Setting up a Basin Study Stakeholder Engagement

Stakeholders are the actors---from individual citizens to community groups to local and international organizations---that depend on freshwater services in a basin and/or are involved in the decisions that affect the basin. Stakeholders can be internal or external to the basin, with the latter group not being directly dependent on the basin's resources but nonetheless interested in the outcomes and influential through policy dialogue and financing. These stakeholders operate within the governance sub-system and its rules, but at the same time, they may play a role in changing (or subverting) the rules.

In large or complex basins, it may be necessary to begin with a stakeholder mapping exercise, to identify the key groups (or individuals) and their interest in and influence over decisions in the basin. Typical categories include governments and their line agencies (national, state/provincial and local), river basin organizations, businesses (including private service providers), farmers, fishermen, researchers and civil society groups. Additional stakeholders may include inter-governmental organizations, international lending institutions and international non-profit organizations.

Over a 12-month period of an FHI assessment stakeholder play a key role in:

• Baseline assessment of Ecosystem Vitality and Services with local universities and institutions

• Minimum 2 stakeholder workshops to present concept and discuss preliminary results

• Surveys to assess weights and populate Governance indicators