The Working Groups are normally set up for the City Consultation. However, they are based on the priority issues agreed at the Consultation, and so start working fully after the consultation. The critical task in setting up a Working Group is to ensure that the full range of key stakeholders is included. Each Working Group has a designated Coordinator to facilitate the meetings and discussions, and to ensure follow-up. To ensure proper coordination among the various working groups, the working group coordinators meet together as a Coordinating Working Group. The SCP Working Groups differ from other committees and have the following characteristics: Each Working Group focuses on one particular priority issue; The Working Group deals with complex cross-cutting issues that government bodies are ill-equipped to deal with; The Working Groups have representation and participation from a wide range of stakeholders; The Working Groups use a common operational framework – the SCP process; The Working Group is flexible and readily adaptable to changes in terms of focus, members, activities and action; The Working Groups are not ‘talk shows’, but organised mechanisms for informed discussion and analysis, negotiation and consensus-building, collaboration on formulation of strategies, action plans and implementation of projects. The working group process is based on the willing cooperation of the stakeholders. It develops gradually as the stakeholders become convinced that the working group is evolving a new and more effective way to collaborate and address urban environmental issues. The core groups in Chennai, India In Chennai, the SCP project team started developing the institutional framework for the Issue-Specific Working Groups before the city consultation was held. During the consultation, core working groups were established around the priority issues. Each core group had an identified lead agency, which had clear mandate and competence in respect of the issue. As later confirmed by the commitment of the lead agencies to host and house the project’s EPM activities, the idea of building the working group process by starting with core groups worked out well. |
Download: SCP Source Book Series, Volume 3: Establishing and Supporting a Working Group Process
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