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CSSI 2024: Power and inclusion in cross-sector social interactions

TPI is proud to be a partner with the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, PRME Chapter Africa and the Embedding Project to host the 9th biannual Cross-Sector Social Interactions (CSSI) conference in 2024.

The conference

Date: 3-6 April 2024

Location: University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, South Africa

Who this event is for: scholars, practitioners, and policy makers working on cross-sector collaboration

Theme: Power and inclusion in cross-sector social interactions

Purpose and topic: to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange among diverse scholars and practitioners on the topic of societal exclusion and power imbalances in the context of advancing global SDGs.

In detail

Cross-sector collaboration in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals – and fostering inclusive social innovation – is a global goal. However, despite some important successes, this ambition often remains elusive.

This conference will explore the societal exclusion and power imbalances that inhibit progress. These include patterns of manifestations of class, racial, and gender inequality, as well as global inequalities between the Global North and the Global South.

Currently, due to institutionalised privilege and routinised ways of working, both researchers and practitioners of cross sector partnerships risk perpetuating such power imbalances and exclusionary practices.

This conference will examine these themes in detail, using a context characterised by severe inequality and historical injustice, but with far-reaching and ongoing attempts to respond to such inequality and exclusion through cross-sector collaboration. Some of the questions that will be raised include:

  • what are the “dynamics of managing power”?
  • what are the effects of power imbalances and diverse forms of exclusion – both within and beyond a partnership – on the conception, establishment, and institutionalization of cross-sector collaboration?
  • what are the effects of cross-sector social interactions on power imbalances among participants and in the issue field?
  • how do – and should – researchers respond to power imbalances and exclusion in cross-sector social interactions?
  • what is the nature of the relationship between corporations or philanthropists (often framed as powerful actors) and other actors in the context of cross-sector social interactions?
  • what can be learned from efforts to bridge research and practice in the study of cross-sector social interactions?

Outline programme

3 April 2024: PRME Africa Annual Meeting; PhD Colloquium; Paper Development Workshop

4 April 2024: Learning journeys

5-6 April 2024: Panels, paper sessions, practitioner conversations; plenaries

Call for submissions

Submissions will be welcomed from 1 August to 31 October 2023

Organising committee

The conference is chaired by Sarita Sehgal, Associate Director, The Partnering Initiative and Ralph Hamman, Professor at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

  • Andrew Boraine (Formerly with the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership)
  • Priyanka Brunese (Purdue University)
  • Domenico Dentoni (Montpellier Business School)
  • Gana Fofang (Former UN Resident Coordinator / University of Nottingham, China)
  • Lea Stadtler (Grenoble Ecole de Management)
  • Mahmood Sonday (Reos Partners)
  • Darian Stibbe (The Partnering Initiative)
  • Mumbi Wachira (Strathmore Business School / PRME Africa Chapter)

Financial support 

Porticus Foundation • The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada through the Embedding Project partnership grant • Villanova School of Business • Wageningen University and Research

For more information contact Sarita Sehgal sarita.sehgal@thepartneringinitiative.org

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