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Building Trust Through Effective
Early Stakeholder Engagement
Helena Seaward, SRK Consulting UK, Ltd
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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
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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
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Project Engagement
ExplorationEngineering
Scoping
Pre-
feasibilityFeasibility
Detailed
design
Engineering
Process
ESIA
Scoping
Engagement
process
ESIA
Public
Hearing
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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
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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
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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
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Tools to formalise the early
engagement process
Stakeholder Analysis
Communication Strategies
Stakeholder Database
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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
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Communication MethodsCommunication methods need to be
appropriate to the stakeholder groupsbeing engaged with:
Government and NGOs
Communities
o Participatory mapping
o Disclosure documents & Posters
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Stakeholder Databases
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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
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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
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Thank you for your
attention!
Helena Seaward:
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