5
Multi-stakeholder initiatives

Why are MSIs important?

Sustainable Development Goal 17, to “strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development”, recognizes MSIs as important vehicles for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, particularly developing countries.

MSIs are contemporary instruments that assist organisations to identify and respond to global human rights risks related to specific sectors. MSIs give organisations soft-law guidance on operating transnationally and hence need (non-)legal guidance beyond national laws. As MSIs are often sector-specific, tailored and practical, they can assist organisations to respect human rights in their daily work.

MSIs combine the capacities, resources and perspectives of several stakeholder groups to respond to complex sustainability and human rights challenges. The inclusion of civil society in the initiative’s governance, implementation, and/or decision-making processes gives the MSIs additional legitimacy.