Stakeholder Analysis

When Should You Do a Stakeholder Analysis?

Stakeholder analysis is the starting point for any M&E system design and any evaluation scoping process. It ensures that the people who matter to a program are identified, that their interests and influence are understood, and that M&E is designed to serve (and be credible to) those who need to use it. Use it when:

• Designing or redesigning a program's MEL system
• Scoping an evaluation (defining who should be consulted and how)
• Planning community engagement and participation
• Managing programs with multiple implementing partners or funders
• Working in contexts where power imbalances could distort data collection

How It Works

Step 1: Identify all stakeholders

Generate a comprehensive list of anyone who affects or is affected by the program. Categories: direct beneficiaries, implementing partners, donors, government counterparts, community leaders, civil society organizations, private sector actors, non-participants (who may be affected by the program indirectly). Cast the net wide - stakeholders are often missed at this stage.

Step 2: Categorise by interest and influence

Map stakeholders on a power-interest matrix (2x2 grid: high/low influence × high/low interest). This classifies stakeholders into four groups:

• High influence, high interest: manage closely; these are your primary stakeholders
• High influence, low interest: keep satisfied; they can disrupt or enable even with limited interest
• Low influence, high interest: keep informed; these are often the communities most affected
• Low influence, low interest: monitor; they may become relevant as context changes

Step 3: Assess information needs and M&E roles

For each key stakeholder group, ask: What questions do they need answered? What evidence format is most useful to them? What would non-engagement look like? This shapes the evaluation questions, reporting formats, and participation design.

Step 4: Design engagement and communication

Based on the analysis, define: which stakeholders will participate in evaluation design, who will be consulted during data collection, who receives which reports, and how findings will be communicated to community stakeholders.

Step 5: Plan for power dynamics

In any stakeholder group, power imbalances can distort data collection and participation. Plan for how marginalised stakeholders (women, minorities, people with disabilities) will be able to participate safely and honestly.

Key Components

• Stakeholder list: comprehensive inventory of all parties with a stake in the program
• Power-interest matrix: visual mapping of stakeholders by influence and interest level
• Information needs assessment: what each key stakeholder group needs to know from M&E
• Engagement plan: how each stakeholder group will be involved in M&E processes
• Communication plan: how findings will be shared with different audiences in appropriate formats
• Power analysis: explicit consideration of who may be excluded or whose voice may be suppressed

Best Practices

Update the analysis at each major program phase. Stakeholder landscapes change: new actors emerge, funding relationships shift, community leadership changes. A stakeholder analysis from Year 0 may be outdated by Year 2.

Include non-participants. People who are not program beneficiaries may still be affected - by resource competition, by opportunity costs, or by program side effects. Excluding them from the stakeholder map creates blind spots.

Engage primary stakeholders in the M&E design process. Evaluations designed only by program staff and donors lack legitimacy with communities. Involving community stakeholders in question development improves both credibility and use.

Document the analysis, don't just do it. A stakeholder analysis that exists only in a workshop flip chart cannot be referenced when designing the evaluation two years later. Record findings in the MEL plan.

Common Mistakes

Conflating beneficiaries with all stakeholders. Beneficiaries are one stakeholder group. Governments, local NGOs, private sector actors, and non-participants are also stakeholders whose interests must be mapped.

Ignoring stakeholders with low formal influence. Community members and marginalised groups often have low formal influence but are the primary people the program should be accountable to. Low influence on the matrix does not mean low importance.

One-time analysis. Programs that conduct stakeholder analysis at design and never revisit it are operating with an outdated map. Stakeholder landscapes are dynamic, especially in governance and advocacy programs.