Part III: A systematic change perspective Building Block 4: Understanding who and what really counts: stakeholder analysis Relevant questions • Who are the stakeholders (groups, organisations, individuals) affected by or affecting implementation of NPM recommendations? • What is the interest of the stakeholder in having/not having the change desired by the NPM? • What is the power of the particular stakeholder to promote or block the change desired? • What is the relative power of the NPM to achieve results? • In which areas and in which way can we strengthen our capacities so as to achieve more impact? Carrying out of a stakeholder analysis is nowadays a standard part of any strategy development. As is the case with many other tools for strategising, the stakeholder analysis has been developed in the business (ethics) area, from which it has moved to other fields.290 There is no accepted definition of the concept of stakeholders.290 For the purposes of this Study, the term stakeholder is used to signify ‘any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization’s objectives’.292 There are different ways of mapping and analysing stakeholders. An approach that appears particularly useful for the NPM’s work and, more generally, for human rights work293 is a power-interest grid: Stakeholders are assessed according to two variables: 1. what is the interest of the stakeholder in the change desired by the NPM happening/not happening? 2. What is the power of the particular stakeholder to promote or block the change desired? In taking interest as a criterion, stakeholders can be preliminarily categorized in one of the following groups:294 • movers/promoters – those who want change to happen and contribute to it; • blockers – those who might hamper change; • floaters – those who do not have a clear position. A stakeholder analysis can be undertaken in relation to specific issues or change proposals which have been identified in the situational analysis. How does this work in concrete terms? The stakeholders that are capable to impact solutions to a concrete problem are first identified and can then be located in a diagram, structured along the two axes of interest and power. The following diagram, which is based on the model of Amnesty International, shows a tentative stakeholder analysis. A situation analysis has surfaced a problem of prevalence of racial discrimination in the police and judiciary in a European country. In a brainstorming session, persons participating in the strategy process would 1. identify the relevant actors that might affect or be affected by any action to address this problem and 2. map them on the basis of this simple power-interest grid: The landmark text on the stakeholder approach is E Freeman, Strategic Management: The Stakeholder Approach (Pitman 1984) [hereinafter: E Freeman (1984)]. 291 S Miles, ‘Stakeholder: Essentially Contested or Just Confused?’ (2012) 108 Journal of Business Ethics 285. 292 E Freeman (1984) 46. 293 See Amnesty International, Tools, Techniques and Guidelines (Appendix to Impact Toolkit) (2011), 7 [hereinafter: Amnesty International, Appendix to Impact Toolkit (2011)]. 294 I Retolaza, Theory of Change, A thinking and action approach to navigate in the complexity of social change processes (UNDP and Hivos 2011). - 99 290