Debi Ores
Staff Attorney and Legislative Advocate
Community Water Center

Stakeholder engagement can be broadly defined as efforts made to understand and involve stakeholders and their concerns in the activities and decision-making of an organization or group.
Central tenant: Stakeholders have a right to be involved in the decision-making processes that impact their lives.
Rather than a set list of activities to check off, stakeholder engagement is a continuum of options and possibilities that must be tailored to the decision and stakeholders in question.

1.
What, if any, experiences have you had with stakeholder engagement?
2.
What benefits or advantages have you seen arise from stakeholder engagement in your own work? What contributed to that success?
3.
Have you observed negative outcomes from stakeholder engagement? What contributed to that difficulty?

Stakeholder engagement requires inputs/investment
• Staff time
• Money
• Expertise
Stakeholder engagement is a process, it takes time
Stakeholder engagement may “complicate things” by adding additional opinions/viewpoints into the mix

Improved outcomes
• Create lasting, durable agreements
• Establish policies that are responsive and robust
• Comprehensive understanding of regional issues
• Increase resiliency and adaptability
• Promote innovation
• Improved science
Broad support and reduced conflict
• Increase public awareness
• Protect against lawsuits
• Build relationships/trust among resources users
• Increase credibility
Optimized resources
• Leverage funding sources
• Increase resource efficiencies
• Reduce the need for oversight and enforcement

 Section 10723(b). Before electing to be a groundwater sustainability agency, and after publication of notice pursuant to Section 6066 of the
Government Code, the local agency or agencies shall hold a public hearing in the county or counties overlying the basin.
 Section10723.4.The groundwater sustainability agency shall establish and maintain a list of persons interested in receiving notices regarding plan preparation, meeting announcements, and availability of draft plans, maps, and other relevant documents. Any person may request, in writing, to be placed on the list of interested persons.
 Section 10723.8(a). Within 30 days of electing to be or forming a groundwater sustainability agency, the groundwater sustainability agency shall inform the department of its election or formation and its intent to undertake sustainable groundwater management. The notification shall include the following information, as applicable: (4) A list of interested parties developed pursuant to Section 10723.2

 10723.8. (a) Within 30 days of electing to be or forming a groundwater sustainability agency, the groundwater sustainability agency shall inform the department of its election or formation and its intent to undertake sustainable groundwater management. The notification shall include the following information, as applicable: (4) A list of interested parties developed pursuant to Section 10723.2 and an explanation of how their interests will be considered in the development and operation of the groundwater sustainability agency and the development and implementation of the agency's sustainability plan.
 10727.8. (a) Prior to initiating the development of a groundwater sustainability plan, the groundwater sustainability agency shall make available to the public and the department a written statement describing the manner in which interested parties may participate in the development and implementation of the groundwater sustainability plan.

 Section 10723.2. The groundwater sustainability agency shall consider the interests of all beneficial uses and users of groundwater, as well as those responsible for implementing groundwater sustainability plans.
 Section 10727.8 (a). The groundwater sustainability agency shall encourage the active involvement of diverse social, cultural, and economic elements of the population within the groundwater basin.

 Section 10720.3. …any federally recognized Indian Tribe, appreciating the shared interest in assuring the sustainability of groundwater resources, may voluntarily agree to participate in the preparation or administration of a groundwater sustainability plan or groundwater management plan under this part through a joint powers authority or other agreement with local agencies in the basin. A participating Tribe shall be eligible to participate fully in planning, financing, and management under this part, including eligibility for grants and technical assistance, if any exercise of regulatory authority, enforcement, or imposition and collection of fees is pursuant to the Tribe's independent authority and not pursuant to authority granted to a groundwater sustainability agency under this part.

SGMA is groundbreaking, not only in its regulation of groundwater and mandate for sustainability, but also for the process that it outlines to get to sustainability. The collaboration that SGMA requires between and across agencies and stakeholders will be unprecedented in many groundwater basins.

• Stakeholder Identification and Assessment
• Targeted Communication and Broad Outreach
• Creating Decision-Making Structures That Stakeholders
Trust
• Establish Opportunities for Reflection, Feedback and
Adjustments
• Metrics for Evaluation

Identify your stakeholders (sec.
10723.2):
• Agricultural users
• Domestic well owners
• Municipal well operators
• Public water systems
• Local land-use planning agencies
• Environmental users of groundwater
• Surface water users
• California Native American
Tribes
• Disadvantaged communities
• Entities monitoring & reporting groundwater elevations.
Build your understanding of your stakeholders by conducting a stakeholder assessment:
• What are their interests, concerns and priorities?
• How do they use groundwater now and in the future?
• To what extent and how would they like to be involved?
• What does groundwater sustainability mean to them?
• How should the GSA be organized and governed?
• What barriers might they face to participating?
• Who else should be involved?

Individuals within any given stakeholder group are unique. While it is usually not possible to include every individual in planning or implementation, efforts should be made to ensure participating representatives reflect, at least broadly, the diversity within their stakeholder group.
Some stakeholders may come to the table themselves early in the process, others might require targeted outreach, and potentially even education or other forms of assistance, to involve in the process. A lack of participation cannot be assumed to be due to a lack of interest until a concerted effort has been made to involve a particular stakeholder and their barriers to participation have been addressed.
Different stakeholders may require different levels of involvement and/or methods of communication. These needs may change for certain stakeholders depending on the subject matter or stage of implementation.
Use your stakeholder assessment to tailor your outreach and communication!

There are many ways to facilitate dialogue between actors but there are a few key strategies that can promote productive communication:
• Ensure 2-way communication
• Local agencies must give information in order to receive information
• Be clear about the process
• Have a communication plan with clear objectives, roles, responsibilities, timelines, and opportunities for engagement
• Individualized contact
• There must be realistic opportunities for participation of all parties, this requires tailored engagement activities
• Create meaningful opportunities for feedback
• Stakeholders should play a role in determining next steps that will guide communication towards decision-making

Is there an existing governing body that adequately represents the relevant stakeholders? If not, you will need to create a new governing body or amend an existing one to fulfill the role of a
GSA.
Governance questions:
• How are the diverse stakeholders represented?
• Are there formal mechanisms for participation for all of the beneficial uses/users of water and the interested public?
• Are stakeholders satisfied with their representation?

Tools and opportunities for institutionalizing stakeholder engagement:
• Ensure that beneficial uses/users of water are represented on the governing board and establish two-way communication between that board member and the broader stakeholder groups they represent.
• Create an advisory board with meaningful powers and participation
(consider including advisory board representatives on the governing board and make sure that governing board members participate in advisory board meetings. Ensure two-way communication between the representatives and broader groups).
• Apply different voting procedures/rules to different types of decisions to maximize the participation of stakeholders in decisions that impact them while still recognizing financial investments.
• Convene ad-hoc working committees with stakeholder representatives as necessary to work on specific issues.

Optimizing the benefits of stakeholder engagement will require fine tuning of engagement and participation activities over time.
If local agencies are clear about what they are trying to accomplish with stakeholder engagement, soliciting feedback and making adjustments to further these goals will be that much easier. For this reason, setting measureable objectives for stakeholder engagement from the outset is a practice important to helping local agencies or newly formed GSAs practice effective stakeholder engagement and maximize its impact.

Key components of effective stakeholder engagement for GSA formation may include:
 A written stakeholder engagement plan considers all stakeholders, includes an assessment of their needs & interests, provides a transparent plan for sharing & receiving information and specifically addresses the engagement needs of all beneficial users/uses (including vulnerable/under-represented groups), and includes mechanisms to receive feedback and make adjustments.
 A robust list of interested parties includes representatives from all beneficial users/uses as well as other diverse stakeholders.
 All eligible local agencies within the territory of a proposed GSA have been informed of, and invited to participate in, the effort.
 Open, multi-stakeholder dialogues occur between stakeholder groups to develop shared understanding of concerns, interests, and needs.
 Formal mechanisms exist for the participation of stakeholders in a manner that reasonably addresses their needs.
 The flexibility to change as the needs of existing stakeholders evolve or as new stakeholders are identified.

For more information please consult our whitepaper
“Collaborating for Success” authored by CWC, Clean Water
Fund, and Union of Concerned
Scientists.
www.communitywatercenter.org