Our Approach

Stakeholder engagement
​main page

THE pillars and
​Effectiveness criteria

​​Explore the sections below to learn more about how and why we built the Guide, and the ideas that shaped it.

method

Stakeholder engagement lexicon

why a beta version?

on social dialogue with workers

On CAHRAs

Acknowledgements

An analysis of the following leading standards on stakeholder engagement and the organization of their content into four “pillars” serve as the foundation for this Guide:
​

• The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures’ Guidance on Engagement with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Affected Stakeholders (September 2023)
• OECD’s Due Diligence Guidance for Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in the Extractive Sector (February 2017)
• AA1000
Stakeholder
Engagement Standard (2015)
• International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s Stakeholder Engagement Guide: A Good Practice Handbook for Companies Doing Business in Emerging Markets (May 2007)
  ​

The pillars for meaningful stakeholder engagement – Embed in Management Systems, Create a Tailored Engagement Plan, Conduct Appropriate Activities, and Ensure Follow-through – diverge from the four steps in human rights due diligence itself that can be found in UNGP 17. The four stakeholder engagement standards emphasize the need for embedding a commitment to meaningful stakeholder engagement in management systems, a well thought out plan to engage with affected stakeholders, the effective implementation of that plan, and follow through in terms of building the insights from engagement into management practices – with all pillars involving rights holders input guided by two-way communication. This Guide helps investors track the extent to which portfolio companies are adhering to all four.  
​
To translate these pillars into actionable insights for investors, we developed seven "effectiveness criteria" as practical entry points, echoing the effectiveness criteria for non-judicial grievance mechanisms of UNGP 31. Each effectiveness criterion section provides: an explanation of what it means in practice; best practices drawn from the four stakeholder engagement standards and from an analysis of corporate stakeholder engagement disclosures of the 2023 Corporate Human Rights Benchmark; questions to guide investors’ research and engagement with portfolio companies; and a “view from the rights holder” section illustrating how the issue manifests for the rights holder shared during field research and capacity-building workshops in Latin America.

We tested the pillars and effectiveness criteria framework with investors at a side event that was co-organized by project partners Rights CoLab, EIRIS Foundation, and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and hosted by OMERS at PRI in Person in Toronto in October 2024. Rights CoLab also organized one-on-one sessions with investors and individuals at civil society organizations. This iterative feedback process led to the creation of an initial draft, which was validated by subject matter experts. This beta version of the tool was published in June 2025 on the Investor HREDD Precision Tools website. Over the remainder of the year, we will hold interactive training sessions to further refine and finalize the tool.
​
A note on references in this Guide: Throughout the Guide we use in text references when referring to the four standards that form the foundation of this framework and footnotes for all other sources.