1. STAKEHOLDER MAPPING
INTRODUCTION
Stakeholder mapping is an important step to gain an understanding of who your key
stakeholders are, where they come from, and what they are looking for in relationship to your
business or project. You will need to look at the needs of the individuals and how you will
use this information to help you with your overall project.
WHAT IS STAKEHOLDER MAPPING?
Stakeholder mapping is a process of researching your stakeholder group, comparing the
needs of the whole group and individuals within the group.
Mapping will help you to:
Identify potential strategies
Identify the relationship that needs to be established with the various individuals/groups
of stakeholders
Identify any key blockers & facilitators of change
Establish socio, economic and political priorities and trends
Highlight power and interest
Stakeholders get traded off against each other and their interests are not always consistent,
this will help you to take account of the various needs of the different interested parties.
MAPPING PHASES
Mapping can be broken down into four phases:
1) Identifying: listing relevant groups, organisations, and people
2) Analysing: understanding stakeholder perspectives and interests
3) Mapping: visualising relationships to objectives and other stakeholders
4) Prioritising: ranking stakeholder relevance and identifying issues
The process of stakeholder mapping is as important as the result, and the quality of the
process depends heavily on the knowledge of the people participating.
1) IDENTIFYING
The first step in the mapping process is to understand that there is no magic list of
stakeholders. The final list will depend on your business or project, any impacts, and your
current engagement objectives—as a result it should not remain static. This list will change
as the environment around you evolves and as stakeholders make decisions or change their
opinions.
2. 2) ANALYSING
Once you have identified a list of stakeholders, it is useful to do further analysis to better
understand their relevance and the perspective they offer, to understand their relationship to
the project and each other, and to prioritise based on their relative usefulness for this
engagement.
Ask the following questions:
Does the stakeholder have information or expertise that could be helpful to you?
How legitimate is the stakeholder’s claim for engagement?
How willing is the stakeholder to engage?
How much influence does the stakeholder have?
3) MAPPING
Mapping stakeholders is a visual exercise and analysis tool that you can use to further
determine which stakeholders are most useful to engage with. Mapping allows you to see
where stakeholders stand when evaluated and compared to each other and helps you
visualise the often complex range of issues and relationships.
4) PRIORITISING STAKEHOLDERS AND IDENTIFYING ISSUES
It is not practical and usually not necessary to engage with all stakeholder groups with the
same level of intensity all of the time. Being strategic and clear about whom you are
engaging with and why, before jumping in, can help save both time and money.
Ask the following questions:
How high is this strategy on their priorities?
Will they actively support or oppose you?
Will you need different styles for different stakeholder individuals/groups?
ADVANTAGES OF STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
Stakeholder analysis can help you implement your project through securing support from powerful
stakeholders
Stakeholder identification and analysis techniques can help you meet mandates, fulfill
aims/missions and create value
The use of stakeholder analyses can help frame issues that are solvable in ways that are
technically feasible and politically acceptable and that advance the common good
3. MAPPING EXAMPLES
Level of Interest in Project
Power and influence
within the
Stakeholder group
Low High
Low Minimal effort Keep informed
High Keep satisfied Key Players
