Thinking Big and Thinking Small: A Conceptual Framework for Best Practices in Community and Stakeholder Engagement in Food, Energy, and Water Systems

Andrew Kliskey, Paula Williams, David L. Griffith, Virginia H. Dale, Chelsea Schelly, Anna-Maria Marshall, Valoree S. Gagnon, Weston M. Eaton and Kristin Floress
Additional contact information
Andrew Kliskey: Center for Resilient Communities, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
Paula Williams: Center for Resilient Communities, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
David L. Griffith: Center for Resilient Communities, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA
Virginia H. Dale: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Chelsea Schelly: Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA
Anna-Maria Marshall: Department of Sociology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
Valoree S. Gagnon: College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA
Weston M. Eaton: Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Kristin Floress: United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Evanston, IL 60201, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Community and stakeholder engagement is increasingly recognized as essential to science at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems (FEWS) to address complex issues surrounding food and energy production and water provision for society. Yet no comprehensive framework exists for supporting best practices in community and stakeholder engagement for FEWS. A review and meta-synthesis were undertaken of a broad range of existing models, frameworks, and toolkits for community and stakeholder engagement. A framework is proposed that comprises situational awareness of the FEWS place or problem, creation of a suitable culture for engagement, focus on power-sharing in the engagement process, co-ownership, co-generation of knowledge and outcomes, the technical process of integration, the monitoring processes of reflective and reflexive experiences, and formative evaluation. The framework is discussed as a scaffolding for supporting the development and application of best practices in community and stakeholder engagement in ways that are arguably essential for sound FEWS science and sustainable management.

Keywords: best practices; community engagement; conceptual framework; co-production; food-energy-water systems; stakeholder engagement; transdisciplinary (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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