Why map stakeholders?
A humanitarian project operates among many people with different interests. A local authority may approve access. A community leader may decide who attends an activity. Another agency may serve the same families. If you do not know who matters and what they want, you find out when something goes wrong.
A stakeholder map makes that knowledge visible and shared. It also supports accountability, since affected people appear in the plan.
Who counts as a stakeholder?
A stakeholder is anyone who can affect your project or is affected by it. Start with a wide list, using these groups as prompts:
- Affected people: households, women, children, older people, people with disabilities, and minority groups.
- Community actors: leaders, committees, faith groups, local organizations.
- Authorities: local, regional and national officials, and sector ministries.
- Partners: implementing and local partners.
- Funders: donors and their representatives.
- Other agencies: clusters, coordination groups and organizations working in the same area.
- Suppliers and service providers.
- People who may resist, for example groups who feel excluded or lose from your work.
How do you build the map, step by step?
- Brainstorm the list with the team, including field staff who know the area.
- Group similar stakeholders to keep the map usable.
- Rate influence. How much can this group help or block the project? Use high, medium or low.
- Rate interest. How much does the project matter to them? Use high, medium or low.
- Place each group on a grid and choose an approach, shown below.
- Assign an owner for each relationship, and set how often you will make contact.
- Agree what to record and who may see it.
What approach fits each group?
| Influence | Interest | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| High | High | Work closely: involve them in planning and decisions |
| High | Low | Keep satisfied: brief them and avoid surprises |
| Low | High | Keep informed: share updates, listen to feedback |
| Low | Low | Monitor: check in when circumstances change |
Treat the grid as a starting point. In humanitarian settings, a low-influence group can be the one with the greatest need. Affected people often rate low on influence, yet your accountability to them is high. Give them a real channel, such as the one in how to set up a complaints and feedback mechanism.
What details should each entry hold?
Keep entries short and factual:
- name of the group and how to reach them,
- role in the project,
- influence and interest ratings,
- what they need from you and what you need from them,
- the engagement approach and the owner,
- date of last contact and next planned contact.
Avoid writing opinions about individuals. Stakeholder maps can be seen by many people, and they may include data about identifiable persons. Check local data protection rules, and put sensitive notes in a restricted record.
How often should you update the map?
Update the map at each project phase, when a new partner joins, and after any major event such as a security change, a leadership change in the community, or a funding change. Also review it during the after-action review, where the team can ask who they missed.
Connect the map to other plans: your communication plan, your risk plan, and your work plan should all point back to it.
What does engagement look like in practice?
A map is only useful if it leads to action. For each key group, write a short engagement plan with three parts: what you will do, how often and who is responsible.
For example, for a local authority you might plan a monthly briefing with the project manager. For women’s committees, a quarterly open meeting led by the field coordinator, held at a time and place chosen with them. For another agency in the same area, a standing slot in the coordination meeting.
Keep a simple record of each contact: date, who attended, what was agreed. This helps new staff pick up relationships and gives you evidence of how you engaged. Where communities give feedback, record it and show how you responded.
Where EMPOBase fits
EMPOBase’s Programs module includes Stakeholders as a project record, next to the RACI, Charter and Organogram. You can keep the register with the project instead of in a separate file. The tool stores what your team enters; it does not rate influence for you, and your team decides how sensitive notes are handled and who has access. See the platform page or security page.