Integrated co-operative governance in the context of sustainable development

Abstract

The rapid global development is mostly economically driven and made up of complex country-specific problems. Although sustainable development (SD) is a well established concept and an urgent global challenge, differing levels of progress had been made in organisations, communities and countries. To facilitate consistency of understanding, the authors accept the definition of 'sustainable development' as including the economic, social and environmental dimensions. Furthermore, they argue that these dimensions are not functioning as separate silos but are interdependent and grounded in legislated governance frameworks from where co-operative governance (COG) realizes as an option to facilitate an integrated approach. The article discusses the challenges in the facilitation of COG and suggests practical guidelines for implementation to facilitate improved integration.