Stakeholder Analysis
Some ideas… and introduction to exercises
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What is a stakeholder?
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Why stakeholder participation?

What is participation?

Why stakeholder analysis?

How to do a stakeholder analysis?
What is a stakeholder?
Stakeholders
are those who have an interest in and/or affected by a
particular decision, either as individuals or representatives
of a group. This includes people who influence a decision,
or can influence it, as well as those affected by it.
Stakeholder Analysis helps clarify which people and
organizations are directly or indirectly involved in or
affected by a specific development problem.
It helps identify which groups are supportive and which
groups may oppose the project strategy and
subsequently obstruct project implementation.
When to conduct Stakeholder Analysis?



1. Problem Identification – It serves as mechanism to
identify important and influential stakeholders and
draws attention on how to involve them in the
analytical and planning process
2. A detailed stakeholder analysis carried out during
project formulation supports design decisions and risk
analysis
3. Continuing stakeholder analysis during project
implementation serves to confirm the involvement of
each stakeholder, keep track of changing
circumstances and interests of stakeholders and plan
stakeholder involvement in the evaluation process
Stakeholder grouping – could include…
Those who are affected by the project… . And those we
depend on for its success…
User group – people who use the resources or services in an
area
Interest groups – people who have an interest in, or who can
affect the use of a resource or service
Beneficiaries of the project/service
Decision-makers
Those often excluded for the decision-making process
Stakeholders – who?
Ex. Small scale water diversion project…
Use – who uses or benefits from the use of the
resources…?
Economics – who may win or lose as a result…?
Mandate – who makes decisions, who has rights…
Proximity – who lives near the resources…
Values – who may have strong beliefs about specific
use…?
Common goal - sustainability
Dept. of Infrastructure
Irrigation user group
Irrigation
department
Mining
Company
Can we achieve...
Ministry of Finance
Social
Ministry of health
Ecological
Government
Local
Local
community
Water supply
company
Economic
NGO
biodiversity
sustainability?
Financing institution
Hydropower
company
Int. donors
Why stakeholder participation?
Benefits to planners
-Good basis for accountability
-More information and
understanding of context
Benefits to decision-makers
-Informed and improved
decisions
-Legitimacy of governance
improved
Benefits to developers
-Save costs as issues are identified
upfront
-Community relations improved
-Developers’ image and reputation
enhanced
Benefits to civil society
-Capacity building and new
knowledge through participation
-More sustainable development
Why stakeholder participation?
Improved quality of decision-making (expands the
knowledge base for decisions)
Improved credibility and public support (helps to build
broad-based consensus)
Improved implementation and monitoring (supplements
scarce government resources)
Early warning of potential challenge (identify and address
problems at an early stage)
Appropriate level of participation for different stakeholders
Type of
participation/
Stages in projects
Identification/context
analysis
Design
Implementation and
monitoring
Reviewing
Evaluation
Inform
Consult
Partnership Control
Donor
Women
Local water
authority
Project
staff
What is Participation?

Participation takes place when stakeholders are part of
the decision-making process

Participation requires that stakeholders at all levels of
the social structure have an opportunity to participate
in the decision-making process

A participatory approach is the only means for
achieving long-lasting consensus and common
agreement

It is about taking responsibility, engaging and informing
- Global Water Partnership
Why stakeholders analysis?
The objectives of stakeholder analysis:

Improve the project’s understanding of the needs of those
affected by a problem

Reduce, or hopefully remove, potential negative project
impacts

Identify who should be encouraged to take part in the
project planning and implementation

Identify and reduce risks which might involve identifying
possible conflicts of interest and expectation among
stakeholders so that conflict is avoided
How to do stakeholder analysis?
…the stakeholder analysis seeks to answer:
 Who are the key stakeholders?
 What are their interests and influence?
Develop strategic measures…
 How should we best engage with various
stakeholders?
 Who needs their capacity built to be able to
participate meaningfully?
How to do stakeholder analysis? Continued…
Anticipate the kind of interest/influence (positive
or negative) the key stakeholders may have on
the project.
“Interest” could be described in terms of
potential costs and benefits
“Influence” in terms of power/control
Stakeholder identification , analysis and strategic considerations
Stakeholders
Example: Rural
water supply
project
Interest in process/
project
+/(affected)
Influence on
process/ Project
+/(power)
Village women
+ Easy access to clean + Direct user
water
- Little voice in
+ Direct user
community
- Less social
How to engage? Stakeholder needs
for awareness
and/or capacity
building
Group work – map stakeholders
1
List of stakeholders
High
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
2
3
4
5
Interest
6
7
8
9
10
Low
High
Influence
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Map stakeholders
High
Interest
Low
High
Influence
Map stakeholders
High
Key players:
Very interested in the
project, and high
impact on decisionmaking
Interest
Low
High
Influence
Map stakeholders
High
Key subjects:
Very interested in the
project, but little
influence
Interest
Less impact on
Decision-making
Low
High
Influence
Map stakeholders
High
Key setters:
Not so interested in
the project, but has
high influence.
Interest
Impact on decision
making
Could be a risk?
Low
High
Influence
Map stakeholders
High
Crowd
Less important
Interest
Low
High
Influence
Exercise 1
Group Exercise (20 min)
 Identify
the five most important stakeholders in
your Change Project
 List
their main interests and influence
 Insert
them in the Stakeholder Map
 Present
group output
TIP #1 – Information provision to stakeholders
No information
-Culture of secrecy
Sufficient information
accessible
-Open door policy
-Fears
-Mistrust
-Understanding
-Trust
-Conflict
-Cooperation
-Joint problem solving
-Better decisions
TIP #2 – Good practice of stakeholder participation
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Early engagement of stakeholders
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Transparency and honesty
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Independent facilitation
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Special efforts for marginalized people
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Accessibility (information, venues, comments)
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Ongoing feedback and fairness
TIP #3 – Stakeholders – who…?
Stakeholders are not only those who shout the loudest.
Those who are often excluded from the decisionmaking process due to age, gender or ethnicity are
those who are most likely to lose out if they are not
included in the project planning.
We need to think about how to ensure that these
stakeholders are also involved…
But… very seldom… people are powerless… and they
have responsibility to engage themselves
TIP #4 – Why stakeholders analysis?
The objectives of stakeholder analysis:
 Assist in assessment of how project objectives and activities relate to the
different interests of various people, groups and organizations.
 Give information about how different groups will be affected by (and
potentially react on) the project – and thus assist in identifying critical
points that might endanger the anticipated outcome.
 Identify and assess the importance of key people, groups and
organizations that may significantly influence (positive or negative) the
success of the project.
 Provide the basis for developing strategies to get the most effective
support possible for the initiative and reduce any obstacles to successful
implementation
 Provide the basis for developing strong communications, education and
outreach material, for preventing conflicts, and for developing strategic
relations throughout project development and implementation.