By Tim Gieseke
How can we better understand governance when dealing with complex social and environmental issues? Here I describe a set of concepts that I have found useful — a governance compass. The aim is to provide guidance for organizations to align partnerships, accountability, equity, ownership and value at the ‘point of service’. The ‘point of service’ varies. For human health, it is the patient. In life-long learning, it is the professional. In agriculture sustainability, it is the landscape.
The governance compass identifies governance actors and their roles; governance styles and how they combine into a footprint; and finally how these combine with tasks into a governance framework. Although the compass has been developed for agricultural issues, it has broader relevance.