Embed in management systems

1. Embedded commitment: The company has a policy commitment to ongoing stakeholder engagement, and embeds it in its governance, culture, and management strategy.​

Create a Tailored Engagement Plan​

2. Inclusiveness: The company listens to a full range of rights-holders across the value chain and has a process to identify legitimate representatives.
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3. A Focus on Those Most at Risk​:  The company prioritizes engaging with the rightsholders who are most likely to be harmed by its operations​, and therefore where early engagement is critical.​​

Conduct appropriate  activities

​​4. Informed Participation: The company establishes ongoing, two-way communication with affected rights holders that provides affected stakeholders with relevant critical information well in advance of key decision points.

5. Trust and Accountability: The company establishes procedures, tailored to the context, to build rights holder trust and accountability for its actions.​

Ensure follow through

6. Stakeholder-informed Action Plan: The company analyzes information obtained through affected stakeholder engagement and collaborates with rights holders to formulate an action plan.

7. Monitoring, Transparency, and Continuous Improvement​: The company establishes and maintains a transparent and stakeholder-informed monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system.​

effectiveness criterion 5

our approach

financial materiality

Stakeholder Engagement Main Page > Four Pillars > ​Effectiveness Criterion 4

4. Informed Participation

The company establishes ongoing, two-way communication with affected rights holders that provides relevant critical information well in advance of key decision points.

what this means

questions for portfolio companies

What to look for

for workers

High risk situations

• How often do engagement activities take place?
• Did the rights holders you aimed to engage with in fact engage with you? If not, do you know why not?
  • Did the team that conducted the assessment speak the local language?[1]
  • Did you inform affected stakeholders in advance about the reason for engagement? Did you give them opportunities to share their perceptions and opinions?[2]
• When issues arise, do you know which affected stakeholders to reach out to—and do they know how to contact you?
• How do you manage engagement with advocacy groups or organizations opposed to the project? (OECD 2017, 48)

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[1] Oxfam Policy & Practice, “Human Rights Impact Assessment Framework” (Oxfam Policy & Practice, May 26, 2023), 13, https://policy-practice.oxfam.org/resources/human-rights-impact-assessment-framework-621501/.
[2] Faris Natour and Jessica Davis Pluess, “Conducting an Effective Human Rights Impact Assessment: Guidelines, Steps, and Examples” (BSR, March 2013), 14, https://www.bsr.org/reports/BSR_Human_Rights_Impact_Assessments.pdf.