SF Expert Services

STAKEHOLDER FORUM EXPERT SERVICES

For more than 25 years, Stakeholder Forum has been a bridge between those who have a stake in sustainable development, and the international fora where decisions are made in their name. A hub for innovative and creative thinking, our team – along with a range of experts spanning the globe – has been at the forefront and at the table where multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and their related processes were agreed upon and reviewed.

Looking at the landscape of expert services offered around global and national sustainable development matters, in particular, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), our experts and practitioners have contributed to this work in many different ways and many settings throughout the years. Now following the COVID-19 pandemic and in the midst of the war in Ukraine and the economic shocks that have resulted from that conflict, expert advice on Agenda 2030, the SDGs, and the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) processes is more critical than ever. Thus, an organization’s ability to provide expert services to a wide range of constituencies, including governments at both national and local levels, various international and regional organizations, civil society, academia, the private sector, and other stakeholders is a valuable capacity-building and training asset that Stakeholder Forum can offer. Empowering these constituencies would have a ripple effect on making a meaningful difference in the lives of people through sustainable development.

SF Expert Services include but are not limited to the following thematic areas:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement
• The SDG Summit 2023 and The Summit of the Future in 2024
• Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs)
• The United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA)
• Environmental Rights and Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights
• Multistakeholder Partnerships for Sustainable Development (MSPs)
• Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG)
• Advocacy
• Strategic Planning and Policy Coherence
• Capacity Building
• Event Planning and Facilitation

SF also specializes in identifying ‘gaps’ in knowledge and practice that need to be filled to accelerate the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement, and related global agreements.

Contact us if you want our expert services, wish to speak to us, or want to know more.

Our experts:

Stakeholder Forum’s global reach enables us to recruit experts on an ad-hoc basis to meet current and future clients’ unique needs. They include a wide range of practitioners, many of whom have decades of first-hand experience spanning back to the seminal Stockholm Conference in 1972.  Our range of experts includes, but is not limited to:

Jan-Gustav began working with the United Nations on environment and governance in the 1970s, and his first assignment brought him to Latin America.  He has taught about the UN for over four decades, worked with the UN Commission for Sustainable Development for 15 years, worked as an NGO liaison officer at the UN HQ, worked for the Norwegian Foreign Office as a diplomat at embassies in Botswana and Uganda, and for 15 years was the director of a Norwegian aid-NGO with projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. (read more)

 

 

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Leida Rijnhout is the Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) and has been a key advisor to Stakeholder Forum for many years. Before joining the SF family, she worked as a freelancer (www.leapfrog2SD.org) and was the programme coordinator of Resource Justice and Sustainability at Friends of the Earth Europe. In her position as Executive Director of ANPED and director of Global Policies at the European Environmental Bureau, Leida facilitated and coordinated the global NGO community to realize their active engagement in United Nations processes on Sustainable Development and the Environment. (read more)

 

 

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Professor Tilbury is a policy expert, change-maker, and academic leader in Sustainable Development, credited with having developed the initial frameworks for this area of learning. She was a member of the Board of WWF Australia that brought Earth Hour to the World in 2007 and has been actively involved in international initiatives that inspire transitions towards sustainability. Her 2020 ‘Today4Tomorrow’ initiative is focused on embedding intergenerational rights in public policy and governance frameworks. (read more)

 

 

 

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A former Chair and current President of Stakeholder Forum, Derek has been a driving force at Stakeholder Forum for nearly 25 years. He served 30 years in the UK Civil Service, the latter 6 years as Director-General for Environmental Protection within the Department of the Environment until he retired from the Civil Service in 1996. Derek represented the United Kingdom and was Chair of the Management Board of the European Environment Agency (1995-1999) and was on the Board of the Environment Agency for England and Wales (1996-98), having been involved with its planning and creation. He has been a non-executive director of Severn Trent PLC and chair of Jupiter Global Green Investment Trust.

In addition to his work with Stakeholder Forum, Derek continuities to share his knowledge and experience as a Board Member of several other prominent environmental organizations.

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Felix Dodds has been a leading thinker on global governance for 30 years. Now an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina, and Vice President of Multilateral Affairs at the Rob and Melani Walton Sustainable Solutions Service at Arizona State University, he was an advisor to the Ford Foundation and their grantees for the development of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Co-founder of the Communitas Coalition for supporting SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, Felix was Executive Director of Stakeholder Forum from 1992 to 2012, and during that time he chaired the first UN Conference in 2011 to identify a set of indicative SDGs. (read more)

 

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Dr. David Horan is an Assistant Professor at Trinity Business School in Trinity College Dublin and a Fellow of Stakeholder Forum. Since 2018, David has been conducting research on data and governance frameworks for the SDGs with a focus on multi-stakeholder partnerships and their role in supporting effective and equitable implementation. He is the author of “A New Approach to Partnerships for SDG Transformations” and “Towards a Portfolio Approach: Partnerships for Sustainable Transformations.” From 2018-2020, David was a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development and UNSDSN in New York.

David has considerable experience in UN engagements on sustainable development, having served for two years as a UCD Additional Representative to the UN. He was invited to speak on partnerships at the UN Expert Group Meeting on SDG17 in 2019 and UN Sustainable Development Transformations Forums 2020-21. (read more)

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Charles is a sustainability leader advancing governance for sustainable development, stakeholder engagement, renewable energy technologies, and sustainable waste management. From 2002 until 2018, he worked in the UK local government waste and resource sector developing and managing recycling, composting, and waste minimization services for communities and businesses, and he continues to advance similar local efforts in The Americas.

From 2000 to 2002, Charles was Stakeholder Forum’s Deputy Director and UK Co-ordinator, where he worked alongside then Executive Director Felix Dodds and Co-Chairs Margaret Brusasco-MacKenzie and Derek Osborn in the run-up to the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development. From 1999 to 2000, he worked on sustainability and stakeholder engagement at the then Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. (read more)

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Additional Resources

Stakeholder Forum will also draw upon its existing team of Associates and Advisors to fill in any gaps in research, related skills, and resources needed to deliver its expert services.  Our full listing of Associates and Advisors can be found here.