Frequently Asked Questions about Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships in ICTs for Development: A Guide for National ICT Policy Animators

According to the publication, there is a growing interest in the development of multi-stakeholder partnerships and processes that aim to address various developmental challenges. Partnerships between the public sector, the private sector, and particularly civil society in promoting information and communication technology (ICT) policy are, according to the authors, a relatively new venture. This guide is an attempt to add to the body of knowledge and experience on multi-stakeholder processes and partnerships, based on the practical experiences encountered during the three-year Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA) programme on ICT policy advocacy. It is designed to present guidelines that may assist national ICT policy facilitators to understand the complexities of multi-stakeholder relationships and the attainment of common goals and objectives. It explores practical issues for the establishment of a multi-stakeholder process for ICT policy and looks at how multi-stakeholder partnerships work, what has been successful, and what has not, and offers some practical suggestions on how to make them more effective. Practical experiences from two African countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Kenya, are used to illustrate two possible approaches.