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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Sociol.
Sec. Sociological Theory
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fsoc.2024.1199755
This article is part of the Research Topic Towards 2030: Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. A Sociological Perspective View all 4 articles

From Stakeholders to Protagonists: An Exploratory Framework for Cultivating Prosocial Capacity for Development

Provisionally accepted
  • University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The world in 2024 faces numerous interlinked crises, including climate change and water shortages, rising geopolitical tensions, and a new awareness of the risks of pandemics. These crises reverse decades of incremental development progress and humanity's aspirations embodied in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, necessitating a more active and collaborative participation of development stakeholders. The magnitude of challenges points to the need for transformational approaches to releasing the potential of stakeholders, which requires building on and extending beyond current best practices in participation and capacity strengthening. What is most needed today is a balanced assessment of the complexity of human nature and a vision that recognizes the prosocial potential of people to harmonize the pursuit of personal interests with a willingness to contribute to social and collective development goals.Prosociality is a capacity that all stakeholders can strengthenfrom individuals to institutions to communities (including different forms of social groupings). These stakeholders can become empowered as active protagonists of development, with the potential to work synergistically to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In order to work with these protagonists, it is important to view them systematically in terms of key characteristics such as their antecedent knowledge, values and culture, stance, agency, roles, relationships, and learning.

    Keywords: Global South, Participation, Capacities, empowerment, governance, prosocial, Altruism, Stakeholders

    Received: 03 Apr 2023; Accepted: 03 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hedley. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Darren K. Hedley, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.