MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVES: LESSONS LEARNED

The report evaluates the impact of the APRM, EITI, and OGP, concluding that while these initiatives provide platforms for dialogue and some policy changes, there is little measurable evidence that they consistently drive significant governance reforms. It highlights the challenges of voluntary compliance, the risk of 'open-washing' by governments, and the critical but often tokenistic role of civil society. The document recommends that donors support civil society capacity, invest in impact research, and align funding with MSI action plans to better foster accountability and transparency.

• The overall effectiveness of the APRM, EITI, and OGP in driving significant governance reforms is considered questionable, with little evidence linking participation to improved accountability.
• Because MSIs are voluntary, they have limited power to enforce commitments. While the OGP and EITI can suspend or delist non-compliant members, the APRM has no such mechanism and has never introduced sanctions.
• The EITI, which focuses specifically on natural resource transparency, is the most rigorously evaluated of the three, yet evaluations show no measurable evidence that membership improves governance results or that members outperform non-members in economic development or transparency metrics.
• The APRM has shown the least evidence of promoting reform, characterized by a lack of critical engagement with reports, low attendance at decision-making forums, and a failure to treat civil society as equal partners.
• The OGP employs rigorous admission and review standards, but an assessment by its Independent Reporting Mechanism indicated that only 5% of all commitments were viewed as transformative.
• Despite general shortcomings, MSIs have acted as 'accelerants' for specific reforms; for example, Brazil, Croatia, and Georgia passed access to information laws after joining the OGP, and Liberia and Sierra Leone used EITI and OGP to regulate extractive industries and attract investment.
• The success of MSIs depends heavily on high-level political commitment, which often wanes when new leadership takes power, as seen in Ghana's declining commitment to the APRM and Tanzania's 2017 withdrawal from the OGP.

APA

Gruzd, S., Turianskyi, Y., Grobbelaar, N., & Mizrahi, Y. (2018). MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVES: LESSONS LEARNED. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-MSIs-Lessons-Learned-Summary.pdf

Chicago

Gruzd, Steven, Yarik Turianskyi, Neuma Grobbelaar, and Yemile Mizrahi. MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVES: LESSONS LEARNED. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2018. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-MSIs-Lessons-Learned-Summary.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gruzd |first1=Steven |last2=Turianskyi |first2=Yarik |last3=Grobbelaar |first3=Neuma |last4=Mizrahi |first4=Yemile |title=MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVES: LESSONS LEARNED |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=April 2018 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-MSIs-Lessons-Learned-Summary.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gruzd2018multistakeholder, author = {Gruzd, Steven and Turianskyi, Yarik and Grobbelaar, Neuma and Mizrahi, Yemile}, title = {{MULTI-STAKEHOLDER INITIATIVES: LESSONS LEARNED}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2018}, month = apr, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-MSIs-Lessons-Learned-Summary.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }