1- How to perform stakeholder analysis
What Is Stakeholder Analysis? A “stakeholder” can be defined as:
“Any individual, group, or institution who has a vested interest in the natural resources of the project area and/or who potentially will be affected by project activities and have something to gain or lose if conditions change or stay the same.”
Stakeholders are all those who need to be considered in achieving project goals and whose participation and support are crucial to its success. Stakeholder analysis identifies all primary and secondary stakeholders who have a vested interest in the issues with which the project or policy is concerned. The goal of stakeholder analysis is to develop a strategic view of the human and institutional landscape, and the relationships between the different stakeholders and the issues they care about most.
Why Stakeholder Analysis Is Important?
Ultimately, all projects depend on selecting stakeholders with whom they can jointly work towards goals that will reduce or reverse the threats to your key conservation targets.
A stakeholder analysis can help in identifying:
• The interests of all stakeholders who may affect or be affected by the project.
• Potential conflicts or risks that could jeopardize the initiative.
• Opportunities and relationships that can be built on during Implementation.
• Groups that should be encouraged to participate in different stages of the project.
• Appropriate strategies and approaches for stakeholder engagement.
• Ways to reduce negative impacts on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.
The full participation of stakeholders in both project design and implementation of is a key to – but not a guarantee of – success. Stakeholder participation:
• Gives people some say over how projects or policies may affect their lives.
• Is essential for sustainability.
• Generates a sense of ownership if initiated early in the development process.
• Provides opportunities for learning for both the project team and stakeholders themselves.
• Builds capacity and enhances responsibility.
How to Perform Stakeholder Analysis?
Step 1: Identification of key stakeholders: In identifying the key stakeholders, you should consider the following questions:
• Who are the potential beneficiaries?
• Who might be adversely impacted?
• Have vulnerable groups who may be impacted by the project been identified?
• Have supporters and opponents of the project been identified?
• What are the relationships among the stakeholders?
Answering these questions will lead to a simple list, which forms the basis of the stakeholder analysis
Step 2: Assess stakeholder interests and the potential impact of the project on these interests: Once the key stakeholders have been identified, the possible interest that these groups or individuals may have in the project can be considered.
Questions that you should try to answer in order to assess the interests of different stakeholders include:
• What are the stakeholder’s expectations of the project?
• What benefits are likely to result from the project for the stakeholders?
• What resources might the stakeholders be able and willing to mobilize?
• What stakeholder interests conflict with project goals?
Important to realize when assessing the interests of the different stakeholders is that some stakeholders may have hidden, multiple or contradictory aims and interests.
Step 3: Assessing stakeholder influence (Power) and importance (Interest): In the third step the task is to assess the influence and importance of the stakeholders that you identified in earlier steps. Influence refers to the power that the stakeholders have over a project. This power may be in the form of stakeholders that have formal control over the decision-making process of it can be informal in the sense of hindering or facilitating the project’s implementation. Importance relates to the question how important the active involvement of the stakeholder is for achievement of the project objectives. Stakeholders who are important are often stakeholders who are to benefit from the project or whose objectives converge with the objectives of the project. You should realize that some stakeholders who are very important might have very little influence and vice versa
In order to assess the importance and influence of the stakeholder you should be able to assess:
• The power and status (political, social and economic) of the stakeholder.
• The degree of organization of the stakeholder.
• The control the stakeholder has over strategic resources.
• The informal influence of the stakeholder (personal connections, etc.).
• The importance of these stakeholders to the success of the project.
Both the influence and importance of the different stakeholders can be ranked along simple scales and mapped against each other. This exercise is an initial step in determining the appropriate strategy for the involvement of these stakeholders. As with the second step, in order to make sure the assessment is as accurate as possible it would be preferable to have ‘on the-ground’ consultations.
Step 4: Outline a participation strategy: On the basis of the previous three steps in the stakeholder analysis process, some preliminary planning can be done in relation to the question of how to best involve the different stakeholders. The involvement of stakeholders should be planned according to:
As a rule of thumb, the appropriate approaches for involving stakeholders of differing levels of influence and importance can be as follows:
• Stakeholders of high influence and high importance (Manage Closely): should be closely involved throughout the preparation and implementation of the project to ensure their support for the project.
• Stakeholders of high influence but low importance (Keep Satisfied): are not the target of the project but could possibly oppose the project that you propose. Therefore, you would want to keep them informed and acknowledge their views on the project in order to avoid disruption or hindrance of the project’s preparation and implementation.
• Stakeholders of low influence and high importance (Keep Informed): require special efforts to ensure that their needs are met and that their participation is meaningful.
• Stakeholders of low influence and low importance (Monitor – Minimum Effort): are unlikely to be closely involved in the project and require no special participation strategies (beyond information-sharing to the general public).
Notes (Place Your Notes Here)