Effectiveness of a Multi-Stage Networked Organisation for Early Integration of Multiple Perspectives on Emerging and Future Crises

In the early phase of the crisis spectrum it is particularly challenging to apply a comprehensive approach. Complexities involve how to reach a shared context and conflict analysis, involve the local perspective, have an explicit Theory of Change and how to deal with political sensitivity. Military and civilian actors usually only start to share information with each other, once a political decision has been taken, and do this then in the very limited time before start of the mission. We investigated how future collaboration among multiple actors for emerging and ongoing international crises can be organized at an early stage –before political decision making- and how integration of their multiple perspectives can be facilitated. We performed a literature study, semi-structured interviews and a focus group session with 17 representatives from Dutch ministries, NGOs, IOs and academics. We designed an organisational framework and validated it in two case studies in the Netherlands: a two-day workshop with 15 experts on Somalia and the ongoing Mali Dialogue. We identified as theoretical framework a combination of the Comprehensive Approach Matrix that Compares Levels of Coherence and Types of Relationships with suitability mapping of network management regimes on the strategic orientations of the different actors making up the relationships. Our research concluded that in the Netherlands there is a clear lack of coherence mechanisms in the early phase. We propose, rather than an institutional organisation like the UK Stabilisation Unit, a networked organisation with three stages of collaboration: a learning and research network, a Crisis Identification Group and an Estimations and Options Group. The learning and research network consists of loosely connected people from different organisations who meet regularly to exchange ideas and define a common research agenda. The Crisis Identification Group and Estimations and Options Group could be taken together into one. This group consists of a small and carefully selected group of representatives from the research network, that come together in a focused workshop led by facilitators to create a shared situational awareness and to review policy options. The network management regime has to be flexibly adapted with each stage. As facilitation method we propose to combine flexible yet integrated conflict analysis approaches and to have dedicated Estimations and Options groups per theme such as Rule of Law. The multi-stage networked organisation seems promising but needs further validation through other case studies both from the Netherlands and internationally.