Stakeholder Involvement
Introduction
Stakeholders (USEPA, 2005) are those individuals, groups, agencies, and organizations who make and carry out decisions, are affected by decisions, or have the ability to impede decisions. Enough key stakeholders must be convinced to support changes or change will not happen. When it comes to important issues like watershed management many stakeholders are involved in, affected by, or have partial responsibility to act. These stakeholders must be taken seriously according to Bryson and Carroll (as cited in NCRCRD, 2006). As you work to develop a watershed action plan, you will want to involve all the key stakeholders at some point during the planning process. While different stakeholder representatives will want to participate at different times and in different ways, in general the earlier you involve stakeholders the greater the likelihood that they will support your plan.
Many watershed groups confuse stakeholder participation with public involvement and education efforts. The public is everyone who resides or works in the watershed. While many members of the public are stakeholders with a direct interest in watershed protection, many others will only be affected indirectly by your group's actions. There may be occasions, however, when you will want to involve a broader cross-section of the community than just key stakeholders, for example when you are gathering data on community concerns or attitudes toward the water resource. At other times, you may want to reach the general public with a message about specific actions residents can take to support your group or to protect the watershed. Getting input from the public and public education are both vital elements of watershed planning and implementation, but they should not be confused with stakeholder participation.
This module will lead you through a process to identify your goals for involving stakeholders and what stakeholders are needed and to select appropriate formats for their participation. Through a stakeholder analysis exercise you will consider expectations, and how to satisfy them, as well as your organizational needs in order to identify possible roles key stakeholders might play in the development of the watershed action plan and beyond.
It's important to recognize that some stakeholders will likely struggle to identify their own role within the watershed management effort and it would be helpful if you could provide them with resources such as professional contacts or data that may aid them. For example one stakeholder we interviewed (Farmer Don, AKA Don Lee, President of the Olentangy Watershed Alliance) for the Extraordinary People Project http://ohiowatersheds.osu.edu/ep/don.html worked out an important land donation for his watershed through informal conversations with his friend Cecil who happened to own an important section of streamside land. Don described how he shared the state's goals for water quality with his friend and through these conversations they realized that Cecil could benefit by donating the land by fulfilling his dream of maintaing his boyhood home much like he remembered.
The suggested readings will help you identify the various reasons stakeholder groups might have for participating and the various roles they might play. Of course, every watershed will have its own set of stakeholders and why and how they participate will be unique to each person, organization, and watershed, but the more options you can provide stakeholders for participating, the better your chances of getting a variety of stakeholders involved.
Learning Objectives
After completion of the module the learner should be able to:
- Identify key stakeholders in your watershed and dertermine some of their potential interests and why they should be involved.
- Identify each stakeholder's interests and two potential roles these stakeholders might play in the development and/or implementation of a watershed action plan.
Background Readings
Required:
- Chess C., Hance B.J. and Gibson, G. (2000) Adaptive Participation in Watershed Management. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation; Third Quarter 2000; 55, 3.
- Maguire, L. Interplay of Science and Stakeholder Values in Neuse River Total Maximum Daily Load. Journal of Water Resources Planing and Management. July/August 2003.
- US EPA. (2005) Build Partnerships. In EPA Handbook for Developing Watershed Plans to Restore and Protect Our Waters. (Chapter 3 Build Partnerships Section 3.1 thru 3.44 (Pp. 3.1 thru 3.22))
- Ohio EPA. (1997). A Guide to Developing Local Watershed Action Plans in Ohio. (Pp. 7-10).
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/nps/wsguide.pdf (PDF format) - Getting in Step: Engaging and Involving Stakeholders in Your Watershed
http://www.epa.gov/owow/watershed/outreach/documents/stakeholderguide.pdf
(Section 2 Getting Started pp 13-16 and Section 4 Building Your Stakeholder Group pp. 20-41). - International Association for Public Participation (go to pull down menu item "Practitioner Tools" and read the "Spectrum" and "Toolbox") http://www.iap2.org/
Note although the IAP2 spectrum is aimed at "public participation" it is still a important resource for organizing stakeholder invovlement.
Additional Resources:
- Bowman, B., and Koontz, T M. (2005). Citizen Participation in Ohio Watershed Groups. It is available as a pdf document at: http://ecarp.osu.edu/Citizen_Participation.pdf
- Webler, T., Tuler, S., Shockey I., Stern P., and Beattie R. (2003). Participation by Local Governmental Officials in Watershed Management Planning. Society and Natural Resources. [Academy Students receive a copy of this article.]
- CTIC Know Your Watershed. Building Local Partnerships: A Guide for Watershed Partnerships.
http://www.ctic.purdue.edu/KYW/Brochures/ BuildingLocal.html