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AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement
Standard (2011)
Pre-Publication Version
November 2011
This is the final and approved version of the AA1000SES (2011). It is made available
under the authority of the standard’s technical committee with much thanks to all
who have contributed to its contents. The content is for use by all stakeholders.
The intellectual property is protected by a Creative Common copyright.
The Creative Commons Copyright: AA1000SES (2011) Technical Committee pre- publication version by AA1000SES (2011) Technical Committee is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
For queries about the content, sharing of experiences linked to its use, etc, please
join the LinkedIn group created to interact on discussions focused on the
AA1000SES (2011) at
www.linkedin.com/groups/AA1000SES-2011-4106960
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Contents
Glossary of Terms
Foreword 6
i Evolution of the AA1000 stakeholder engagement standard 6
ii Development process 6
Introduction 8
i Aims and benefits of AA1000SES stakeholder engagement 8
ii Scope of the standard 10
1. Purpose and Scope of the AA1000SES (2011) 12
2. Commitment and Integration 14
2.1 Commit to the AA1000 Accountability Principles (2008) 14
2.2 Integrate with governance 15
2.3 Integrate with organisational strategy and operations 15
3. Purpose, Scope and Stakeholders 16
3.1 Establish the purpose of the engagement 16
3.2 Establish the scope of the engagement associated
with the purpose 17
3.3 Determine the mandate, ownership
and stakeholders of the engagement 18
4. Engagement Process 21
4.1 Plan 21
4.1.1 Profile and map stakeholders 21
4.1.2 Determine engagement level(s) and method(s) 23
4.1.3 Identify boundaries of disclosure 25
4.1.4 Develop an engagement plan 26
4.1.5 Establish indicators 28
4.2 Prepare 28
4.2.1 Mobilise resources 28
4.2.2 Build capacity to engage 29
4.2.3 Identify and prepare for engagement risks 30
4.3 Implement the engagement plan 31
4.3.1 Invite stakeholders to engage 31
4.3.2 Brief stakeholders 32
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4.3.3 Engage 33
4.3.4 Document the engagement and its outputs 34
4.3.5 Develop an action plan 35
4.3.6 Communicate engagement outputs and action plan 36
4.4 Review and improve 36
4.4.1 Monitor and evaluate the engagement 36
4.4.2 Learn and improve 37
4.4.3 Follow up on action plan 37
4.4.4 Report on engagement 38
Annexes 39
A. The AA1000 Series 39
B. The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Technical Committee 40
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Definitions
Assurance - The term usually describes the methods and processes employed by an
assurance provider to evaluate an organisation's public disclosures about its
performance as well as underlying systems, data and processes against suitable
criteria and standards in order to increase the credibility of public disclosure.
Assurance includes the communication of the results of the assurance process in an
assurance statement.
The AA1000 Accountability Principles
Inclusivity - For an organisation that accepts its accountability to those on
whom it has an impact and who have an impact on it, inclusivity is the
participation of stakeholders in developing and achieving an accountable
and strategic response to sustainability.
Materiality - Materiality is determining the relevance and significance of an
issue to an organisation and its stakeholders. A material issue is an issue
that will influence the decisions, actions and performance of an
organisation or its stakeholders.
Responsiveness - Responsiveness is an organisation’s response to
stakeholder issues that affect its sustainability performance and is realised
through decisions, actions and performance, as well as communication with
stakeholders.
Accountability - Acknowledging, assuming responsibility for and being transparent
about the impacts of your policies, decisions, actions, products and associated
performance. It obliges an organisation to involve stakeholders in identifying,
understanding and responding to sustainability issues and concerns, and to report,
explain and be answerable to stakeholders for decisions, actions and performance.
It includes the way in which an organisation governs, sets strategy and manages
performance.
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Dialogue - A discussion intended to produce an output.
Organisation - An entity, group of people, company, corporation, firm, enterprise,
site, authority or institution, or part or combination thereof, whether corporate,
government or civil society, that has its own functions and administration.
Sustainable Development - Development that meets the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Source: 1987 report of the Brundtland Commission: The World Commission on
Environment and Development.
Types of performance measures
Output – The immediate result of an activity.
Outcome – Changes or benefits resulting from an output.
Stakeholder - Stakeholders are those individuals, groups of individuals or
organisations that affect and/or could be affected by an organisation’s activities,
products or services and associated performance.
Note: This does not include all those who may have knowledge of or views about
the organisation. Organisations will have many stakeholders, each with distinct
types and levels of involvement, and often with diverse and sometimes conflicting
interests and concerns.
Stakeholder Engagement - Stakeholder engagement is the process used by an
organisation to engage relevant stakeholders for a purpose to achieve accepted
outcomes.
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appropriately which was then approved for publication by the AA1000 Standards
Board by July 2011.
The evolving nature of learning in the standards field means that the process of
developing standards is ongoing. The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Technical
Committee invites you to share your AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Standard
experiences with us so that we can continue to improve the AA1000 Series.
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INTRODUCTION
i Aims and benefits of the AA1000SES (2011)
While stakeholder engagement is not new, it is now accepted as crucial to an
organisation’s sustainability and success. To date, however, it has been difficult to
fully understand what is considered good or poor-quality engagement. The purpose
of this standard is to establish a benchmark for good-quality engagement.
Stakeholders are not just members of communities or non-governmental
organisations. They are those individuals, groups of individuals or organisations
that affect and/or could be affected by an organisation’s activities, products or
services and associated performance with regard to the issues addressed within the
engagement.
Stakeholder engagement then is the process used by an organisation to engage with
relevant stakeholders for a clear purpose in order to achieve accepted outcomes. It
is now also recognised as a fundamental accountability mechanism, since it obliges
an organisation to involve stakeholders in identifying, understanding and addressing
sustainability issues and concerns, and to report, explain and respond to
stakeholders for decisions, actions and performance.
Quality stakeholder engagement must:
• be based on a commitment to the AA1000APS principles;
• clearly define the scope;
• have an agreed decision-making process;
• focus on issues material to the organisation and/or its stakeholders;
• create opportunities for dialogue;
• be integral to organisational governance;
• be transparent;
• have a process appropriate to the stakeholders engaged;
• be adequately resourced;
• be timely; and
• be flexible and responsive.
Engaging with the individuals, groups of individuals or organisations that are
affected by or can affect an organisation’s activities, products or services and
associated performance, and responding to their concerns makes an organisation
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perform better. It increases their knowledge and contributes to their license to
operate. Quality stakeholder engagement can:
• Result in more equitable and sustainable development by giving those who have
a right to be heard the opportunity to be considered in decision-making
processes;
• Enable better management of opportunities, risks and reputation;
• Enable the complementary pooling of resources (knowledge, people, money and
technology) to solve problems and reach objectives that cannot be reached by
individuals, groups of individuals or organisations acting on their own;
• Enable understanding of the complex operating environments, including market
developments, political and cultural dynamics;
• Enable learning from stakeholders, resulting in product and process
enhancements and innovations;
• Inform, educate and influence stakeholders to improve their decisions and
actions that will have an impact on the organisation and on society; and
• Contribute to the development of trust-based and transparent stakeholder
relationships.
Stakeholder engagement is a journey. An organisation’s starting point is often pain
alleviation. Something negative has happened or significant concerns have been
raised, and significant external pressure needs to be addressed urgently. An
organisation finds that it needs to engage, to be more transparent and to respond
directly to stakeholder concerns.
Organisations that find stakeholder engagement has helped to resolve a problem,
then look for ways to use engagement as a preventive rather than a reactionary
mechanism. They begin to use it systematically as part of risk identification and
management. They discover that a better understanding of their stakeholders
results in an easier and more receptive operating environment.
They then discover that it can contribute just as much to strategic as to
operational improvements. Engagement can be a tremendous source of innovation
and new partnerships. Leading companies are discovering that a growing
percentage of innovation is coming from outside the organisation and not from
within. They realise that stakeholders are a resource and not simply an irritant to
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AA1000SE Manual – To be published as a set text and developed by experts with
support from broad public consultation. It will include:
• how to develop the case for stakeholder engagement;
• step-by-step guidance, templates and examples for
o organisational engagement;
o project-based engagement; and
o public sector engagement.
AA1000SES WikiHub – A real-time, open-access collaborative database of useful
information and guidance on stakeholder engagement to be developed and policed
by stakeholders, with some moderation. At the outset it will include:
• a database of performance indicators that organisations have developed
and used to evaluate the quality and value of stakeholder engagement;
• a database of working examples and cases in three sections:
organisations, projects and public sector;
• a resource of country and regional adaptations addressing the local
context and dynamics;
• a resource of sector adaptations addressing sector specific issues and
dynamics;
• a database on how the AA1000SES (2011) relates to and can be used
with other standards, codes and guidelines; and
• a database of other relevant tools and approaches to stakeholder
engagement.
1. Purpose and scope of the AA1000SES (2011)
The AA1000SES (2011) is a generally applicable, framework for the design,
implementation, assessment and communication of quality stakeholder
engagement.
It describes how to establish commitment to stakeholder engagement how to
integrate stakeholder engagement with governance, strategy and operations; how
to determine the purpose, scope and stakeholders for engagement; and the
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2. Commitment and integration
Stakeholder engagement must be embedded in the culture and core functions of
the organisation. To achieve this, the AA1000SES (2011) requires a commitment to
the AA1000APS Accountability Principles and integration of stakeholder
engagement into organisational governance, strategy and operations. Through this
commitment and integration, the outputs of stakeholder engagement result in
strategic and operational outcomes.
2.1 Commit to the AA1000 Accountability Principles
The organisation shall make a formal commitment to the AA1000 Accountability
Principles as defined in the AA1000APS (2008). This commitment shall be
communicated both internally and externally.
The three AA1000 Accountability Principles are The Foundation Principle of
Inclusivity, the Principle of Materiality and the Principle of Responsiveness.
Inclusivity is the participation of stakeholders in developing and achieving an
accountable and strategic response to sustainability. It is also a commitment to be
accountable to those on whom the organisation has an impact and who have an
impact on it, and to enable their participation in identifying issues and finding
solutions. It is about engaging at all levels, including the organisation’s
governance, to achieve better outcomes.
Inclusivity, materiality and responsiveness require a defined process of stakeholder
engagement that provides comprehensive and balanced involvement and results in
outcomes that address and respond to issues and impacts in an accountable way.
The Foundation Principle of Inclusivity is necessary for the achievement of the
other two Accountability Principles: Materiality and Responsiveness. Inclusivity is
the starting point for determining materiality. A materiality process determines the
most relevant and significant issues for an organisation and its stakeholders,
recognising that materiality may be stakeholder specific, i.e., some issues will be
material to some stakeholders but not to others. Responsiveness includes the
decisions, actions, performance and communications in relation to those material
issues.
The commitment to the AA1000 Accountability Principles should be formalized in a
way consistent with the governance of the organisation. This may require a specific
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When considering the time frame of the engagement process, it should be
considered whether the engagement will look at long-term strategic issues or
current concerns or both.
Depending on the subject matter of the engagement, stakeholders may be involved
in defining the scope of the engagement.
The scope of the engagement may have to be adjusted based on the views of
stakeholders during the engagement.
3.3 Determine the mandate, ownership and stakeholders of the engagement
3.3.1 Mandate and Ownership
The mandate and ownership of the engagement shall be established. The owners
of the engagement shall have the appropriate competencies.
The mandate comes from those responsible for defining the purpose, scope
and ownership of the engagement. The mandate may come from a single
organisation, from a partnership or from a collaboration. The organisation,
partnership or collaboration place their authority and resources behind the
stakeholder engagement.
The owners of the engagement are the individuals or groups, including
partnerships or collaborations, either internal or external to the
organisation, who participate in the decisions associated with the planning,
preparation, implementation, review and communication of the
engagement. Engagement ownership will vary and at times will be vested
within the organisation itself and at times it will be more collaborative and
may be shared. Ownership of the engagement may change during the
engagement process if it is considered beneficial to the overall outcome and
achievement of the purpose of the engagement.
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3.3.2 Stakeholder identification
The owners of the engagement shall identify stakeholders relevant to the purpose
and scope of the engagement. They shall establish a methodology to identify
stakeholders.
Relevant stakeholders are those individuals, groups of individuals or organisations
that affect and/or could be affected by an organisation’s activities, products or
services and associated performance with regard to the issues to be addressed by
the engagement. An organisation may have many stakeholders, each with distinct
attributes and often with diverse and sometimes conflicting interests and concerns.
Establishing a methodology for systematically identifying groups and individuals
that can contribute to achieving the purpose of the engagement and/or could be
affected by its outcome is fundamental to the engagement process.
A method for systematically identifying stakeholder groups should consider the
scope of the engagement and may be guided by attributes of stakeholders such as
the following:
• Dependency - groups or individuals who are directly or indirectly dependent on
the organisation’s activities, products or services and associated performance,
or on whom the organisation is dependent in order to operate;
• Responsibility - groups or individuals to whom the organisation has, or in the
future may have, legal, commercial, operational or ethical/moral
responsibilities;
• Tension – groups or individuals who need immediate attention from the
organisation with regard to financial, wider economic, social or environmental
issues;
• Influence - groups and individuals who can have impact on the organisation’s or
a stakeholder’s strategic or operational decision-making;
• Diverse perspectives – groups and individuals whose different views can lead to
a new understanding of the situation and the identification of opportunities for
action that may not otherwise occur.
Stakeholders may also include those who, through regulation, custom, culture or
reputation, can legitimately claim to represent any of these interests as well the
interests of the voiceless such as future generations and the environment.
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• unhelpful digression;
• unbalanced participation; or
• poor time utilisation.
The owners of the engagement or facilitator should ensure all views and discussions
are captured as appropriate. With the agreement of the participants, audio, video
or photographic records of the engagement may be made.
4.3.4 Document the engagement and its outputs
The owners of the engagement shall document the engagement and its outputs.
The documentation should capture:
• the purpose and aims of the engagement;
• the methods used;
• who participated and who didn’t;
• the time frame;
• a verbatim record (not always necessary but may be useful - permission may be
required);
• a summary of stakeholder concerns, expectations and perceptions;
• a summary of key discussions and interventions; and
• outputs (e.g. queries, proposals, recommendations, agreed decisions and
actions).
4.3.5 Develop an action plan
The owners of the engagement shall analyse the engagement and its outputs and
develop an action plan that articulates how the organisation will respond to the
outputs of the engagement. The action plan shall provide a response to all outputs
of the engagement. The action plan shall be developed in consultation with those
who will have responsibility for implementing it.
The owners of the engagement should respond to every output, giving reasons for
the chosen decisions and actions, even if it does not do everything that is proposed
or recommended.
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The action plan should:
• ensure that decisions and actions take into account stakeholder concerns,
expectations and perceptions, as well as key discussions and interventions;
• ensure that roles and responsibilities are well-defined; and
• offer realistic timescales for completion.
Actions may include the development of or changes to:
• governance and management commitment;
• relevant policies;
• strategies, objectives, targets and performance indicators;
• operational practices;
• clear assignment of responsibility and the necessary competencies; and
• review, learning and improvement processes.
4.3.6 Communicate engagement outputs and action plan
The owners of the engagement shall communicate the outputs and action plan to
participants of the engagement in an appropriate and timely manner.
It is important that reporting back to stakeholders is done in an inclusive,
accessible and consistent way so that all participants receive consistent feedback.
Reporting back should include a written report, but may be supplemented by:
• stakeholder events;
• one-to-one meetings and conversations;
• follow-up telephone briefings; and
• providing access to information on web portals.
The owners of the engagement should seek feedback from the participants on the
information provided and revise it in response to any legitimate queries raised.
The owners of the engagement should ensure they keep a record of any queries
raised and how the information has been revised.
With the agreement of the stakeholders involved, the owners of the engagement
may also choose to communicate this information more widely, both internally and
externally.
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Annexes
A. The AA1000 Series
The AA1000 Series is comprised of three standards:
AA1000APS (2008) Accountability Principles Standard
AA1000AS (2008) Assurance Standard
AA1000SES (2011) Stakeholder Engagement Standard
The series is supported by Guidance Notes and User Notes. The Guidance Notes
provide information on how to apply the standards. The User Notes provide
examples of the use of the standards.
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B. The AA1000 Stakeholder Engagement Technical Committee
(The AA1000SES (2011) Technical Committee)
Artuso, Eros - Assistant Director, PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Aston, John J. - Managing Director, astoneco management
Bou Ghanem, Monir - Head of Stakeholder Relations, EAD
Ewings, Alison - Group Sustainability Manager, Westpac
Hell, Christian - Assistant Manager, KPMG
Jayaram, Santhosh – Head, Sustainability and Business Excellence Services, Det
Norske Veritas AS
Kim, Dongsoo - Director of Sustainability Management Centre, Korea Productivity
Center
Knight, Alan – The SROI Network and Independent Sustainability Advisor1
Leggatt, Nicky - Technical Director, Jacobs
NG'Andu, Suzyo - Bank Secretary, Zambia National Commercial Bank
Pattberg, Anne – Senior Manager, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, (was Head of
Sustainability at Camelot to March 2011)
Scade, John - Managing Director, MAS Business
Schukat, Philip - Policy Advisor and Specialist for Environmental and Social
Standard Systems, GIZ
Shikhar Jain - Senior Counsellor, Confederation of Indian Industry
Sterne, Rod - Head of Strategies, WWF
Waheed, Ambreen - Founding Executive Director, RBI- Responsible Business
Initiative
Williamson, Janet - Senior Policy Officer, Trades Union Congress (TUC)
1
Alan Knight also supported AccountAbility’s secretariat function.