The first step for an EO is identification of who are the relevant stakeholders on a given issue; from this, a stakeholder analysis can flow, which in essence is:
- A more in-depth look at stakeholder group interests;
- how they will be affected by the EOs proposal;
- to what degree;
- what influence they could have on the EOs proposals;
The answers to these questions will provide the basis from which to build the EO's stakeholder engagement strategy.
Stakeholders on any given issue will broadly fall into the following categories:
Figure 1
The first step is to ascertain who, for the EO, are the relevant stakeholders, in terms of this specific issue. Once the list is reasonably complete it is then possible to assign priorities in some way, and then to translate the 'highest priority' stakeholders into a table or a picture. The potential list of stakeholders for any project will always exceed both the time available for analysis and the capability of the mapping tool to sensibly display the results. The challenge is to focus on the 'right stakeholders' who are currently important and to use the tool to visualize this critical subset of the total community. On some issues, representative associations of business and professional women and/or women entrepreneurs will be important stakeholders for the EO to engage.
The "Power Analysis" Matrix below can assist in categorizing stakeholders and in identifying the 'key' stakeholders, on which to focus efforts on. The first category specifies the relevance of this stakeholder to the EO's proposal; the second categorizes their 'power', such as governing or legislative ability; the third category whether they are capable of supporting the EO's proposal or not; and the fourth, their influence on the proposal. The last column allows the EO to make a final categorization of this stakeholder – all 'green' entries signify a key stakeholder
The "Power Analysis" Matrix below is a generic model. The individual doing this assessment needs to dissect each category. For example: "Members of Parliament" need to be identified by political party; each relevant Ministry (and departments within Ministries) needs to be identified; trade unions need to be categorized (private sector or public), and so forth.
| STEP 1: POWER ANALYSIS MATRIX | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stakeholders | Relevance to the EO’s proposal | Power | Support | Influence | SCORE |
| Prime Minister and Ministers | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
e.g. four ‘green’ scores would signal a ‘key’ stakeholder |
| Members of Parliament and political parties | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Public administration: all other public sector interests from a wide range of ministries and agencies | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Regulated professionals affected by the EO’s proposal (accountants, lawyers, etc.) | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Other private sector associations, including ones representing women business owners | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Trade unions | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Civil Society Organizations, including women's groups | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Academics, research institutions, and thinktanks | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Media | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| General public | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
| Donors | Support Uncommitted Oppose |
high medium low |
positive neutral negative |
high medium low |
|
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