Stakeholder engagement : a good practice handbook for companies doing business in emerging markets

This handbook is divided into two parts. Part One contains the key concepts and principles of stakeholder engagement, the practices that are known to work, and the tools to support the delivery of effective stakeholder engagement. The first step in the process of stakeholder engagement is stakeholder identification – determining who your project stakeholders are, their key groupings and sub-groupings. (Certain stakeholder groups might be pre-determined through regulatory requirements.) From this flows stakeholder analysis, a more in-depth look at stakeholder group interests, how they will be affected and to what degree, and what influence they could have on the project. The answer to these questions provides the basis from which to build your stakeholder engagement strategy.
Part Two shows how these principles, practices, and tools fit with the different phases of the project cycle, from initial concept, through construction and operations, to divestment and/or decommissioning. Each of these phases presents different environmental and social risks and opportunities and, as such, different practices in stakeholder engagement need to be employed and integrated into the management systems at each stage.
The handbook focuses on stakeholder groups “external” to the core operation of the business, such as affected communities, local government authorities, non-governmental and other civil society organizations, local institutions and other interested or affected parties. Engagement with suppliers, contractors, distributors, or customers is not taking into account, because interaction with these parties is a core business function for most companies and subject to national regulations and/or established corporate policies and procedures.