The Six Steps in the partnership process

Step 1
The local authority decides to involve local communities in participatory planning of waste management services. The local authority starts a dialogue with influential representatives from a neighbourhood community;

Step 2
Community leaders, supported by a facilitating agency (and sometimes by local experts), make an initial investigation to identify all actors who have a stake in waste management in that neighbourhood community and to assess their problems and resources;

Step 3
The actors with the largest interest and stake in improving waste management in the neighbourhood are invited to join a formal stakeholder group;

Step 4
A community-based issue analysis will be carried out by a facilitating agency (usually a NGO) under supervision of the stakeholder group, involving the community, service providers and stakeholders;

Step 5
The stakeholder group, with consultants or local experts, prepares and implements a waste management action plan;

Step 6
The local authority institutionalises the partnerships process with communities and other partners.

(Source: Tools for decision-makers, M. Muller and L. Hoffman, 2001, UWEP, Waste)

• Who are the key stakeholders?
• What are the goals, motivations, and interests of the key stakeholders?
• What is the power and influence of each key stakeholder?
• What is the importance/impact of each key stakeholder on the project?
• What are the participation roles of each key stakeholder on the project?
• How can you work with each stakeholder for win-win outcomes?

The numbers allow you to rate the stakeholders on each factor on a scale of 1 to 4: 1=None, 2=Minimal, 3=Average, and 4=Significant. For level of support, however, you can also enter a negative number. For example, if your project’s technical expert has indicated he is strongly against the project, you can score his “negative” support as well.

A brief review
Now that we have worked through the stakeholder analysis process, let’s review the key aspects:

1. Identify stakeholders.
2. Determine the interests and goals, influence and power, and impact of stakeholders on the project.
3. Construct a Stakeholder Assessment Map (SAM) and Stakeholder Reporting Matrix (SRM).
4. Review and finalize the SAM and SRM with the project team.
5. Construct an Analysis Table to analyze stakeholder information.
6. Choose appropriate strategies to handle stakeholders.
7. Plug the information you’ve gathered into your project.