This website provides practical knowledge and tools focusing on social, environmental and economic development issues for companies, civil society, local and regional governments.
Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement
Today, the term “stakeholder engagement” is emerging as a means of describing a broader, more inclusive, and continuous process between a company and those potentially impacted that encompasses a range of activities and approaches, and spans the entire life of a project. The change reflects broader changes in the business and financial worlds, which increasingly recognize the business and reputational risks that come from poor stakeholder relations, and place a growing emphasis on corporate social responsibility, transparency and reporting. In this context, good stakeholder relations are a prerequisite for good risk management.
FEATURED RESOURCES
May 2007
This handbook aims to provide the reader with the good practice “essentials” for managing stakeholder relationships in a dynamic context, where unexpected events can and do occur, and facts on the ground change. The focus of this handbook is on stakeholder groups “external” to the core operation of the business, such as affected communities, local government authorities, non-governmental and other civil society organizations, local institutions and other interested or affected parties.
January 2010
Companies around the world engage in community investment (CI) efforts as a way to promote local development and benefit stakeholders in their areas of operations. The aim of this handbook is to help IFC client companies and the wider private sector operating in emergining markets to think strategically about how they can support community investment projects that are successful, sustainable, and consistent with their business objectives.
2010
“Guidance on Responsible Business in Conflict-Affected and High-risk Areas: A Resource for Companies and Investors” aims to assist companies in implementing responsible business practices in conflict-affected and high-risk areas consistent with the Global Compact Ten Principles. It seeks to provide a common reference point for constructive dialogue between companies and investors on what constitutes responsible business practices in difficult operating environments, though it does not provide guidance on investment practices of financial institutions.
February 2004
The Partnering Toolbook builds on the experience of those who have been at the forefront of innovative partnerships and offers a concise overview of the essential elements that make for effective partnering.
2006
From Words to Action: The Stakeholder Engagement Manual is comprised of 2 main documents: Volume 1 The Guide to Practitioners' Perspectives on Stakeholder Engagment and Volume 2 The Practitioners' Handbook on Stakeholder Engagement.
July 2012
This study, Why Banks in Emerging Markets Are Increasingly Providing Non-financial Services to SMEs, builds on recent studies from the World Bank Group and other research organizations to determine market trends related to commercial banks serving the SME sector in emerging economies on a profitable basis. For example, a recent study by Beck et al. surveyed 91 banks in 45 developed and developing countries and found that the majority of banks view the SME sector as a sizable market with good business prospects.
December 2012
To better understand the renewed hope, future prospects and potential pitfalls of Collaborating for a Sustainable Future, SustainAbility and GlobeScan surveyed 800 global experts in 74 countries representing business, government, NGO and academic perspectives.
December 2006 Updated 2010
In recent years there has been growing interest in the potential for dialogue between the public and private sectors to promote the right conditions for private sector development and poverty reduction. There is an emerging body of case studies and synthesis research papers on techniques for promoting successful dialogue, including major studies by the World Bank, DFID, and OECD Development Centre. Practitioners have asked this knowledge to be collated and presented in an accessible and comprehensible way. That is the purpose of this handbook.
April 2009
The Corporate Engagement Project (CEP) works to ensure that the presence of companies has a positive, rather than negative, impact on the communities with whom they work. Since 2000, over 60 international companies, mostly from the extractive industries - operating in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Australia, and North America - have participated in the Project. Insights from Corporate Engagement Project were published in May 2009 in Getting it Right: Making Corporate-Community Relations Work by Luc Zandvliet and Mary B. Anderson. CEP is part of CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, a non-profit organization in Cambridge, Massachusetts.