Work

Partnerships for sustainable development: measuring transformative potential through leverage points

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) play a key role in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), offering collaborative mechanisms to address interconnected global challenges. Despite the increasing number of MSPs, their transformative potential remains underexplored. Taking a systems thinking approach, the leverage points theoretical framework by Donella Meadows (1999) is operationalized and applied to assess the transformative potential of a sample of 35 MSPs working on prominent SDG nexuses involving SDGs 4, 13, 14, and 15. Findings indicate that while partnerships target multiple intervention points within systems, they often neglect the deepest leverage points that could lead to a more profound transformation. This research contributes by identifying gaps in the engagement with deep system intervention places and offering insights into how partnerships can improve their focus on systems transformations. Enhancing the understanding of intervention points is the first step for MSPs to increase their transformative potential, competence, and impact.

Source: Earth System Governance

DOI: 10.1016/j.esg.2025.100265

Author: Montserrat Koloffon Rosas

Institution: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Language: English

Topic: Sustainability and Climate Change Governance

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,180