The Role of Stakeholders in Community Development
Introduction
Development, be it social, economic and/or environmental, has to be understood as an inherently political process of people claiming basic rights to manage the resources their lives depend on. In principle, everyone should be involved. Managing the inherent complexity requires a process of comprehensive engagement and negotiation with a broad range of stakeholders and the conscious and strategic acknowledgement of their divergent values and interests, needs and expectations. This paper emphasizes that dialogue and negotiation among stakeholders are the vehicles through which sustainable community development projects are established, implemented and monitored. Bottom-up CD programs which emanate from the grassroots level and closely involve community members are more successful than those that are developed top-down.
Who is a stakeholder?
There is not much disagreement on what kind of entity a stakeholder can be. The CD process consists of donors, target beneficiaries, partner agencies, government and non-governmental organizations. Bryson (1999) defines a stakeholder as ‘any person, group or organisation that can place a claim on an organization’s attention, resources or output, or is affected by that output’, which concurs with Freeman's definition that: "A stakeholder in an organization is (by definition) any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives" (1984). Thus, stakeholders are individuals or groups that may be positively or negatively affected by the project and those that can bring expertise or resources, each is of equal importance.
How important are they?
The importance of attending to stakeholders is emphasized in several literatures (Freeman 1984; Eade & Williams, 1995; Hoff, 1998; Bryson 1999 etc.). The authors explain that stakeholder support is needed to create and sustain winning coalitions and to ensure the long-term viability of organizations, policies, plans, and
Development, be it social, economic and/or environmental, has to be understood as an inherently political process of people claiming basic rights to manage the resources their lives depend on. In principle, everyone should be involved. Managing the inherent complexity requires a process of comprehensive engagement and negotiation with a broad range of stakeholders and the conscious and strategic acknowledgement of their divergent values and interests, needs and expectations. This paper emphasizes that dialogue and negotiation among stakeholders are the vehicles through which sustainable community development projects are established, implemented and monitored. Bottom-up CD programs which emanate from the grassroots level and closely involve community members are more successful than those that are developed top-down.
Who is a stakeholder?
There is not much disagreement on what kind of entity a stakeholder can be. The CD process consists of donors, target beneficiaries, partner agencies, government and non-governmental organizations. Bryson (1999) defines a stakeholder as ‘any person, group or organisation that can place a claim on an organization’s attention, resources or output, or is affected by that output’, which concurs with Freeman's definition that: "A stakeholder in an organization is (by definition) any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives" (1984). Thus, stakeholders are individuals or groups that may be positively or negatively affected by the project and those that can bring expertise or resources, each is of equal importance.
How important are they?
The importance of attending to stakeholders is emphasized in several literatures (Freeman 1984; Eade & Williams, 1995; Hoff, 1998; Bryson 1999 etc.). The authors explain that stakeholder support is needed to create and sustain winning coalitions and to ensure the long-term viability of organizations, policies, plans, and
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