Twelve Guiding Principles

The 12 Guiding Principles include successful approaches and strategies for communication and facilitation, conflict resolution, negotiation, managing and facilitating multiparty stakeholder processes, adaptive management, managing complexity, participatory decision making, building local community capital, and many other local community leadership and management skills.

Notes from the Field

‘Notes From the Field’ are presented at the end of each chapter, they provide practical Dos and Don’ts which is a list of suggestions or “best practices” for applying the guiding principles discussed.

The Case Studies

The Case Studies share specific and effective approaches on how communities are moving from struggling towards thriving, including those from locations that have local economies considered developing, transitional, or developed, in the US and other parts of the world. They also highlight other principles that were involved.

Research Corner

‘Research Corner’ outlines five unique characteristics or criteria that adequately describe each principle plus related research. They are featured in the introductory section of every chapter.

These 12 guiding principles are based on research with data from 27 countries in five continents (see map on the right). I had an opportunity to listen to and read what local practitioners, local community leaders, and researchers found to be common in many, if not most, communities that were healthy and thriving, or at least beginning to thrive. The initial data was available from a workshop facilitated by the late Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom.[i] I had the opportunity to sort through all this information, which included hundreds of case studies from the workshop, as well as academic research papers and some site visits, and then organize the findings into these 12 categories that are the 12 guiding principles (shown below).

[i]. Elinor Ostrom facilitated this 1998 World Bank Foundation Workshop.

Brief excerpts from three case studies are provided below. The first two case studies are available to read in full under the “Full Case Studies” tab.

Prologue

This is a story of how an urban area come together to figure out what to do with all that rain. Climate change was already affecting this south-central region of Minnesota and needed to be addressed. The Minnehaha Creek Watershed District was a key local partner in this multi-stakeholder process. Rather than hiring experts to design and build additional “grey” (concrete) infrastructure, the watershed district worked with local governments, NGOs, universities, and others to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coming together and developing an integrated, comprehensive approach. Outcomes included changes in land use and planning approaches, promoting low impact development with less impervious areas, encouraging rain gardens, enhancing storm water retention through “green” infrastructure, addressing educational needs, and developing strategies for sustainable financing of new stormwater systems through impact fees on impervious surfaces.

Photos from the Minnesota case study

Prologue

Hiware Bazar, one of India’s most prosperous villages, was transformed from a drought-prone and water-scarce settlement to an economically strong community. The fate of the village changed in the 1990s, after a young Popatrao Baguji Pawar, the area’s only postgraduate, was elected village head. Pawar engaged residents in planning and execution of various projects, including watershed management, building of percolation tanks, and carrying out extensive plantation drives. He realised that there was a need not only to address drought-related issues but also to make residents self-reliant, and persuade them to participate in development work to help bring about social, economic and environmental change. The story of transformation that is Hiware Bazar illuminates how effective communication by a local leader brought residents together to address environmental challenges, paving the way to economic prosperity and social development – and, thus, a healthier future.

Photos from the Hiware Bazar case study

Prologue

This case presents a “multi-faceted approach to solving the complex problems of inner-city vacant homes, unemployment, and the need to protect forests in an age of climate change and can serve as a model for other cities.” In Baltimore, a city with thousands of vacant and abandoned homes, reclaiming wood, bricks, and other valuable materials through deconstruction has been proven to “help remedy problems related to blight and unemployment and contribute to neighborhood revitalization.” This successful community-wide effort to increase environmental, economic, and social benefits, as well as sustainability and resilience, relied on the willingness of a team of partners to face large-scale challenges while engaging in collaborative problem solving. It not only succeeded in recovering valuable and re-useable resources but also resulted in a positive systemic change that improved the lives of local citizens. This case draws upon an interview with key a stakeholder as well as published accounts of this initiative .

This video was created by the Mutual of America Foundation. Press play to learn more about this case study and see why we had to include their incredible story in our book.