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 6

our approach

financial materiality

Stakeholder Engagement Main Page > Four Pillars > ​Effectiveness Criterion 5

5. Trust and Accountability

The company establishes a grievance mechanism and other procedures, tailored to the context, to build rights holder trust and accountability for its actions. 

what this means

questions for portfolio companies

What to look for

Issue & SEctor considerations

for workers

High risk situations

Building trust begins with transparency—being clear about what support the company can realistically provide to protect individuals and their families, and candid about operational constraints and how risks are being managed. Companies should engage directly with rights holders to understand how business practices may be exposing them to harm and to invite input on potential safeguards or improvements. They should put in place grievance mechanisms and communication strategies that reflect the local context. The grievance mechanism should take into account imbalances in power, knowledge and influence (IFC 2007, 72-73 ), be integrated into the broader stakeholder engagement approach, and be co-created with rights holders. 

A rights holder viewpoint
Colombian rights holders reported feeling misled, manipulated, and deeply disappointed upon discovering—only once legal proceedings involving the energy company had begun—that attendance sheets from engagement meetings had been used to falsely demonstrate their consent to the project. The company submitted a sign-in sheet as evidence of approval without having disclosed this use to the community participants at the time. In one instance, the sheet included names of individuals who had not actually attended. While these practices did not trigger the legal dispute, they came to light during it— a testament to how seemingly minor breaches of trust can escalate into material legal and reputational risks.