Strategic Environmental Assessment in Policy and Sector Reform

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68 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN POLICY AND SECTOR REFORM

the influence over decisions held by the different groups. Groups situated in the bottom right-hand quadrant want to oppose reform, but have relatively little power to do so. Those groups situated in the lower left-hand quadrant view reform more favorably, but are also not that powerful. Stakeholders sitting in the upper left-hand quadrant have more influence, and also happen to be more powerful. The WAMSSA matrix was built up from a series of characteristics for each group defined through interviews and expert observation: ■

Influence: the power a stakeholder has to facilitate or impede the design and implementation of mining subregional and cluster-based policies and approaches Interest: the perceived level of interest that each stakeholder has in the clusterbased mineral development, along a continuum from commitment to status quo at one end to openness to change at the other Impact: the degree to which the cluster-based mineral development may affect each stakeholder Power: the level of coercive power that the stakeholder has to command compliance in the policy process Resources: the level of resources that stakeholders possess and are able to bring to bear in the policy process Legitimacy: the degree of legitimacy of each stakeholder’s interest, that is, the extent to which the stakeholder’s claims are seen as appropriate by other stakeholders

The two grids can help SEA teams determine appropriate responsive strategies (for example, which stakeholders to target for negotiations and trade-offs, which to buttress with resources and information, and so on). Multistakeholder Dialogue Multistakeholder dialogue is not a separate implementation “step,” but rather a necessary support throughout the SEA. In project EIA, and to a certain extent in other SEA approaches, engagement tends to be restricted to discrete events where the point is either to elicit information or to seek stakeholder approval for important decisions. As has already been made amply clear, dialogue in policy SEA ideally takes place on a regular basis and over a long period of time. Objectives It is clear from the analysis contained in chapter 2, and from the literature that makes a case for policy SEA, that multistakeholder dialogue is a prerequisite for effective policy SEA. As indicated in figure 3.1, the objective of maintaining a multistakeholder dialogue is involving stakeholders in selection of environmental and social priorities; enriching the gap assessment of systems to manage


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