the importance of early stakeholder engagement

8/13/2019 The importance of early Stakeholder Engagement

1/14

Building Trust Through Effective

Early Stakeholder Engagement

Helena Seaward, SRK Consulting UK, Ltd


2/14

Introduction

Building trust takes time- earlier engagement is started longer acompany has for it to develop

Early engagement process needs to be formalised using correct tools in

order to be effective at building trust

Early stakeholder engagement helps manage expectations and avoid

potential conflicts- important for a company to manage social risk to a

project


3/14

What is Stakeholder Engagement?

Two-way process of communication and information sharing

between a project and project stakeholders

Main stakeholder groups include national and local government,communities (including sub-groups within communities such as

indigenous peoples) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

IFC PS 1- the basis for building strong, constructive, and

responsive relationships that are essential for the successful

management of a project's environmental and social impacts


4/14

Project Engagement

ExplorationEngineering

Scoping

Pre-

feasibilityFeasibility

Detailed

design

Engineering

Process

ESIA

Scoping

Engagement

process

ESIA

Public

Hearing


5/14

The Importance of early stakeholder

engagement

Informs communities of what is happening around them to alleviate

concerns

Safe avenue for communities to ask questions, raise grievances

Prevents misinformation and negative perceptions

Manage stakeholder risk


6/14

Case Study Concerns and grievances can arise from the

moment a company arrives in an area

Company receiving grievances about cut linesmade during initial exploration three years later

Cut lines have damaged crops- we should be compensated- local community member

Cut line

Affected stream


7/14

Making early engagement effective

Trust, mutual respect and understanding develop and evolve over

time (IFC, 2007)

The following can enhance the success of early stakeholder

engagement:

Community liaison staff

Formal process- stakeholder analysis, whole community

engagement, recording of issues and commitments and follow up


8/14

Tools to formalise the early

engagement process

Stakeholder Analysis

Communication Strategies

Stakeholder Database


9/14

StakeholderAnalysis

Early analysis important to avoid alienating potential stakeholders

CASE STUDY

Used snowball sampling to identify stakeholders

Analysed their influence/ interest in the project

Villages in the primary sphere, the environment agency, district

chiefs and 2 NGOs required regular meetings

Other stakeholder required less frequent engagement


10/14

Communication MethodsCommunication methods need to be

appropriate to the stakeholder groupsbeing engaged with:

Government and NGOs

Communities

o Participatory mapping

o Disclosure documents & Posters


11/14

Stakeholder Databases


12/14

Things to avoid when engaging early

Distributing information which may turn out to be untrue

Making promises which cannot be fulfilled

Inaccurate perceptions, fears and expectations

Public mistrust and negative press


13/14

Conclusion

Early stakeholder engagement needed to forge life-long relationships

with stakeholders

Formalising early engagement is needed for it to be effective atbuilding trust

Early engagement is necessary for a company to manage social risk


14/14

Thank you for your

attention!

Helena Seaward:

the importance of early stakeholder engagement

Documents