Lesson-110807-7

Building on existing initiatives and common interests, particularly among private sector stakeholders, to enhance efficiency. Throughout implementation, SENDEROS has built on existing efforts or progress made by different stakeholders, both from the public and private sectors. Identifying, valuing, and recognizing participating stakeholders’ progress and common interests has helped the project determine how to adapt, improve, or expand capacities, in turn enhancing the project’s efficiency. This approach also increases stakeholders’ ownership of the changes and outcomes that have been achieved both through the project’s interventions and through their own initiatives. The project's capacity building and facilitation approach, which includes integrating stakeholder experiences into the intervention strategies, has proven to be effective and could be adopted as standard practice for the remaining implementation period. SENDEROS’ work with one sugarcane company helps exemplify this promising practice. When SENDEROS arrived, the company was already working on a code of conduct. However, the individuals drafting the document were not familiar with the exact content requirements outlined in the national legal framework. SENDEROS was proactive in supporting the company to build on what they had started to develop a strong policy.