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Standard 2: Engage key internal and external partners and
stakeholders throughout the process. [CONCEPTUALIZE]
RationaleRationaleRationaleRationale Stakeholder and partner involvement is critical to ensure a common understanding and buy-in of the final products and how those products will be used for implementation. It is important to engage them early in the process because they may provide data, analyses, insights, capacities, and resources to develop the conservation plan. Having partners involved in the process provides education and buy-in for the process, and allows opportunities for the assessments to reflect partner priorities, their own planning needs, and better help support their actions. Having critical stakeholders who are not current conservation partners involved in the process offers opportunities for increased understanding and buy-in, and may ultimately lead to more effective implementation and collaboration.
Recommended ProductsRecommended ProductsRecommended ProductsRecommended Products A stakeholder analysis: Assessment of the most critical and influential stakeholders and partners and a strategy and timeline for engaging them. Documentation of the extent and degree of success of partner and stakeholder engagement.
GUIDANCEGUIDANCEGUIDANCEGUIDANCE
Creating and implementing an ecoregional assessment is a complex, labor and resource- intensive undertaking. The overarching goal of an ecoregional assessment is to support biodiversity, and this task is too large for any one organization to achieve alone. Input and assistance from the larger community is crucial at all stages of an ecoregion conservation project.
Any ecoregion contains a wide variety of stakeholders - people, institutions, or social groups that are involved in, or affected by, decision making regarding biodiversity conservation issues. There are no magic formulas to decide who to involve in a collaboration process, how to involve them, or when. Partner and stakeholder involvement is context-specific and what is appropriate in one situation may not be appropriate in another. Institutional structures, cultural values, and approaches to representation and communication will vary at different political levels and within different social, cultural, and political environments. In some cases all the stakeholders will need to be present or represented for decision making to be effective or legitimate. In others, a subset of the stakeholder group (whether it be ministers of a government, elders in a community, or major shareholders in a private sector development) will naturally and effectively assume a representative role.
Before launching into an ecoregional assessment, planning teams should conduct a partner and stakeholder analysis. An effective analysis will:
- Identify the stakeholders and partners (by category).
- Develop a strategic view of the situation, and the relationship between the different stakeholders and partners and identify their objectives, potential contributions and relationships.
- Guide the design of collaboration approaches, including the strengthening of existing positive relationships and the improvement of confrontational ones.
- Clarify partner and stakeholder interests and roles in the assessment (including one’s own). Partner and stakeholder analyses are on-going processes that should engage appropriate groups as issues, activities, and agendas evolve.
Identify stakeholders and partners
PartnersPartnersPartnersPartners are entities that want to collaborate in the process because they have similar goals and product needs. Stakeholders can be partners as well. Partners are commonly other conservation organizations, natural resource management agencies and information providers. Stakeholders can become partners through participating in the assessment and provide support for the process and products.
Primary stakeholdersPrimary stakeholdersPrimary stakeholdersPrimary stakeholders include those who, because of power, authority, responsibilities, or claims over the resources, are central to any conservation initiative. As the outcome of any action will affect them directly, their participation is critical. Primary stakeholders can include local community-level groups, private sector interests, and local and national government agencies.
Secondary stakeholdersSecondary stakeholdersSecondary stakeholdersSecondary stakeholders are those with an indirect interest in the outcome. Depending on the issue, secondary stakeholders may, for example, be the consumer (who is interested in the continuing availability of a product), the company employee (who is concerned about job security), or the tourism operator (who wants to know whether an ecotourism destination will continue to be accessible to clients). These stakeholders may need to be involved in collaboration processes, but their role is peripheral to that of primary stakeholders, so they may need to be involved only periodically.
Opposition stakeholdersOpposition stakeholdersOpposition stakeholdersOpposition stakeholders may have the capacity to adversely influence outcomes through the resources and influence they command. While they may negatively influence different aspects of conservation planning, particularly at early stages, it is crucial to engage them in open dialogue. While conservation groups increasingly recognize the importance of involving their adversaries, they have limited experience in doing so. This will no doubt have to change over time if conservation is to be achieved.
Marginalized stakeholdersMarginalized stakeholdersMarginalized stakeholdersMarginalized stakeholders—such as women, indigenous peoples, and other impoverished and disenfranchised groups—may in fact be primary, secondary, or opposition stakeholders, but may lack the recognition or capacity to participate in collaboration efforts on an equal basis. Particular effort must always be made to ensure their participation. Strategic foresight
Given the challenges that open participation in a collaboration process brings (in terms of multiple, often conflicting perspectives and interests), many groups choose to promote collaboration more gradually. In these cases, start-up involves bringing together like-minded groups and allies (partners). Steering committees can be established by these groups to formulate shared goals and objectives, and assess and strengthen capacities before a wider collaboration process is initiated.
Clarify partner and stakeholder interests
Collaboration is most effective when assessment team clearly defines the objectives, process, and roles so that those involved know what to expect. For example, is the purpose of collaboration to facilitate information exchange, with conservation decision-making occurring at other levels, or to enable stakeholders to set the conservation agenda in full partnership with others, even though some may already have ideas about what should be done?
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATIONOPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATIONOPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATIONOPPORTUNITIES FOR INNOVATION
The vexing questions of partnerships and stakeholders provide ample opportunities for innovation, though every conservation situation is unique, with unique geographies, issues, organizations and personalities therefore, we should be clear about the circumstances in which a solution is developed and how broadly it may be applied. Several important areas come to mind for innovations refining the way we engage partners and stakeholders. We need innovations in stakeholder and partner situational analyses, and examples of implementation of these analyses to refine them. In addition, we can learn from experiences in managing partnerships in working groups in terms of collaboration and compromise. One particularly important innovation is a technique for measuring the costs and benefits of engaging stakeholders in affecting conservation actions.
CASE STUDIECASE STUDIECASE STUDIECASE STUDIESSSS
OkanoOkanoOkanoOkanogan Ecoregional Assessment Team Chartergan Ecoregional Assessment Team Chartergan Ecoregional Assessment Team Chartergan Ecoregional Assessment Team Charter.... The team formed to conduct the Okanogan ecoregional assessment included 3 major partners along with collaborators from many other agencies and organizations involved to varying degrees depending on interest of the participating group. Terms of involvement were established early.
Multinational CMultinational CMultinational CMultinational Collaboration in Central Americaollaboration in Central Americaollaboration in Central Americaollaboration in Central America.... The Selva Maya, Olmeca, Zoque ecoregion contains portions of 3 countries in Central America. The team developed several strategies to deal with the difficulties of identifying and working with a diversity of partners in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico.
Finding the Balance AFinding the Balance AFinding the Balance AFinding the Balance Among Different Stakeholdersmong Different Stakeholdersmong Different Stakeholdersmong Different Stakeholders... Lessons learned from stakeholder. involvement in reforestation and common lands management efforts in rural India.
ParticipantsParticipantsParticipantsParticipants in thein thein the ERC Pin theERC PERC Process in the Carpathian MountainsERC Process in the Carpathian Mountainsrocess in the Carpathian Mountainsrocess in the Carpathian Mountains... A summary of the. participants and their roles. While this example covers all participants including biological experts, it puts major partners and stakeholders into context.
Stakeholder IStakeholder IStakeholder IStakeholder Involvement in the Sulawesi Ecoregional Conservation Assessment (ECA),nvolvement in the Sulawesi Ecoregional Conservation Assessment (ECA),nvolvement in the Sulawesi Ecoregional Conservation Assessment (ECA),nvolvement in the Sulawesi Ecoregional Conservation Assessment (ECA), Indonesia.Indonesia.Indonesia.Indonesia. In order to assist the process and help garner support for an ECA, a steering committee was formed, comprised of conservation professionals from throughout the Sulawesi. Also, a series of “roadshows” were developed and carried out, targeting local governments.
TOOLSTOOLSTOOLSTOOLS
Partnership Toolbox. WWF-UK Organization Development Unit. 2000. This short summary
provides simple tools for working in partnerships and a quality list of resources on this subject.
Stakeholder Power Analysis Power Tools: Tools for Working on Policies and Institutions.
International Institute for Environment and Development. (2001). Series 2. A six-step process
is presented for stakeholder power analysis.
Stakeholder analysis exercise: A quick process for identifying stakeholders and developing
community outreach strategies. (2000). Government Relations Department, The Nature
Conservancy.
Where the Power Lies: Multiple stakeholder politics over natural resources. A participatory
methods guide. Sithole, B. (2002). Jakarta, Indonesia, Center for International Forestry
Research: 87 pp. Tools and approaches to identifying and working with stakeholders.
RESOURCESRESOURCESRESOURCESRESOURCES
Websites
World Bank Participation Sourcebook. 1996. See http://www.worldbank.org/wbi/sourcebook/sbhome.htm
Power Tools: for policy influence in natural resource management. See http://www.policy- powertools.org/
The Guide to Effective Participation is available through Partnerships Online at http://www.partnerships.org.uk/guide/index.htm
Publications
WWF (2004). Situation Analysis- Experiences and lessons learned in the ICD Programme. Issues in Natural Resource Management. Improving Conservation and Development in Ecoregions Programme, World Wildlife Fund. Issue 2.
