Map of relevant actors

Aim

• Identify and characterise relevant stakeholders to prepare and plan their involvement in different activities, e.g. workshops, interviews, etc.
• Analyse the level of interest, participation and influence of stakeholders in relation to different activities in order to make decisions on their form of involvement and their role in the promotion and implementation of green infrastructure.

Description

Stakeholder mapping allows to create a reference of the main relevant actors in the implementation area, with the opportunity to identify the levels of influence among them, coalitions and their power spaces over the territory to be worked on. It also supports both the clarification of interests and needs, as well as the definition of incentives for each actor to promote their involvement and empowerment.

Steps

1. Define the information required from key stakeholders

Identify what kind of support and information is needed for your project that only stakeholders can provide. For example, whether or not there is stakeholder interest, what needs stakeholders have, what stakeholders think of your project, etc.

2. Selection criteria

Define criteria for the selection of relevant actors: Position, influence, interest in relation to the planned activity.

Here it is possible to start by establishing contact with a certain group of actors as a platform to access others who have more influence on the project. Relevant stakeholders are also necessary to generate ownership, so that the project is viable and sustainable over time.

SEE-URBAN-WATER:  Stakeholders were selected according to their level of interest and knowledge on the topic. Therefore, initially the relevant stakeholders for the team were the research members of CIEDES (Centro de Investigación en Desarrollo Sostenible) in Costa Rica. CIEDES contributed as a platform to access other local actors such as officials from municipalities and other governmental institutions. CIEDES also has researchers in Costa Rica working in the Quebrada Seca watershed generating baseline data relevant to our project. CIEDES conducts studies for the integrated management of the Río Burío-Quebrada Seca micro-watershed, Heredia. The general objective is “to elaborate an Integrated Master Plan for the Management of the Burío-Quebrada Seca River Micro-basin that allows the identification and design of measures for the conservation, use and sustainable exploitation of the existing natural resources, with an ecosystemic and land-use planning approach”. See “Basin files”. 

3. Stakeholder analysis

Establish the desired levels of participation with relevant stakeholders to define the support they can give to your project.

Here we seek to carry out a qualitative analysis of the stakeholders we need to involve in the project in order to establish the desired levels of participation. Five categories can be adopted:

• Information: This consists of informing stakeholders during the course of the project about progress and potential benefits, challenges, opportunities and costs.
• Consultation: Consists of collecting opinions from different stakeholders.
• Involvement: This involves exposing stakeholders directly to the project site, thus facilitating a visible and tangible connection to promote the benefits they perceive.
• Collaboration: Consists of integrating the opinions of the different stakeholders to propose concrete actions in the implementation of the project.
• Decision: Consists of taking into account the opinions of stakeholders to make decisions or to make decisions together. This is the most important level of democratic participation.

SEE-URBAN-WATER: 

Information: Examples of this level of participation can be newsletters, display of posters and convening of certain meetings. Also social networks as emerging media that are becoming increasingly important in participatory processes. See “SEE-URBAN-WATER Newsletters” 
Consultation: Examples of this level of participation can be interviews, questionnaires, surveys, bilateral meetings and recreational activities with residents. See guide “Gathering information through qualitative interviews with citizens or experts”.
Involvement: Examples of this level of participation can be interactive workshops, field visits and meetings with different stakeholders at the same time. See guide “Capacity building and exchange workshops”.
Collaboration: Examples of this level of participation can be interactive workshops, field visits and meetings with residents. See “Documentation of SEE-URBAN-WATERing Workshops”
Decision: Examples of this level of involvement can be meetings with Municipal Councils to obtain building permits, meetings with residents to obtain their validation of the project, and meetings with other agencies that can cooperate financially with the project.

4. Visualisation of the results based on the definition of the selection criteria

Create a table of relevant actors with the criteria (position, influence, interest) and the information or support to be obtained. This list should also contain the possible channels of communication e.g. telephone, email, address etc. An example is presented in the table below:

5. Selection of actors

Select the identified actors according to the degree of interest and influence (1,2, 3, … or low/medium/high) to build the measurement and clustering graph. See example below. This graph allows us to group the actors according to their interest, influence and position and thus to select the corresponding activities with the different groups of actors.

For example, if there are stakeholders who have a high level of influence but very little interest, green infrastructure promotion activities such as cost-benefit workshops could be carried out. If, on the other hand, a stakeholder group has very little influence but a lot of interest, training workshops can be held where people can take ownership of new solutions, such as the installation of a low-cost rainwater harvesting system. They could also be provided with information on how to acquire financing for such an installation. If the stakeholder group has little influence and little interest, informative activities or social events could be held to make them aware of the added value of green infrastructure at the urban level.

This graph also allows to define the levels of stakeholder participation according to stages.

SEE-URBAN-WATER: Stages and levels of participation for the implementation of IV in Urbanisation XXI Century in the Municipality of Flores:




Stage
Level of participation
Stakeholder group
Activity carried out


Initial/ Promotion
Informative
Higher interest/ Higher influence and lower interest/ higher influence
Bilateral meetings with municipality officials, academics and NGOs.


Initial/ Promotion
Informative
Lower interest/ Lower influence
Social events with poster displays to inform residents about the benefits of green infrastructure (see guide “Organising social events in the planning or implementation area”)


Initial/ Consultative
Consultation
Lower interest/ less influence and Higher interest/ less influence and Higher interest/ more influence
Interviews, questionnaires, surveys, bilateral meetings and social events with residents, Flores Municipality officials, academics, local and non-governmental organisations (  see guide “Gathering information through qualitative interviews with citizens or experts”) 


Co-design
Involvement
Greater interest/ greater influence and Greater interest/ less influence
Capacity building and engagement workshops (see guide “Capacity building and exchange workshops”)


Co-design
Involvement
Less interest/ less influence and More interest/ less influence
Poster displays, interactive and participatory workshops (See guide “Engaging local stakeholders through workshops”)


Implementation
Involvement and collaboration
More interest/ more influence and Less interest/ less influence
Involve different local stakeholders (residents and municipality officials) during hydrological monitoring activities in urban areas for the promotion and implementation of green infrastructure (see guide “Involving local stakeholders during the installation and operation of a hydrological monitoring network”)


Implementation
Decision
Increased interest/ increased influence
Bilateral meetings with Municipality officials to obtain building permits


Throughout the project
Informative
Greater interest/ Greater influence and less interest/greater influence and greater interest/less influence
Bi-annual newsletters. See “SEE-URBAN-WATER Newsletters  ” Website on FB/ Instagram).

Results

• Appropriate identification of relevant stakeholders for the development of a stakeholder engagement strategy.
• Grouping of stakeholders in relation to their interest, influence and position to organise the different activities in order to encourage the participation and collaboration of the different stakeholders in the project.

Rules

• Make sure to include as many relevant actors as possible during stakeholder mapping, including less powerful or dominant actors as well.
• Start with as exhaustive a list of stakeholders as possible and then try to reduce the number to those most relevant to your objectives.

Scopes and challenges

• Failure to properly identify the majority of relevant stakeholders can lead to misunderstandings, false expectations, rejection and negative perceptions that hinder the success, implementation and sustainability of the project.
• Without proper stakeholder involvement there is a risk that the necessary stakeholder support will not be achieved or that there will be less buy-in.
• Without appropriate stakeholder involvement, projects fail to generate real positive impact for the intended beneficiaries.

References and Additional Information

• Stakeholder Mapping at the National University of Córdoba
• A guide to stakeholder mapping and its conceptual and methodological foundations – Fundación Cambio Democrático