Stakeholder Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide for Project Success, Slides of Social Work

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Stakeholder Analysis

Who are Stakeholders?

A stakeholder is anyone who has something to gain or lose from a project.

Stakeholders can be both internal or external to the project itself:

● Internal : People, groups or institutions who can significantly influence or are particularly

important to the success of your project.

● External : People and groups who are not directly involved in project design, however have

influence over its success or are impacted indirectly (government, other NGOs)

An essential tool for effective project planning is the Stakeholder Analysis. It is a tool used by

organisations to identify the people related to their project and to help develop strategies to engage

these people in the right way.

4 Steps of Completing a Stakeholder Analysis

STEP 1 :

Brainstorming for stakeholder groups amongst your team

STEP 2 :

Identifying categories of stakeholders and understanding why they are important

STEP 3 :

Prioritising your stakeholders

STEP 4 :

Understand your key stakeholders

Step 1: Brainstorming for Stakeholder Groups Amongst Your Team

The first step is to identify the obvious primary stakeholders amongst the project team.

Once the obvious stakeholders have been identified, it is necessary to get out into the community and consult directly with as many stakeholders as possible. ● The best techniques for gathering information are workshops, focus group discussions and 1-on- interviews. ● Whilst the practicality of visiting all stakeholders may pose significant challenges, failing to consult key parties may skew the analysis and risk the efficacy of your project. ● Other ways you can contact stakeholders include email, Skype, phone call or social media.

A useful tool to help the brainstorming process to identify stakeholders is the PESTLE model. This can assist while working through possible categories where stakeholders relevant to the project may exist.

Using the P.E.S.T.L.E. Model to identify Stakeholder groups

Political ● Relevant government departments who may be able to provide funding ● Relevant lobby groups who might advocate for or against your project such as a religious group lobbying against a planned parenthood project

Economic ● Funding agencies or donors who might support your work ● Local businesses that might receive more (or less) business due to your project such as existing money lenders who might be negatively affected by a micro-financing program

Social/Cultural ● Specific cultural or ethnic groups that might be empowered or marginalised by your project ● Gender groups that might react differently to your project such as men looking unfavourably upon a project to promote women’s economic independence

Contd..

Technological ● Companies whose equipment you may need to purchase ● Skilled tradesmen who may be needed to repair any broken equipment

Legal ● Government departments who may be required to ‘sign-off’ on local projects

Environmental ● There is a growing school of thought saying that the environment itself (and how it benefits or suffers from your project) should be considered a stakeholder ● It may not be relevant to all projects, however for a project promoting solar powered cooking, one could consider the local environment as a stakeholder, as timber will no longer be required to cook

The grid is broken up into four key areas with the stakeholders that fall in the top right corner being the most important to your project’s success. It will be important to create strategies to ensure these stakeholders support your project.

This grid helps to ensure the existing relationship the team may have with influential people, or identify important connections that need to be made in order to facilitate your work.

Based on the positions of stakeholders within the matrix, the approach and cooperation model for each stakeholder can be determined.

Step 4: Understand your key stakeholders

Once all the necessary information has been collected, a final Stakeholder Analysis can be put together that connects different stakeholders with the proposed project.

● Some of the stakeholders will be people you have already established relationships with, whilst others will be groups or individuals you may need to reach out to.

This final step will allow you to identify potential risks. understand how the key stakeholders are going to be approached for support and decide which of the team members is responsible for looking after each stakeholder.

Identifying different groups and needs of stakeholders early on can help to prepare an effective approach and ensure that appropriate levels of engagement are factored into the planning and design.