Supporting Actor Analysis using
the I3S: Stakeholder analysis
support (SAS) tool
What is actor analysis?
… a way to understand who is affected by
and who has the power to influence
water policy decisions and
implementation, i.e. the stakeholders
Why perform stakeholder analysis?
Three theoretical approaches:
•To understand who’s in and why (descriptive
approach)
•Influence and manage stakeholder relationships
(instrumental approach)
•Legitimise stakeholder involvement and
empowerment in decision-making processes, and
to ensure representation of under-represented or
marginalised groups (normative approach)
Why perform stakeholder analysis?
so..
make sure
all relevantof
…to
facilitate
the processes
stakeholders
are or
involved
or your
social,
economic
environmental
project
might
fail
change
and
adaptation
Steps in actor analysis
Context
Identify focus (e.g. issue,
organisation or intervention)
High level cognitive
mapping using C-map
tools
Identify system boundaries
Application of stakeholder methods
Identify stakeholders and their stake
Differentiate between and categorise
stakeholders
Stakeholder
Analysis Support
(SAS) tool
Investigate relationships between
stakeholders
Actions
Recommend future activities and
stakeholder engagement
Detailed mapping of cause-effect
relationships between stakeholders and
the subsequent impact on environmental
indicators using knowledge maps,
influence diagrams, and quantification
using Bayesian belief networks
Context for testing
Follow the link to actor analysis scenario
in the I3s workshop website
Interest functions
• Regulation: e.g. flood water storage, drainage.
• Habitat: e.g. for wildlife, important for
conservation organisations
• Information: e.g., providing education to citizens
(amenity), research value to NGOs (landscape)
• Production: e.g. drinking water abstraction,
industrial production, agricultural production
• Carrier: e.g. transport, industrial sites,
settlements
High
INTEREST
Subjects:
•high interest but low influence
Key players are stakeholders
•theywho
are supportive, but lack the capacity for
should to be actively groomed,
because
impact,
they have high interest in and•they
influence
may become influential by forming
over a particular phenomenon.
alliances with other stakeholders
•often the marginal stakeholders
Subjects
Key players that
development projects seek to empower
Context setters are highly influential,
The Crowd are stakeholders who have little
but have little interest. Because of
interest in or influence over desired outcomes
this, they may be a significant risk,
and there is little need to consider them in
and should be monitored and
much detail or to engage with them.
managed.
Context setters
Low
Crowd
Low
INFLUENCE
High
How can results from the SAS tool be used to
facilitate engagement, policy implementation and
the process of change?
• Provides a structured approach to investigating existing
and potential collaborative relationships between
stakeholders, and the barriers to and drivers of these
relationships
• Identify which actors are currently considered key to the
collaborative effort and why. Some are important
financial supporters, other possess essential knowledge,
whilst others still may have already recognised
appropriate linkages and shared interests upon which
further collaboration may be built.
• Representation of under-represented or marginalised
groups - Finally, it allows us to consider which
stakeholders are bypassed and how including them may
benefit other stakeholders, along with how such input
may affect existing management objectives.
Evaluation questionnaire