Stakeholders Engagement Plan - Assignment 3

Land Degradation in Sundarbans Reserve Forest

  1. Stakeholder analysis and selection

The Team depended on secondary information and preliminary information available with one of its member who have sufficient knowledge about the Sundarbans both in India and Bangladesh. We prepared a list of possible stakeholders and their area of interest leading to overall stake. Out identification process moved around type of actions or stakes to legitimize the list we have prepared. Once list was prepared we prepared a matrix as guided by week-3 reading guidelines.

We started with 19 stakeholders (as submitted in Assignment-2 and given below as Annexure-1) which are summarized as flowing categories:

  • Government (Village level Local Government, Administrators, Government of India and Government of Bangladesh, SRF (Bangladesh) and SNP (India) and Armies of both countries)
  • Private (Farmers, Fishermen, Honey collectors, Wood Collectors, and all members of SIZ community, local traders, tourists, CSR recipients, tourists operators)
  • Civil Society (Local Employees, local community leaders, Local ecological groups, local NGOs, International NGOs like UNESCO, Academic Institutions)

The stakeholders as identified and categories are in the form of government institutions, private and civil society. The interest and relationships between them are moving around all three categories i.e. conflicting, cooperation and complementary.

Figure 1: Relationship among all the four categories of Stakeholders is leading to situation that is in middle

  1. Engagement process and identification of facilitation needs

TheAreas of CommonInterestfor all the stakeholders is “Sustainable Existence of Sundarban Mangroves” but changes lies interpretation of data and information indicating responsibilities of situation to either stakeholder but not self. Therefore for us as team the goal is “To achieve successful stakeholder engagement for sustainable existence of Sundarban mangroves”. To ensure that the goals are met we have to work for following specific objectives.

  1. Established transparent system for knowledge building and information sharing mechanism accessible to all stakeholders
  2. Organize a multilayer stakeholder forum from grass roots community to INGO and National Government level
  3. Development Participatory development plan and implementation mechanism

The goal and objectives can only be achieved if awareness and clarity on common Interests is maintained. This will demand for formulation of appropriate and community friendly policies; Investments and Revenues and investments for activities like preservation and conservation.

Due to the diversity of stakeholders, we have prioritize the stakeholders based on common interest, relative influence in power of decision making and the project relevancy to the stakeholders (direct impact / indirect impact). At the same time actor-linkage matrices is also used to investigate the relationships among the identified stakeholders.

Figure 2: Guide for taking stakeholder engagement priority setting

Figure 03: the interest-influence matrix of identified stakeholders.

The main stakeholders in the focus of this project are: SIZ community, Business community, local indigenous groups, local ecological groups, local leaderships, SRF/SNP authorityand local governments.

  1. Material to prepare ahead of the discussion

The materials to prepared are tabulated below according to the stakeholders’ concern and engagement scenario. The table 01 shows the target stakeholders with materials to be prepared, content of the materials, manpower needed to direct the engagement procedure as well as tentative cost. The cost includes meeting room for discussions, stationary, flip charts, photographic and video equipment, facilitator, meals, facilitator salary, meals and per diem for participants etc.

Table 01: Material to prepare ahead of the discussion with tentative cost

Target Stakeholders / Type of Material to be prepared / Content / Manpower requirement / Tentative Cost (USD)
SIZ community / Videos, pictures, drawing, graphics, folk performance, storytelling, paintings / Importance of the mangroves, past history, past glory, increasing degradation / 60 / 1620000
Business community / Flyer, newspaper articles, / Economic hazards of land degradation, environmental hazards of land degradation, acts and rules regarding deforestation / 20 / 360000
local indigenous groups / Videos, pictures, drawing, graphics, folk performance, storytelling, paintings / Importance of the mangroves, past history, past glory, increasing degradation / 15 / 270000
local ecological groups / Workshop, flyer, seminar / Importance of the mangroves, hazards of land degradation / 10 / 190000
local leaderships / Workshop, flyer, seminar, acts and rules regarding deforestation / Importance of the mangroves, hazards of land degradation / 10 / 190000
SRF/SNP authority, govt. authority / Workshop, flyer, seminar, acts and rules regarding deforestation / Importance of the mangroves, hazards of land degradation / 10 / 190000
local governments / Workshop, flyer, seminar, acts and rules regarding deforestation / Importance of the mangroves, hazards of land degradation / 10 / 190000

Figure 04: Process of engagement process and activity cycle of the project

We will be using local dialect of Bengali which is understood by majority of the stakeholders, which is spoken by all parties from the start of the engagement process. It is often a key to ensuring good communication throughout. Above all we will be using pictorial language to communicate with large mass (community) as literacy percent in the area is very low and pictorial is the language which can be used by everybody, few examples are:

The System / Destruction

The Communicate format will be made accessible to all, through newspaper, wall painting, display boards, storytelling, and folk performance. It will include range of different forms such as written reports and articles, letters, emails, pictures, videos, drawings, graphics, etc.

Our communicationmechanismto ensure every stakeholder’s involvement will follow following steps. It is good to identify a few rules of communication at the early stages of the stakeholder engagement process. To ensure that every stakeholder listens to, understands and respects what other stakeholders are saying.

A guiding principle will be developed for smooth operation of stakeholder engagement. The guidelines will include-

  • We show respect to each other and their values
  • We will listen first without any interruption and talk
  • Everyone is free to talk and will be given equal importance
  • We will use Bengali while communicating
  • We will use pictorial illustration while not understanding any terminology
  • A skilled facilitator will facilitate the stakeholder engagement process being heard of everyone’s voice
  1. Facilitation needed (personnel and staffing required) to achieve the engagement process.

This is 24 months long project. The project will hire 10 key personal who will be involved in designing and managing as core team for knowledge building. At grass roots level 10 teams of 5 individual each will be deployed to take the process of stakeholder engagement.

Table 02: Facilitation needed (personnel and staffing required) to achieve the engagement process.

Major Activity Heads / When to introduce / Duration (Days) / Man Power / Villages to cover / Rates in INR / Rates in Dollar / Cost (Dollar)
Information Collection / Start of Project / 15 / 10 / NA / 26000 / 400 / 60000
Prepare Awareness Material-Stage-01 / Start of Project / 20 / 10 / NA / 26000 / 400 / 80000
Mass Awareness Generation / 1st Month to 4th month / 90 / 40 / 600 / 13000 / 200 / 720000
FGD with Stakeholders / 4th Month to 8th month / 120 / 50 / 600 / 19500 / 300 / 1800000
Participatory Knowledge Building / 6th Month - 10th Month / 60 / 50 / 600 / 19500 / 300 / 900000
Developing Communication Material- Stage-2 / 10th Month / 15 / 10 / 26000 / 400 / 60000
2nd Campaign on Awareness Generation / 11th to 15th month / 90 / 40 / 600 / 13000 / 200 / 720000
Setting Rules for Stakeholder Forum / 12th Month / 5 / 5 / NA / 26000 / 400 / 10000
Initiate Stakeholder Forum / 8th Month / 30 / 20 / 600 / 52000 / 800 / 480000
Graduated Stakeholder Forum / 18th Month / 30 / 20 / 600 / 39000 / 600 / 360000
Regular review and Feedback System / Every month / 24 / 50 / 26000 / 400 / 480000
Total / 5670000
Institutional Cost / 15% / 850500
Grand Total / 6520500
  1. Sources of funding for process and follow-up fundingopportunities

The Sundarbans is a world heritage site and the largest mangrove in the world. Not only the local interest but also for world’s common interest it is important to save the mangrove from massive land degradation. For “Sustainable Existence of Sundarban Mangroves”, the government of Bangladesh and west Bengal should come forward and so the international donor agencies for a successful stakeholder engagement.

Annexure-1: Stakeholder Listing

Stakeholder Name / Type of Stakeholder / Description / Relationship to the land(Level /Role/Policy context)
Farmers / Private / Concerned with:landeconomically profitable exploitationconservationPreservation. / Land owner and user.May play a vital role in conserving and preserving the mangrove forestThey are using land for income generation and production
Fishermen community / Private / Concerned with:Land/water bodies inside the mangrove foresteconomically profitable exploitationconservationpreservation. / User of the mangrove forestUses Land/water bodies for income generation and production.May play a vital role in conserving and preserving the mangrove forest.
Honey collector / Private / Concerned with:economically profitable exploitation / User of the mangrove forest.Dependent on the forest for livelihood.
Wood collectors / Private / Concerned with:economically profitable exploitation / Negative users of the mangrove forest.They are destroying the forest through deforestation/cutting trees for their own profit.Stealing wood from the forest.Causes degradation of the forest as a whole.
SIZ Communities living in the Sunderban Area / Private / Nearly 3.5 million inhabitants.Concerned with:Conservationeconomically profitable exploitation / Live in proximity to land.Key influential group.Dependent on the mangrove forest more or less.The mangrove forest is protecting them from natural calamity such ascyclone, tidal bore, sunami, flood.
Various palm (e.g.Nypa Fruticans) collectors / Private / Concerned with:economically profitable exploitation / Users of the mangrove forest.Dependent on the forest for their livelihood. Various palm (e.g.Nypa Fruticans) are used as one of the house building materials. They collect it for sale as well as to build their own house-top.
Businessman/ middleman in trafficking faunal and floral resources / Private / Concerned with:economically profitable exploitation / Secondary but dangerous users of the mangrove forest.The most key influential group who are patronizing wood collector to steal woods as well as various valuable resources such as deer, Royal Bengal Tiger, snakes and other floral or faunal resources.
Local Government / Government / Concerned with:landconservationpreservation. / Key influencer to conserve and preserve the mangrove forest.
Local level administration/ deputy commissioner / Government / Concerned with:landconservationpreservation. / Key influencer to conserve and preserve the mangrove forest.Authorized to categorize the land, to make any change in land use management, to collect land revenue, to dispute land disputes.Local level implementer of government’s policies/plans.
National Government Agencies, Bangladesh and West Bengal, India (Agriculture, Forest, Environment, WRD, tourism, and land) / Government / Concerned with:landeconomically profitable exploitationconservationpreservation. / Agencies with responsibility for:
  • Land management and land revenue
  • agricultural extension works
  • reservation/conservation/preservation of forest
  • Sustainable environmental management.
  • Management of water bodies
  • Creating tourism opportunities of the mangrove forest.
Key influential groups to conserve and preserve the mangrove forest through developing plans/policies/projects.
Local representative organizations / Civil Society / Concerned with:landeconomically profitable exploitationconservationpreservation. / Representation of landowners/farmers/fishermen/wood collector/honey collector/ Various palm (e.g.Nypa Fruticans) collector
International/ national Non-governmental organizations / Civil Society / Concerned with:economically profitable exploitationconservationpreservation. / Key influencers to conserve and preserve the mangrove forest.Make local population aware about the value of the forest.Encourage people for income diversification who are dependent on the forest for their livelihood.
Academia / Civil Society / Concerned with:conservationpreservation. / May be included into key influencers.Force the government to formulate conservation/preservation/reservation plans/policies/projects for sustainability of the world heritage site, Sundarbans Mangrove forest.
Local indigenous groups / Civil Society / Previous ethnic owners of the land / Preservation and cultural attachment
CSR Recipients / Private / Groups recipients of social assistance / Preservation and Conservation
Tourists/Guests visiting SRF / Civil Society / Groups or Individual who may be concerned in the preservation/conservation of SRF / Preservation and Conservation; Sustainability of the current status
Local Ecology Groups / Civil Society / Advocacy groups who have local data and info / Preservation and Conservation
Local Leadership / Civil Society / Groups/Individuals with Political Interest / Sustainability of the current status
SRF Authority (Bangladesh and India) / Government / Main implementers / Preservation, Policy and Economic Growth
Armies of India and Bangladesh