Stakeholder Engagement Plan

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT PLAN

Amendment to our prior assignments: Our first goal is the further development of our land Messdorfer Feld. Due to land degradation the main focus will lay on sustainable soil management which typically includes less use of pesticides, less trill, the installation of dripping irrigation system, planting local seeds as well as crop rotation or intercropping. Moreover, all crop residues from surroundings will be collected by the local government and apllicated on the agriculturally used areas in order to generate more valuable humus. The land use and the soil itself will benefit from all the nutrients available around the fields. Using crop residues will foster closing the cycle of nutrients.
Taking into account that the year 2015 has been declared "The International Year of Soils" by the United Nations we would like to reach as many people and stakeholders as possible. We recognize the relevance of a better understanding of soil, its functions as well as restrictions, and its importance for our livelihood. In our opinion it is the most important issue for changing priorities within the agriculture.

1. Stakeholder Analysis and Selection

• Identification of stakeholders

The stakeholders of Messdorfer Feld were identified through the brainstorming of the Europe West 4 research team and through consultation with selected experts.

Primarily we held an evening event in Bonn open for everybody located in Bonn and its surroundings. Prior to that we distributed flyers to every single household in order to inform everybody who might be interested or has common interests with our idea to further develop Messdorfer Feld. We invited everybody to share its own thoughts and ideas with us that evening. During the evening session we showed a movie about the current activities happening on the field and what kind of problems there are currently. The question was how to continue investigating in order to win a donor. The video was shown in German language and with Turkish & Italian subtitles (the largest two groups of foreigners registered and living in Bonn are Turkish and Italian) in order to reach as many citizens of Bonn as possible. We also distributed a questionnaire in order to find out the citizens demands, ideas and interests. Among others, one question to the citizens was to define institutions, people, etc. who might have a stake in order to get a wide overview of potential stakeholders (snowball system).

• Diversity and differentiation of stakeholders

Our identified stakeholders of Messdorfer Feld are diverse.
The main stakeholder with no voice is soil and needs to be set in focus due to its time to recover from degradation. According to our influence-interest matrix we defined soil as a silent stakeholder with great influence however without intrinsic interests.
Following the stakeholders can be categorised into four different groups. We have in this case namely representing the i) government, ii) private businesses, iii) locals and iv) the civil society. The political decision makers include the Mayor of the City of Bonn, the Buendnis Gruene NRW and the Chamber of Agriculture. The private businesses include entrepreneurs, investors, businesses, media and maybe also landowners. Locals include residents, farmers (organic and conventional) and landowners, tourists, local schools, media and experts. The civil society who is working for land protection is mostly represented through the Citizen's Initiative Messdorfer Feld. Since we are focusing on abetter soil management we invited the NGOs from the international campaign "SAVE our SOILS" in order tosensitize society for the importance of ecosystem services coming from soil. We also invitedlocal schools in order to emphasize the meaning of soil and its fertility in the current educational system.

Referring to our Venn-Diagram, we identified further stakeholders. Namely media, NGOs, experts, schools and business schools, entrepreneurs and investors have not been named before.

• Categorization of stakeholders

Our stakeholders are well categorized using the influence-interest matrix. However, some new identified stakeholders are missing in our previous categorization. Both, the City of Bonn and Buendnis Gruene NRW have a high influence in the decision making process and as well as quite a high interest in the Messdorfer Feld. They cooperate well with the Chamber of Agriculture. Since it´s the year of soils governmental institutions are much more interested to present a successful project on sustainable soil management. The Chamber of Agriculture as well as the organic farmers and landowners rather are concerned with the soils’ fertility and emphasize the importance of sustainable land use. The influence of the Chamber of Agriculture, the civil society group Citizens' Initiative Messdorfer Feld, farmers/locals and landownerson the decision making is higher whereas the influence of investors, schools and experts is moderate. On the other hand, the civil society and the NGOs from "Save our Soils" have a higher interest on the protection of Messdorfer Feld than the Chamber of Agriculture. Tourists, media, business schools and entrepreneurs only have a low influence over the decision making but are interested in the process. Other NGOs such as BUND or e.g. the foundation "Umwelt und Entwicklung" are possibly interested in knowing about development but their influence is probably limited or rather depending on their ability to reach other stakeholders.

• Relationship between the stakeholders

The Citizens’ Initiative Messdorfer Feld might have a close relationship to the citizens of Bonn and its surroundings depending on its common interests.

Farmers and landowners probably have to obey laws by Chamber of Agriculture (e.g. “Gute fachliche Praxis für Bodenbewirtschaftung und Bodenschutz” – Codes of Good Practise in agriculture and soil protection) and due toCommon Agriculture Policies (CAP issued by EU)

Local schools might have common interests with the City of Bonn/ Buendnis Gruene NRW in order to push educational aspects within agriculture and sustainability. Furthermore, local universities and business schools have a stake and might need to exchange views with City of Bonn and Buendnis Gruene NRW for promoting practical work within the field.

Tourists, media, entrepreneurs and experts have no relationship to each other or with other stakeholders. Investors might have bigger interest to buy land hence they have a relationship with City of Bonn/ Buendnis Gruene NRW as well as with farmers and landowners.

Experts are supporting the Citizens’ Initiative as well as the City of Bonn/ Buendnis Gruene NRW by spreading proper information and scientific results, if necessary and wanted.

• Legitimacy of stakeholders

After evaluating the questionnaire and after having direct communication with the audience we identified stakeholders who are legitimate in the sense that they all have a stake in relation to land management identified by the Economics of Land Degradation Initiative.

• Prioritisation of stakeholders

1. Fertile Soil as basal need is our highest priority to focus on
2. Due to our goal to implement a sustainable soil management in order to strengthen resilience of soil weprioritize the NGO "SAVE our SOILS" and let them be the first speaker at our first meeting.Statements and ideas from “Save our soils” will be collected and evaluated by experts dealing with practical issues, e.g. installing compost site, calculating soil carbon, soil organic matter etc.
3. Main issues will be discussed with the group of local farmers (organic andconventional, maybe also land owners) in order to find out their stake on soil improvement. From farmers' perspective we discussed their demands and financial needs in order to implement sustainable soil management. Furthermore, in the questionnaire we askedabout the willingness of society to learn more about soil issues. Whoever is interested is able to attend free lessons on how to protect soil and why it is so important. What are the functions of soils? Options were directly discussed with and organized by local school teachers and the Citizens' Initiative of Messdorfer Feld.
4. Fourth part will be the City of Bonn, Buendnis Gruene NRW and the Chamber of Agriculture in order to prove the financial framework. The Government is willing to transfer money from conventional agriculture to organic farming since proven statistics have shown the reduced use of fertilizer and pesticides has brought increased crop harvest in a long term perspective.
5. One Investor, namely the Regionalwert AG, is very much intrigued in buying land from land owners who are neither able nor willing to cultivate their land any further. Entrepreneurs, e.g. Transition Towns, Business Schools will help to structure a holistic framework regarding accounting issues and sustainability.
6. Tourists and Media have the least influence however help us to spread the word on our new approach of sustainable soil management in a greening city.
   

2. Material to prepare ahead of the discussion

Before starting with the preparation of communication materials and building up of an evolution plan it is necessary to set up an effective communication worksheet performing the following four steps:

2.1 State the Areas of Common Interest
According to our Venn diagram of last week’s assignment there are several areas of common interest. Setting soil, our silent stakeholder with the fundamental interest of soil conservation, aside, we can identify several stakes.
To a very different extent most of our stakeholders are interested in the preservation and conversation of our land. Both the Citizen’s Initiative Messdorfer Feld as well as Buendnis Gruene NRW probably have by far the highest stake in this clear alignment of interest.
On the other side, the City of Bonn’s relationship to the land is due to its relevance within the policy and land development. Since Messdorfer Feld also has a positive effect on the attraction of the city there is an overlapping interest between the City of Bonn, tourists and other stakeholders who appreciate the recreational use of the land.
The project “Pinselstriche im Messdorfer Feld” (brush strokes) identified the opportunity to shed a different light on the image of agriculture. However, probably only the Chamber of agriculture and some farmers are concerned with the reputation of agriculture wherefore it is so far an interest with minor influence.

2.2 Explain the Type of Language
In order to reach as many stakeholders as possible, we communicate in German language and translate in Turkish & Italian by headphones.

2.3 List the Format of Communication
The Citizen’s Initiative Messdorfer Feld created a homepage with general information, news and updates regarding the land. A very easy way to get updated or to pass on information is via email list. Creating and distributing flyers is also an option but requires more time and (financial) effort. However, in order to successfully engage and communicate with many stakeholders from the start we assume a flyer for every household would be necessary to make sure everybody who has a common interest or a stake is on board.
By setting up a round table (as described above) at the beginning of stakeholder involvement we could communicate directly with all our stakeholders in person and simplify the communication as well as visualize statements with drawings and graphics.
Since different nationalities were supposed to come to the first evening event we decided to have a communication facilitator on board.

2.4 Explain your Communication Mechanism
Especially while organizing a round table it is important for every participant to follow our rules of communication which simply state to listen and respect one another. We set rules of communication by trying to communicate violent free and without any racism.

Communication worksheet:

Content / Format (Mode of Channel/Communication / How suited to each identified stakeholder it is? / Built-in Flexibility Element
Description of the project, with objective and expected outputs and outcomes / - Video presentation: showing the effects on land degradation and missing fertile soil we are able to emphasize the need of sustainable soil management.
- Our objective will be closed nutrient cycles by using all crop residues, preparing compost sites in large scale, reducing pesticides and fertilizer, growing local seeds and improving soil organic matter due to intercropping and crop rotation.
- The outcome will be fertile soil and a society who will be able to feel and benefit from the soils' fertility.
- By giving soil a stake people can connect to soil. / - Very suited since everybody benefits of fertile soil. / - Starting with description of what´s happening on the fields at the moment. - Learning my practical events on the fields, e.g. tasting soil, smelling soil, feeling soil.
- Having World-Cafe sessions in order to draw a wide picture on soil fertility, emotions connected to soil.
- Organizing additional information evenings in corporation with the local BUND office.
- Accept different views from a different audience.
Description of perceived area of interest / Area of interest is fertile soil at the Messdorfer Feld.
Material to be prepared ahead of the engagement process / Flyers, video presentations, life web cam on the website, ticker about events attended by stakeholders.

3. Description of Engagement Process and Identification of Facilitation Needs

The Citizens’ Initiative Messdorfer Feld was formed in 2000 and has been supported by the local BUND. Despite being very active and successful by collecting over 7.000 signatures in favour of preservation of the land they were not able to prevent a further construction at the fields’ boarder which started late September 2009. This example shows that the citizens and the NGO did not have enough power to influence the political decision.
However, the reach of the Initiative should not be underestimated. By engaging other NGOs from the start and working together with scientists and experts from the university their power could increase.
Prior to contacting local politicians there should be a common ground and overlapping interest between the civil society and the farmers so that there is one clear demand to the political decision makers.
The engagement process is flexible since there are many elements and stakeholders to consider. In order to keep track on changing point of views or occurring problems (e.g. finding investors) there will be more round-table discussions over time. The below matrix provides a general overview on the engagement process.

Timeline and Engagement Process Matrix

Date/Duration
(+Flexibility) / Research Process
(Objectives, Expected Output, Deadlines, etc.) / Engagement Process (Discussion and Activities)
Stage 1: opening event (information evening and round-table discussion) / - Spreading information of the status quo and collective goal-setting
- Use of the snowball system / - The different stakeholder groups should get acquainted with each other and also identify other stakeholders
Stage 2: coordinate corporation between existing Citizens’ Initiative and other NGOs / - Increasing their power to influence political decision makers (City of Bonn) / - Corporation between NGOs and local citizens
Stage 3: Meeting with local farmers (and representatives of the Chamber of Agriculture) / - Get information from the farmers’ point of view on sustainable land use
- Knowledge Mapping (What’s their opinion on sustainable land use? What are the prejudices and reservations? Are there financial issues to consider? a.s.o.) / - Maybe corporate with scientists and experts on alternative agriculture to elaborate on sustainable soil management (workshops).
Stage 4: Contact the City of Bonn / - Present alternative land use scenario and convince the government that ongoing building development, sealing of the soil and urban sprawl does not offer the same value as keeping Messdorfer Feld and its ecosystem services sound.
- Find out about possible obstacles. / - Try to engage via Buendnis Gruene NRW since their political standpoint is in favour of land conservation.
- Clarify the residents’ point of view through collection of signitures.
- Representatives of the Citizens’ Initiative should attend the council meetings regarding the land development.
Stage 5: Get in touch with investors / - Get financial aid (might be a convincing factor to influence the political decision makers) / - Announcements and advertisements of the possibility to invest into sustainable land use on Messdorfer Feld.
- Communicate directly to possible investors.
parallel: inform local media (radio, TV) about our project, maybe also social media / - Distributing information via different channels to keep and increase the attention.