- vertical (cross-scale): involves national, subnational, and local levels of government.
- horizontal (cross-sectoral): brings together representatives from the state (as a sovereign actor, including executive, judiciary, and legislative branches). For example, government ministries, departments, and/or agencies at the same level of jurisdiction.
- multi-actor (multistakeholder): enables coordination between at least one representative from the state and any non-state actor, such as civil society organizations (CSOs)/non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses, Indigenous Peoples, academia, and/or international cooperation organizations.
When the mechanisms include representatives from more than one dimension (i.e., horizontal, vertical, or multi-actor), they are also categorized as multidimensional.
- multidimensional: simultaneously integrates organizations representing more than one policy sector, governance level, or actor (Luna Rodriguez, 2019).
In practice, many of the coordination mechanisms identified include representatives from more than one category. For example, they may simultaneously include representatives from different government ministries /agencies and non-state actors, and/or subnational level governments, as shown in the country examples of this analysis.