Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) is a central concept on the RISC-RISE agenda because it prioritizes transformative sustainable development as defined by the SDGs. PCD is an instrument promoted by the global development cooperation community since the 1990s for the purpose of fostering “whole of government” approaches to sustainable development. Why should PCD, however, be limited to activities of government? RISC-RISE contends that PCD should be promoted through bottom-up initiatives that engage with stakeholders in dialogues aimed at establishing coherent, community-based sustainability policy frameworks.

This platform proposes, in association with the GAMMA-UL Chair in Regional Integration and Sustainability at the Instituto de Ecología (INECOL, A.C.), Mexico, a PCD methodology for understanding the coherence of development strategies for sustainability in dialogue with local communities. The methodology is based on four steps:

• Local citizens define the development needs of their communities, the challenges which they face on a daily basis, and the degree to which policies respond to these challenges.
• Eight typologies of “(in)coherences” for sustainable development are discussed with communities in order to identify facilitators and obstacles that contribute to their present situations.
• In association with citizens, policy documents are reviewed, interviews are conducted with stakeholders and public forums are organized in order to collect detailed information on policy contexts.
• Citizens identify, through participative evaluation, the (in)coherences that affect their community’s ability to attain the sustainable development objectives defined in step one.

The RISC-RISE Knowledge Platform on Participative Policy Coherence for Development promotes this approach through three interlinked activities pursued in collaboration with the GAMMA-UL Chair in Regional Integration and Sustainability:

• Establishment of a virtual library with reports/studies on policy coherence for development: with the purpose of jointly creating a database of policy relevant and academic documents that question and engage PCD
• Promotion of normative PCD: Transformative sustainable development is based on ethical commitments that should be the foundation for sustainability. This knowledge platform fosters discussions on the coherence of development strategies for implementation of key sustainability norms.
• Creation of a virtual discussion forum on PCD in different world regions: PCD has been forwarded by international organizations as a means to coordinate policy so as to prioritize sustainable development. However, PCD is relatively unknown outside of networks of development cooperation actors. Key questions driving this forum ask: How can PCD be appropriated by stakeholders in different world regions, such as Africa, Asia and the Americas? How can PCD achieve in the promotion of sustainable development from below and what are its limits? What is “participative PCD” and how can citizens appropriate this framework to promote community-based sustainability?