BOOK
Stakeholder Engagement for Inclusive Water Governance
(2015)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
This report assesses the current trends, drivers, obstacles, mechanisms, impacts, costs and benefits of stakeholder engagement in the water sector. It builds on empirical data collected through an extensive survey across 215 stakeholders, within and outside the water sector, and 69 case studies collected worldwide. It highlights the increasing importance of stakeholder engagement in the water sector as a principle of good governance and the need for better understanding of the pressing and emerging issues related to stakeholder engagement. These include: the shift of power across stakeholders; the arrival of new entrants that ought to be considered; the external and internal drivers that have triggered engagement processes; innovative tools that have emerged to manage the interface between multiple players, and types of costs and benefits incurred by engagement at policy and project levels.
This report provides pragmatic policy guidance to decision makers and practitioners in the form of key principles and a Checklist for Public Action with indicators, international references and self-assessment questions, which together can help policy makers to set up the appropriate framework conditions needed to yield the short and long-term benefits of stakeholder engagement.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | Cover | ||
| Table of contents | 7 | ||
| Acronyms and abbreviations | 11 | ||
| Executive summary | 13 | ||
| Assessment and recommendations | 15 | ||
| Stakeholder engagement is a rising topic in the water agenda | 16 | ||
| Drivers of stakeholder engagement | 17 | ||
| Mapping stakeholders | 18 | ||
| A question of scale | 19 | ||
| Stakeholder engagement obstacles | 20 | ||
| Strengths and weaknesses of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 21 | ||
| Assessing effectiveness, costs and benefits of stakeholder engagement | 22 | ||
| Setting up the enabling environment: Key principles for policy makers | 25 | ||
| Structure of the report | 27 | ||
| Bibliography | 28 | ||
| Chapter 1: Stakeholder engagement and the water agenda | 29 | ||
| Introduction | 30 | ||
| Stakeholder engagement gaining prominence in the water agenda | 30 | ||
| Water: A fragmented sector | 30 | ||
| A paradigm shift towards “open” decision making and implementation | 31 | ||
| Key definitions and insights from the literature | 32 | ||
| From public participation to stakeholder engagement | 32 | ||
| Typologies of engagement | 33 | ||
| Literature insights | 33 | ||
| OECD terminology and typology of levels of engagement | 34 | ||
| Communication | 35 | ||
| Consultation | 36 | ||
| Participation | 38 | ||
| Representation | 38 | ||
| Partnerships | 39 | ||
| Co-production and co-decision | 39 | ||
| Targets and promoters of engagement | 40 | ||
| Structural vs. issue-based engagement | 41 | ||
| Progress in water resources vs. services management | 44 | ||
| Analytical framework | 47 | ||
| Conclusion | 50 | ||
| Notes | 51 | ||
| Bibliography | 52 | ||
| Chapter 2: Drivers of stakeholder engagement in the water sector | 55 | ||
| Introduction | 56 | ||
| A gloomy picture, calling for a new governance climate | 56 | ||
| Structural drivers | 56 | ||
| Climate change | 57 | ||
| Economic and demographic trends | 57 | ||
| Socio-political trends | 59 | ||
| Technological drivers | 59 | ||
| Conjunctural drivers | 60 | ||
| Reforms, crises and democratic pressure | 61 | ||
| Binding and non-binding frameworks | 62 | ||
| Water allocation | 64 | ||
| Adaptive water governance | 65 | ||
| Conclusion | 66 | ||
| Note | 67 | ||
| Bibliography | 68 | ||
| Chapter 3: Mapping water-related stakeholders at all levels | 69 | ||
| Introduction | 70 | ||
| Identifying who does what | 70 | ||
| Mapping stakeholders | 70 | ||
| Typology of stakeholders | 73 | ||
| Typology of water management functions | 75 | ||
| Emerging stakeholders and new players | 76 | ||
| Business | 76 | ||
| Long-term institutional investors | 78 | ||
| Property developers | 80 | ||
| Unheard stakeholders | 81 | ||
| What matters for whom: Different motivations for different stakeholders | 84 | ||
| Stakeholders’ contribution to water governance | 85 | ||
| Water resources management | 85 | ||
| Water supply and sanitation | 87 | ||
| Water disaster management and environmental protection | 89 | ||
| Managing stakeholders’ expectations | 94 | ||
| The importance of connectivity | 95 | ||
| Stakeholders’ interactions | 95 | ||
| Interaction gaps | 97 | ||
| Getting the scale right | 99 | ||
| The multi-level nature of water governance | 99 | ||
| Defining the appropriate scale for stakeholder engagement | 100 | ||
| The emergence of transcalarity | 103 | ||
| Conclusion | 104 | ||
| Notes | 106 | ||
| Bibliography | 106 | ||
| Chapter 4: Obstacles to engaging stakeholders in the water sector | 109 | ||
| Introduction | 110 | ||
| Highlights from the survey | 110 | ||
| Obstacles to the integration of stakeholder engagement in water policies and practices | 111 | ||
| The lack of political will and the shift of power | 111 | ||
| Institutional fragmentation | 112 | ||
| Weak legal frameworks | 112 | ||
| Obstacles hindering the effective implementation of engagement processes | 112 | ||
| Lack of clarity on the use of engagement processes’ input | 112 | ||
| Lack of funding | 113 | ||
| Information asymmetry | 113 | ||
| Too many or too few voices | 114 | ||
| Lack of interest and concern | 115 | ||
| Conclusion | 115 | ||
| Bibliography | 117 | ||
| Chapter 5: Stakeholder engagement mechanisms in the water sector | 119 | ||
| Introduction | 120 | ||
| A tentative taxonomy | 120 | ||
| Formal engagement mechanisms | 122 | ||
| Informal engagement mechanisms | 123 | ||
| Zooming in on the increasing importance of information and communication technology tools | 125 | ||
| Open government data | 128 | ||
| The digital divide and risk of exclusion | 129 | ||
| Tailoring stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 129 | ||
| Matching mechanisms to the development stage of water policy and projects | 130 | ||
| Aligning mechanisms with intended objectives | 131 | ||
| Fitting mechanisms to stakeholders and places | 132 | ||
| Conclusion | 135 | ||
| Notes | 136 | ||
| Bibliography | 136 | ||
| Chapter 6: Assessing stakeholder engagement in the water sector | 137 | ||
| Introduction | 138 | ||
| Why evaluate stakeholder engagement? | 138 | ||
| Valued-added of stakeholder engagement evaluation | 138 | ||
| Challenges to stakeholder engagement evaluation | 139 | ||
| A range of evaluation tools and practices | 139 | ||
| How to evaluate stakeholder engagement? The need for indicators | 144 | ||
| Existing indicators for monitoring and assessing stakeholder engagement | 144 | ||
| Reporting on evaluation outcomes | 144 | ||
| What should be evaluated in stakeholder engagement? | 147 | ||
| Effectiveness | 147 | ||
| Costs | 151 | ||
| Benefits | 157 | ||
| Conclusion | 162 | ||
| Bibliography | 164 | ||
| Chapter 7: Stakeholder engagement in the water sector: Key principles and a Checklist for Public Action | 167 | ||
| Introduction: Why are principles needed? | 168 | ||
| Conditions for success: Highlights from the survey | 169 | ||
| Clarity of goals | 169 | ||
| Ability and capacity to take decisions | 169 | ||
| Financial and human resources | 170 | ||
| Quality and accessibility of information | 170 | ||
| Time and timeliness | 170 | ||
| Principles on Stakeholder Engagement in Water Governance and a Checklist for Public Action | 171 | ||
| Inclusiveness and equity | 174 | ||
| Preliminary checklist | 174 | ||
| Indicators | 175 | ||
| Selected tools and practices | 175 | ||
| Clarity of goals, transparency and accountability | 176 | ||
| Preliminary checklist | 176 | ||
| Indicators | 177 | ||
| Selected tools and practices | 177 | ||
| Capacity and information | 177 | ||
| Preliminary checklist | 177 | ||
| Indicators | 178 | ||
| Selected tools and practices | 179 | ||
| Efficiency and effectiveness | 179 | ||
| Preliminary checklist | 179 | ||
| Indicators | 180 | ||
| Selected tools and practices | 180 | ||
| Institutionalisation, structuring and integration | 181 | ||
| Preliminary checklist | 181 | ||
| Indicators | 182 | ||
| Selected tools and practices | 182 | ||
| Adaptiveness | 182 | ||
| Preliminary checklist | 182 | ||
| Indicators | 183 | ||
| Selected tools and practices | 183 | ||
| Note | 183 | ||
| Bibliography | 184 | ||
| Chapter 8: Stakeholders’ profiles | 185 | ||
| National governments | 186 | ||
| List of national governments surveyed | 186 | ||
| Areas of interest | 187 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 187 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 187 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 188 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 188 | ||
| Main drivers | 188 | ||
| Perception about national governments’ contribution to better water governance | 189 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 189 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 189 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 190 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 190 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 191 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 191 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 191 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 192 | ||
| Sub-national governments | 193 | ||
| List of sub-national governments surveyed | 193 | ||
| Areas of interest | 193 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 193 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 194 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 194 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 194 | ||
| Main drivers | 195 | ||
| Perception about sub-national governments’ contribution to better water governance | 195 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 196 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 196 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 196 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 197 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 197 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 197 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 198 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 198 | ||
| International organisations | 199 | ||
| List of international organisations surveyed | 199 | ||
| Areas of interest | 199 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 199 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 200 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 200 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 200 | ||
| Main drivers | 201 | ||
| Perception about international organisations’ contribution to better water governance | 201 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 202 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 202 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 202 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 203 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 203 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 203 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 204 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 204 | ||
| Service providers and their networks | 205 | ||
| List of service providers surveyed | 205 | ||
| Areas of interest | 205 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 206 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 206 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 206 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 207 | ||
| Main drivers | 207 | ||
| Perception about service providers’ and their networks’ contribution to better water governance | 208 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 208 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 208 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 209 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 209 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 209 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 210 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 210 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 210 | ||
| Watershed institutions and their networks | 211 | ||
| List of watershed institutions surveyed | 211 | ||
| Areas of interest | 211 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 211 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 212 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 212 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 212 | ||
| Main drivers | 213 | ||
| Perception about watershed institutions’ and their networks’ contribution to better water governance | 213 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 214 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 214 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 214 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 215 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 215 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 215 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 216 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 216 | ||
| Regulators | 217 | ||
| List of regulators surveyed | 217 | ||
| Areas of interest | 217 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 217 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 218 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 218 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 218 | ||
| Main drivers | 219 | ||
| Perception about regulators’ contribution to better water governance | 219 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 220 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 220 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 220 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 221 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 221 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 221 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 222 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 222 | ||
| Business | 223 | ||
| List of businesses surveyed | 223 | ||
| Areas of interest | 223 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 223 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 224 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 224 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 224 | ||
| Main drivers | 225 | ||
| Perception about business’s contribution to better water governance | 225 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 226 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 226 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 226 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 227 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 227 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 227 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 228 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 228 | ||
| Financial actors | 229 | ||
| List of financial actors surveyed | 229 | ||
| Areas of interest | 229 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 229 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 230 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 230 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 230 | ||
| Main drivers | 231 | ||
| Perception about financial actors’ contribution to better water governance | 231 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 232 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 232 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 232 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 233 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 233 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 233 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 234 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 234 | ||
| Civil society | 235 | ||
| List of civil society organisations surveyed | 235 | ||
| Areas of interest | 235 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 236 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 236 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 236 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 237 | ||
| Main drivers | 237 | ||
| Perception about civil society’s contribution to better water governance | 237 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 238 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 238 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 238 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 239 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 239 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 239 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 240 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 240 | ||
| Science and academia | 241 | ||
| List of scientific and academic institutions surveyed | 241 | ||
| Areas of interest | 242 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 242 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 242 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 243 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 243 | ||
| Main drivers | 243 | ||
| Perception about science and academia’s contribution to better water governance | 244 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 244 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 244 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 245 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 245 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 245 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 246 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 246 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 246 | ||
| Advisors | 247 | ||
| List of advisors surveyed | 247 | ||
| Areas of interest | 247 | ||
| Keywords most often associated with stakeholder engagement | 247 | ||
| Experience in stakeholder engagement | 248 | ||
| Scale of intervention | 248 | ||
| Interactions with other stakeholders | 248 | ||
| Main drivers | 249 | ||
| Perception about advisors’ contribution to better water governance | 249 | ||
| Use of stakeholder engagement mechanisms | 250 | ||
| Are existing stakeholder engagement mechanisms sufficient? | 250 | ||
| Main obstacles faced to engage stakeholders | 250 | ||
| Perception of critical conditions of success to effectively contribute to water-related decision making | 251 | ||
| Mechanisms used to assess the effectiveness of stakeholder engagement | 251 | ||
| Perception of the main benefits derived by stakeholder engagement | 251 | ||
| Perception of the main costs incurred by stakeholder engagement | 252 | ||
| Stage of decision making at which the stakeholder is the most influential | 252 | ||
| Annex A: Parliamentarians in water-related stakeholder engagement | 253 | ||
| Annex B: Agricultural actors in water-related stakeholder engagement | 255 | ||
| Annex C: Trade unions in water-related stakeholder engagement | 257 | ||
| Annex D: Media in water-related stakeholder engagement | 259 | ||
| Annex E: Cross case study list | 261 | ||
| Annex F: List of respondents to the OECD survey | 271 |