1. Engaging stakeholders in climate adaptation: why, when, who, how?

2. Why engage stakeholders? Climate adaptation is effectively about making changes to reduce the negative impacts of climate change and harness any positive impacts Its about: doing (good) things more doing things differently (better) message radio doing different (better) things businesses that distribute work to Vietnam)e.g. dig more drainage canals e.g. issue early warnings via text to mobile phones as well as via broadcaste.g. establish fund to collect money from benefit from healthy forests and it to individual households that maintain those forests (e.g. What is good / better needs to be judged with specific and explicit reference to changes in the climate, but also alongside other key considerations, which may or may not be directly impacted by or impact on the climate (e.g. economic market demands, government policies, etc.) 3. Why engage stakeholders? Making such judgements usually require some scientific information but are also based on values (i.e. choices often cannot be made on a purely technical basis but also require political negotiation to be accepted) Implementing chosen changes often requires a range of mandates, resources and expertise, seldom found in a single individual or organization The process of adaptation therefore often requires collaboration between a variety of stakeholders In addition, change is not well accepted and undertaken when people dont feel like they are part of the process of deciding on it, therefore excluding stakeholders can potentially undermine the adaptation process 4. When might stakeholder engagement be necessary or beneficial? There are various stages in the adaptation process that might require engaging with a variety of different stakeholders: Problem definition and analysis (i.e. climate impacts and sources of vulnerability) explored in exercise 1 Raising awareness amongst other influential stakeholders who might not be seeing the problem at all / or in the same way Planning an intervention to reduce climate impacts or harness new opportunities (in terms of goal, objectives, strategies, actions, resources required, means of measuring progress & impact) Doing the selected actions Reviewing and evaluating progress and outcomes (i.e. what is working, what is not, who is benefitting, who is losing out / paying a price) Redesigning the next phase based on evidence gathered, lessons learned and newly emerging needs and preferences Each stage might require a different level or depth of participation These stages are not often discrete and sequential but rather overlapping and iterative 5. Exercise 1: combining perspectives through group mapping Purpose: identify and work through differences in perception about what the various causes of a problem are that in turn can be used to identify suitable interventions to deal with the root causes and not simply the symptoms Instructions: 1. 2.Get into groups of 4-5 On a sheet of flip chart draw a large fishbone 6. Exercise 1: combining perspectives through group mapping Instructions continued: 3. 4.5.Label the head of the fish with the problem to be analyzed e.g. increases in crop failure Identify factors that may cause this problem, prompted by asking why. Group members add their suggestions to the lateral bones of the fish (use post-it notes so they can be moved around if necessary) Explore the root causes of each suggested factor in turnProblem Proximate causes Root causes 7. Exercise 1: combining perspectives through group mapping Discuss plenary: the potential strengths and weaknesses of using this kind of exercises with different stakeholder groups (e.g. groups of fishermen, local government officials, national policymakers, etc.) Alternative version of the exercise: First individuals create their own graphic before combining them into a group picture (useful when topic is new and unfamiliar or very contentious, enables participants to take time gathering their own thoughts before engaging with others to reach a consensus version) One limitation of this exercise is that it doesnt explore the feedbacks between causes A more advance version of this exercise is to develop a systems model that captures these feedbacks (both positive and negative) to capture more complex system dynamics and the possible knock on effects of a particular intervention 8. Who are the stakeholders to engage? Depends on aim of the engagement (i.e. list in slide on when to engage), the resources available (often one has to be selective for practical purposes), and the willingness of individuals and organizations to be engaged Types of stakeholders: Social or economic / livelihood groups (e.g. mothers, rice farmers, tourist guides, dive instructors, etc.) Civic networks / non-governmental organizations (e.g. trade unions, religious leaders, etc.) Professional groups (e.g. spatial planners, veterinarians, educators, etc.) Government officials and policy-makers (e.g. provincial politicians, local administrative officials, etc.) Businesses (e.g. ferry company, fishing charters, hotel chains, bottled water company, rice processors, etc.) 9. Who are the stakeholders to engage? Prioritize those with importance to and influence over the problem being addressed, but being careful not to perpetuate or further entrench existing inequalities by excluding those with minimal power, influence and resources Source: VSO Participatory Approaches: A facilitators guide Note: PA = participatory approaches 10. Who are the stakeholders to engage? There is often value in linking across scales / governance levels (community-based, local, provincial, national, regional, international stakeholders as relevant) and between sectors to draw in different knowledge, resources, areas of influence and responsibilities The next exercise is one example of how to identify who the critical stakeholders are in relation to the climate change-related issue you are targeting 11. Exercise 2: exploring influence and importance of different stakeholders Purpose: Stakeholder Mapping shows the key institutions and individuals linked to an issue or intended outcome, together with their relationships and their importance in decision-makingInstructions: 1.In your group decide on the adaptation issue / outcome to be focused on write in centre of flip chart sheet2.List the stakeholders that affect and are affected by that issue3.Cut out different size circles to represent each institution or individual, the bigger circle indicates more important stakeholders, label each circle with the name of the institution or individual4.Lay out the circles relative to each other according to the degree of contact and overlap between each circle in terms of decision-making: separate circles = no contact touching circles = information passes between institutionsMore importantsmall overlap = some cooperation in decision-making large overlap = considerable cooperation in decision-makingLess important 12. Exercise 2: exploring influence and importance of different stakeholders Discuss in plenary: does this exercise help reveal which stakeholders to target in various ways; can you begin to identify where potential conflicts might arise between interest groups Beware that the alliances of group participants may influence consensus over who is important, which may result in a skewed picture if there is not diverse representation This exercise can lead to more advanced techniques such as formal Social Network Analysis (where more rigorous and detailed information adds value and resources exist to implement the method) 13. How to engage different types of stakeholders Key principles of effective engagement (adapted from Gardner et al, 2009): Learn about other current or prior engagements: important because prior positive experiences can help promote engagement, prior negative experiences can retard engagement; current activities of other groups can potentially confuse participants or cause mutual interference, but also present opportunities to use existing forums. Set goals and plan: spend time clarifying what you want to achieve from the engagement process; be strategic about where/with whom engagement is pursued; adding a discussion of climate adaptation into existing engagement groups may be an efficient approach. Manage expectations: establish up-front where there is potential for participants to influence outcomes and where there is not. 14. How to engage different types of stakeholders Key principles of effective engagement (adapted from Gardner et al, 2009) continued: Use group discussion: it is important to use a range of engagement forums, but group discussion is particularly important to enable the high quality conversations which allow people to develop a more complex understanding of the issue at hand. Use varied presentation formats: information should be presented in a range of different ways to accommodate the range of learning styles and needs in the community. Allow for mutual influence: participants should have the opportunity to have input into decisions (as opposed to just being told what to do or just being asked to identify issues). 15. How to engage different types of stakeholders Key principles of effective engagement (adapted from Gardner et al, 2009) continued: Foster trust, respect and ownership: Ideally, all parties to the engagement process should trust each other, respect one anothers viewpoint and inputs, and should gain a sense of personal responsibility towards the issue. Maintain contact and feedback: people become cynical about engagement if conveners do not communicate how participants input and suggestions were taken into account. Engagement should be systematically evaluated, to draw lessons for the next time. 16. How to engage different types of stakeholders There are various types of engagement for which some modes of engagement are more effective than others: Informing Lobbying Consulting Shared decision-making Acting together (joint implementation) Knowledge co-production and learning There are a range of participatory tools & methods, some of which are better suited to certain stakeholder groups than others (e.g. community members versus national policy-makers versus commercial business managers) More of these can be included in further modules if considered needed and thereby a learning priority 17. Recommended resources weADAPT Risk communications Stakeholder analysis and engagement Social learning Gardner, J, Dowd, A-M., Mason, C. and Ashworth, P. (2009). A framework for stakeholder engagement on climate adaptation. CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship Working paper No.3, URL: http://www.csiro.au/files/files/pph1.pdf VSO Participatory Approaches: A facilitators guide, URL: http://community.eldis.org/.59c6ec19/