“Bigger, Bolder and more Ambitious”: Using a Boundary Object to Collaborate on Sustainability

Abstract

Cross-sector collaborative projects bring together diverse stakeholder organisations to work on complex social and environmental issues. Questions remain about what kinds of cross-sector organisational forms might be necessary for systemic change and how collaboration is achieved in projects focused on systemic thinking and acting. We analyse a cross-sector multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) as a form of ‘temporary organisation’ and identify key processes in creating a collective identity that enable progress to be made in the start-up phase of a project focused on systemic change. Our findings draw from an ethnography of an MSP on sustainable human nutrition, a new project managed by a well-known platform-convening organisation. Our findings demonstrate the development and use of a system map by participants as a powerful ‘boundary object’ to facilitate collaboration among nine diverse organisations including nature and human welfare focused NGOs, food retailers and food producers. Our study demonstrates h...