Stakeholders are those who may be affected by or have an effect on an effort. They may also include people who have a strong interest in the effort for academic, philosophical, or political reasons, even though they and their families, friends, and associates are not directly affected by it.
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One way to characterize stakeholders is by their relationship to the effort in question.
Primary stakeholders are the people or groups that stand to be directly affected, either positively or negatively, by an effort or the actions of an agency, institution, or organization. In some cases, there are primary stakeholders on both sides of the equation: a regulation that benefits one group may have a negative effect on another. A rent control policy, for example, benefits tenants, but may hurt landlords.
Secondary stakeholders are people or groups that are indirectly affected, either positively or negatively, by an effort or the actions of an agency, institution, or organization. A program to reduce domestic violence, for instance, could have a positive effect on emergency room personnel by reducing the number of cases they see. It might require more training for police to help them handle domestic violence calls in a different way. Both of these groups would be secondary stakeholders.
Key stakeholders, who might belong to either or neither of the first two groups, are those who can have a positive or negative effect on an effort, or who are important within or to an organization, agency, or institution engaged in an effort. The director of an organization might be an obvious key stakeholder, but so might the line staff – those who work directly with participants – who carry out the work of the effort. If they don’t believe in what they’re doing or don’t do it well, it might as well not have begun. Other examples of key stakeholders might be funders, elected or appointed government officials, heads of businesses, or clergy and other community figures who wield a significant amount of influence.
IDENTIFYING STAKEHOLDERS
In identifying stakeholders, it’s important to think beyond the obvious. Beneficiaries, policy makers, etc. are easy to identify, whereas indirect effects – and, as a result, secondary stakeholders – are sometimes harder to see. A push for new regulations on a particular industry, for instance, might entail greatly increased paperwork or the purchase of new machinery on the part of that industry’s suppliers. Traffic restrictions to control speeding in residential neighborhoods may affect commuters that use public transportation. Try to think of as many ways as possible that your effort might bring benefits or problems to people not directly in its path.
A stakeholder analysis identifies every individual, group, and organization that is part of your identified public health issue or can work to address it. The matrix is a way to provide this information and to make note of their level of commitment and impact.
Please use the Stakeholders Analysis Matrix template (Excel spreadsheet).
