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 7

our approach

financial materiality

Stakeholder Engagement Main Page > Four Pillars > ​Effectiveness Criterion 6

6. Stakeholder-informed Action Plan

The company analyzes information obtained through affected stakeholder engagement and collaborates with rights holders to formulate an action plan. 

what this means

questions for portfolio companies

What to look for

High risk situations

A company’s stakeholder-informed action plan should include the following: 

• Documentation of all engagement activities, their outcomes, and how it is shared
  The plan should include detailed records of engagement, including meeting participants, discussion topics, concerns raised and commitments made. To ensure accuracy, the company should share the documentation with the stakeholders who they engaged.[1]
  
  
• A risk monitoring system with oversight of affected stakeholders
  Companies should establish a risk monitoring system to adapt to shifting stakeholder needs and mitigate emerging risks. Involving affected stakeholders in the tracking and implementation of risk mitigation measures, including social programs, allows them to contribute to solutions that directly impact their lives and fosters a sense of co-ownership and accountability (IFC 2007, 79).
  
  
• Description of how rights holders’ views informed the proposed strategies in the action plan.
  
  Companies should analyze data gathered throughout the stakeholder engagement process (CHRB 2022 B.1.8.S2) and use it to develop an action plan that meaningfully shapes their strategic direction (AA 2015, 12). They should clearly identify which decisions were influenced by stakeholder input and how those views were reflected in the final plan.
  
  
• Tracking commitments made to affected stakeholders and assign responsibility for implementation
  In addition to maintaining a commitments tracking system, companies should assign clear internal responsibility for implementing each commitment (IFC 2007, 103–104). This helps ensure follow-through and continuity, even amid staffing changes within the engagement team.
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• A strategy for communicating changes in the implementation of stakeholder commitmentsCompanies should continue to use the two-way communication channels they built during the engagement process to keep stakeholders informed about the progress, changes, or delays in fulfilling commitments. As with all stages of the process, the ongoing use of the communication channels enables early identification of concerns, helps clarify misunderstandings and reduce risks, and allows companies to explain why certain feedback was not acted upon—laying the groundwork for smooth relations in the future. (TNFD 2023, 38; OECD 2017, 79–80; IFC 2007, 88).

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[1] Shift, “Using Relationship Data to Improve Business Practices: Measuring Company-Community Relationships at a South African Mine,” March 2021, 11 https://shiftproject.org/resource/case-study-goldfields/.