Cases on GANs

Following are case studies of GANs:

Global Reporting Initiative (2007)
Cooperative Programme on Water and Climate (2005)
Global Alliance for Workers and Communities (2006)
Beyond Temples and Tombs (2004)
Global Compact (2004)
Global Health Programs (2004)
Global Reporting Initiative (2004)
Global Water Partnership (2004)
International Federation of Alternative Trade (2001)
World Commission on Dams

Global Reporting Initiative (2007)
Authors: Halina Szejnwald Brown, Martin de Jong, Teodorina Lessidrenska

This report titled The Rise of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) as a Case of Institutional Entrepreneurship suggests that bridging the tension between being a movement and a well-administered organization-rather than eliminating the tension-is a key challenge to GRI's future. If GRI falls too much on the movement side of things, it will lose its legitimacy with business. If it falls too much on the administrative side of things, it will become indistinguishable from rivals like the International Standards Organization (ISO).

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Cooperative Programme on Water and Climate: Developing Global Action Networks as Communities of Practice (2005)
An Initial Investigation with the Cooperative Programme on Water and Climate. This case study describes a pilot effort to cultivate a community of practice on water-and-climate variability issues, including three regions: Central America, West Africa, and Bangladesh. It reports on success factors and pitfalls, and suggests implications for emerging functions and roles in GANs.

Download Full Case Study as a Microsoft Word document 857 KB

Global Alliance for Workers and Communities: Lessons Learned from a Multi-Stakeholder Initiative (2006)
Author: Sasha Radovich
In 1999, Nike, Gap, the International Youth Foundation, and the World Bank created an innovative partnership called The Global Alliance for Workers and Communities (GA), whose aim was to tackle complex labour issues in the global manufacturing workplace. The Global Alliance was one of the first organisations to address conditions in the factory workplace beyond compliance; that is, it aimed to promote worker development and find sustainable solutions to labour issues in factories, rather than focusing solely on policing factory compliance with corporate codes of conduct. After five years working in five countries, the Alliance closed its operations on December 31, 2004. This report was prepared by AccountAbility.

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Beyond Temples and Tombs: Towards effective Governance for Sustainable Development Through the World Commission on Dams. Center for International Development and Hauser Center for Non-Profit Organizations, Harvard University. 2004
By Sanjeev Khagram

This is a case study of the World Commission on Dams which appeared in:
Beyond Temples and Tombs: Towards effective Governance for Sustainable Development Through the World Commission on Dams. In Ramesh Thakur, Andrew F. Cooper and John English (eds.); International Commissions and the Power of Ideas, Tokyo: United Nations University Press. Pp 142-166.

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The Global Compact as a Global Action Network (2004)
The Compact is the leading example of the United Nations-initiated GAN. This is a chapter from the book Learning to Talk: Corporate citizenship and development of the UN Global Compact, published in June 2004 by Greenleaf Publishing (www.greenleaf-publishing.com). It looks at the Compact and its development challenges.

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Global Health Programs (2004)
Authors: Uma Lele, Naveen Sarna, Ramesh Govindaraj, and Yianni Konstantopoulos
Global Health Programs, Millennium Development Goals, and the World Bank's Role are reviewed in this evaluation. The GANs are:

Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR; started in 1975)
UNAIDS (1996)
Global Forum for Health Research (Global Forum; 1997)
Roll Back Malaria (RBM; 1998)
Stop TB Partnership (1999)
Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI; 1999).

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Global Reporting Initiative (2003)
Originally developed as a project of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES), GRI is establishing a global triple bottom line (environmental-economic-social) reporting framework for business impact. http://www.globalreporting.org/

Download Full Case Study as a PDF 152KB

Global Water Partnership (2004)
Authors: Saeed Rana and Lauren Kelly
The GWP was formally created in Stockholm in December 1995, at a meeting of 56 organizations, including governments, multilateral banks, U.N. agencies, professional associations, and the private sector. Based on the principles of integrated water resources management (IWRM), the program's mission is to support improved water resources management and development at the local, national, regional and/or river basin level. This case study is an evaluation prepared by World Bank staff.

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International Federation of Alternative Trade (2002)
The Federation is a network of producers and "alternative" trading organizations (ATOs) who are creating an "alternative" way of doing business that is beneficial and fair. http://catgen.com/ifat/

Download Full Case Study as a PDF 196KB

World Commission on Dams
Author: Sanjeev Khagram
The WCD is often cited as a leading example of multi-stakeholder approaches to global problem solving. Unusual because it had a mandated two-year life, it held hearings and undertook research around the world for its tri-sectoral Board. Author Sanjeev Khagram was a WCD staff member. This paper was prepared for the UN Vision Project on Global Public Policy Networks.

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