflect on the structural factors impeding meaningful community engagement around project impacts, especially climate issues, in the extractives industry and the resulting implications.
In the midst of social and political upheaval in Chile, CBI’s Chile Director and Senior Mediator Betsy Fierman discusses the importance of actively listening to one another as a starting point for dialogue on some of the key reforms being called for by citizens. Riots erupted in Chile in mid-October in response to a metro fare increase and have led to more than a million people protesting and calling for a new constitution and improved pension, health, and education systems. Read Betsy’s account of her experiences on the ground in the midst of the unrest and insights on how Chile’s citizens might begin to engage in dialogue, across ideological differences, to help the country move forward.
In early 2019, in collaboration with the Colombian Center for Responsible Business, CBI envisioned and co-produced a documentary film as a medium to give voice to the experience and concerns of community stakeholders living in the coal-mining region of Cesar, Colombia. In this blog post, CBI Senior Mediator Merrick Hoben reflects on his filmmaking experience.
In humanitarian crises and post-conflict environments across the globe, land – a scarce and valuable resource – can be a flash point for reigniting conflict, compromising economic recovery and undermining peace. In recent years, member states and United Nations (UN) leaders expressed concerns that land issues in conflict situations were not getting enough attention, and launched a “re-think” on how the UN engages around land and conflict. The UN retained Michael Brown (now Senior Mediator at CBI) to build consensus for a major initiative to develop a new systemwide approach to land and conflict. Michael facilitated agreement and buy-in across 18 different UN agencies and supported drafting of the new approach, resulting in The United Nations and Land and Conflict Secretary General’s Note, an important document that articulates a shared vision and approach for UN staff and national stakeholders, released in March 2019.
Facing growing pressure and concern to generate a strategy to address land and property issues in Marawi, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) turned to the Consensus Building Institute. CBI mediators have helped develop systems to manage post-conflict land and property issues in peace processes in Guatemala, Timor Leste, and Sri Lanka.
In the wake of the Arab Spring, CBI leads a dialogue of Yemeni and international stakeholders to identify ways to address priority needs as well as the underlying causes of the conflict in Yemen.
Based on CBI's work to better understand how greater transparency around extractives revenues might affect Indigenous Peoples, this blog explores whether community protocols could be used to help bridge the gap among community members, government agencies, and extractive companies.
The International Finance Corporation asks CBI to explore a corporate-community engagement problem related to a Honduran palm oil company that was not meeting its social and environmental requirements.
At CBI's 20th Anniversary Symposium, discussion focuses on the most significant challenges and opportunities for collaboration to improve global food systems.
CBI’s 20th Anniversary Symposium brings together an extraordinary, global group of colleagues to generate ideas on how collaboration can help mitigate and resolve present and future conflicts.
Climate change surfaces repeatedly throughout CBI's 20th Anniversary Symposium as a critical factor in understanding the challenges around food, water, energy, and the role of technology.