Social Assessment

There are many social variables that potentially affect the impacts and success of projects and policies-such as gender, age, language, displacement, and socioeconomic status. Through data collection and analysis, Social Assessments enable project planners in consultation with other stakeholders to prioritize critical issues and determine how to address them.  Social Assessments need to be selective and strategic, focusing only on those variables of operational relevance.
                                                                                    
Source: This overview is based on a presentation developed by Sue Jacobs of the World Bank.

What Does Social Assessment Help Us Achieve?

• Identify stakeholders
  
  
• Identify and prioritize social issues such as:
  - poverty
  - age
  - ethnicity
  - gender
  
  
• Establish a participatory process

People are the reason for and the means of development. Their cultures, societies, and organizations provide the foundation on which development programs rest. People's varied needs, aspirations, beliefs, and expectations are among the factors that shape their response to development activities.
Social Assessment was developed as a tool for project planners to understand how people will affect, and be affected by, development interventions. It is carried out in order to identify key stakeholders and establish an appropriate framework for their participation in project selection, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.

Social Assessment also aims to ensure that project objectives and incentives for change are acceptable to the range of people who are intended to benefit from the intervention, and that project viability and risks are assessed early. Some common questions explored in Social Assessements include:

• What will be the impact of the project on the various stakeholders, particularly women and vulnerable groups? Are there plans to mitigate adverse impacts?

• What social risks might affect project or program success?
  
  
• What institutional arrangements are needed for participation and project delivery?

• Are there adequate plans to build the capacity required at the appropriate levels?

Definition: Social Analysis
The systematic investigation of

• demaographic factors
• socioeconomic determinants
• social organization
• sociopolitical context
• needs and values
• institutions in order to:
• account for social differences
• assess impact and risks
• mitigate adverse impacts
• build capacity of institutions and individuals

The social analysis component of a typical Social Assessment investigates one or more of the following issues.

• Demographic factors: number of people, their location, population density, age, and so on.

• Socioeconomic determinants: factors affecting incomes and productivity, such as risk aversion of the poorest groups, land tenure, access to productive inputs and markets, family composition, kinship reciprocity, and access to wage opportunities and labor migration.

• Social organization: organization and capacity at the household and community levels affecting participation in local-level institutions as well as access to services and information.

• Sociopolitical context: implementing agencies' development goals, priorities, commitment to project objectives, control over resources, experience, and relationship with other stakeholder groups.
  
• Needs and values: stakeholder attitudes and values determining whether development interventions are needed and wanted, appropriate incentives for change, and capacity of stakeholders to manage the process of change.

With this information, Social Assessment helps project planners assess the social impact of investments and, where adverse impacts are identified, determine how they can be avoided or mitigated.

Most teams that have undertaken Social Assessment in World Bank-supported projects recommend that it begin early in the project cycle, and continue as an iterative process all the way through to monitoring and evaluation.

• Conduct Stakeholder Analysis. The first step in Social Assessment is an analysis of the relevant stakeholder groups, their interests, influence, and power, and how they will be affected by the project. (See Stalkeholder Analysis Module for further information.)

• Identify social factors. Defining operationally relevant social issues that may affect project delivery and outcomes is generally done by listening to affected groups, experts, and government officials who have knowledge of the larger sociocultural, political, and economic context that can affect project design and implementation.

• Gather data. The gathering of information should focus only on issues of operational relevance, and should be undertaken with as much local participation as possible. Where there is little or no local experience with social research and analysis, resources should be allocated for intensive training and supervision. Social Assessment teams should be prepared to work in local languages, and data collection methods should be appropriate for the kinds of issues to be addressed.

• Analyze data and assess priorities. Data analysis should focus on answering operational questions and generating action-oriented recommendations.

Develop plans in consultation with stakeholders.
Findings should be discussed with affected people to ensure that conclusions and recommendations are appropriate. A common flaw in designing Social Assessments is to allot too little time to the analysis of findings and the facilitation of stakeholder discussions on the results and their implications. One means of providing operationally relevant material is to produce an action plan, which specifies:

• what social measures and institutional arrangements are to be incorporated in the project;
• how they will be carried out and monitored;
• how changes that occur as the project is implemented will be addressed; and
• how key stakeholder groups will be involved throughout the project.
• The action plan, informed by the data and analysis in the Social Assessment, should be incorporated into the overall project.

Social Assessment
What Kinds of Operations Use Social Assessment?

Social Assessment is being used in policies or projects involving:

• indirect social benefits and direct social costs
• significant uncertainty or risk
• large number of direct beneficiaries
• targeted assistance.

Different types of operations raise very different social concerns. It is the task of the social scientist, or of the Social Assessment team, to identify the key concerns and the appropriate methods and tools for gathering, analyzing, and providing operationally relevant information for decision makers. For example, a forest project involving protected areas might bring indirect benefits to all of humanity with respect to enhanced species conservation; however, the project may also involve direct social costs to local people who no longer have access to those forest resources. In such cases, promoting alternative livelihoods and building consensus on project objectives may be critical. In a project with many beneficiaries, such as a social investment fund, tailoring the operation to the needs of the people involved may be of highest priority. A project directed at the very poor, however, may involve key concerns related to distinguishing the target group from among the rest of the population, overcoming barriers to their involvement, and finding appropriate intermediaries. In a project with high risks (such as post-conflict situations), iterative planning and stakeholder participation throughout the life of the project can be crucial to success.

Social Assessment
Social Assessment Methods Vary in Different Project Contexts

• Workshop-based methods
• Participatory assessment methods

Social Assessment may be carried out by a single social scientist, who contacts the key stakeholders and completes the assessment; or, in cases that are complex or require more systematic participation, a team may undertake the work. Social Assessment activities can take place throughout the project cycle, but the integration of social factors into project design works best when it begins at the identification stage. The methods for social analysis and participation that are most commonly used include:

• Workshop-based Methods. Collaborative decisionmaking often takes place in the context of stakeholder workshops, which bring stakeholders together to assess issues and design development projects collaboratively. A trained facilitator guides stakeholders through a series of activities to promote shared learning and problem-solving.

• Participatory Assessment Methods. Social Assessments can also be informed by field visits to communities and other key local-level stakeholders to learn about their perspectives and priorities. The consultations make use of participatory assessment methodologies, such as Participatory Rural Appraisal, SARAR, or Beneficiary Assessment. 2 These methodologies provide tools for collaborating with local people in analysis and planning, and can contribute to the development of action plans and participation strategies.  I Objectives-Oriented Project Planning (ZOPP) and PC/TeamUp are useful methods for achieving these goals in a workshop setting. Another method, involving the role play of a stakeholder workshop to design a Social Assessment, is included in the Suggestions for Seminars section of this module. 

Social Assessment Is...

Social Analysis + Participation
a process that provides a framework for prioritizing, gathering, analyzing, and incorporating social information and participation into the design and delivery of development operations.

What Does Social Assessment Help Us Achieve?

• Identify stakeholders
  
  
• Identify and prioritize social issues such as:
  - poverty
  - age
  - ethnicity
  - gender

• Establish a participatory process

Definition: Social Analysis

The systematic investigation of

• demographic factors
• socioeconomic determinants
• social organization
• sociopolitical context
• needs and values
• institutional capacity in order to:
      * account for social differences
      * assess impact and risks
      * mitigate adverse impacts
      * build capacity of institutions and individuals

Common Questions In Social Assessment

• Who are the stakeholders?
• What social and cultural factors affect consistent with their needs, the ability of stakeholders to participate interests, and capacity? or benefit from the proposed policy or project?
• What will be the impact of the project or program on the various stakeholders?
• Are there plans to mitigate adverse impacts?
• What social risks might affect project or program success?
• What institutional arrangements are needed for participation and project delivery?
• Are there adequate plans to build the capacity required at the appropriate levels?

Source: Excerpt from a presentation on Social Assessment by Sue Jacobs of the World Bank.

Stakeholder Analysis

Why do Stakeholder Analysis?

• To identify stakeholders' interests in, importance to, and influence over the operation;

• To identify local institutions and processes upon which to build; and

• To provide a foundation and strategy for participation.

Stakeholder Analysis is a vital tool for understanding the social and institutional context of a project or policy. Its findings can provide early and essential information about who will be affected by the project (positively or negatively); who could influence the project (again, positively or negatively); which individuals, groups, or agencies need to be involved in the project, and how; and whose capacity needs to be built to enable them to participate.

Stakeholder Analysis, therefore, provides a foundation and structure for the participatory planning, implementation, and monitoring that follows.

Source:
This Overview section draws upon the work of a discussion group that was written up by Sue Jacobs. Group members included Claude Salem, Tosca Van Vijfeijken, Deepa Narayan, Jennifer Rietbergen-McCracken, and Sue Jacobs, all of the World Bank. Other sources for this work include Richard Montgomery at the Center for Development Studies, Swansea, and the report by the British Overseas Development  Administration (now known as Department for International Development), 1995, "Guidance Note on How to Do Stakeholder Analysis of Aid Projects and Programmes," Social Development Department, London.

Stakeholder Analysis

What is a stakeholder?
"Stakeholders are people, groups, or institutions which are likely to be affected by a proposed intervention (either negatively or positively), or those which can affect the outcome of the intervention."
Stakeholders include:

• The Borrower
• The Poor
• Other Affected Groups
• Interested Groups

Stakeholders are those people who stand to gain or lose something by a project or policy intervention, or those who are capable of affecting the outcome of the intervention.

• The Borrower:The most immediate client
• The Poor: the poor often lack information and power and tend to be excluded from the development process. Particular attention needs to be given to vulnerable groups such as the landless, women, children, indigenous people, and minority groups.

Other Affected Groups:. Other individuals, families, communities, or  
organizations may be positively or adversely affected by projects or policy interventions.

Interested Groups: Others who have vested interests in development
initiatives including religious and community organizations, local authorities, and private sector firms.

Stakeholder Analysis: A Four-Step Process

Step 1. Identify Key Stakeholders
Assess:

• Who are potential beneficiaries?
• Who might be adversely impacted?
• Have vulnerable groups been identified?
• Have supporters and opponents been identified?
• What are the relationships among the stakeholders?

Stakeholder Analysis is essentially a four-step process. This page and those that follow describe each step in the analysis, indicate who should be involved in the work, and then provide a series of matrices that can help to guide the process.  The first step of a 'Stakeholder Analysis is to identify the key stakeholders-whose participation will be sought-from the large array of institutions and individuals that could potentially affect or be affected by the proposed intervention.

This can be achieved by drawing up a simple list. When answering the questions above, consider the borrower, beneficiaries, affected groups, and other interested.  The list that results from this exercise can provide the first input into the Stakeholder Analysis rnatrices included below.

Step 2. Assess Stakeholder Interests and the Potential Impact
of the Project on These Interests
Assess:

• What are the stakeholder's expectations of the project?
• What benefits are there likely to be for the stakeholders?
• What resources might the stakeholder be able and
  willing to mobilize?
• What stakeholder interests conflict with project goals?

Once the key stakeholder groups have been identified, their possible interests in the project or economic and sector work (ESW) can be considered. Some stakeholder interests are less obvious than others and may be difficult to define, especially if they are "hidden," multiple, or in contradiction with the stated aims or objectives of the organization or individual. The above questions can guide the inquiry into the interests of each key stakeholder or group. In the case of some institutions these questions can be answered through a review of secondary information. For more informal groups and local people, assessment of their interests will probably require some form of consultation, either directly with these stakeholders or with people "on-the-ground" who are familiar with these groups.  With this background, consideration can be given to how the project might affect these interests-positively or negatively. All of this information can be summarized and added to the Stakeholder Analysis matrices.

Step 3. Assess Stakeholder Influence and Importance
For each stakeholder group, assess its:

• power and status (political, social, and economic)
• degree of organization
• control of strategic resources
• formal influence (for example personal connections)
• power relations with other stakeholders
• importance to the success of the project.

influence refers to the power that stakeholders have over a project. It can be exercised by controlling the decision making process directly and by facilitating or hindering the project's implementation. This control may come from a stakeholder's status or power, or from informal connections with leaders.

Another variable, that of importance, relates to the degree to which achievement of project objectives depends on the active involvement of a given stakeholder group. Stakeholders who are important to the project are generally those whose needs the project seeks to meet as well as those
whose interests converge with the objectives of the project. Some stakeholders may be very important to a project (for instance, rural women in a reproductive health project) but may have very limited influence over the project. These stakeholders may require special efforts to enable
them to become active participants to ensure that their needs will indeed be met.  Both the influence and importance of different stakeholder groups can be ranked along simple scales, and mapped against each other, as an initial step in determining appropriate strategies for their involvement. Both variables can be assessed in a preliminary manner based on the knowledge of those familiar with the stakeholders concerned. More in-depth  ssessments of importance and influence would require direct consultations (for instance, to ask local-level stakeholders for their reactions to a proposed intervention).

Step 4. Outline a Stakeholder Participation Strategy
Plan stakeholder involvement according to:

• interests, importance, and influence of each stakeholder
  group
• particular efforts needed to involve important stakeholders
  who lack influence
• appropriate forms of participation throughout the
  project cycle.

On the basis of the previous three steps in the Stakeholder Analvsis process, some preliminary planning can be done on how the different stakeholder groups can best be involved in subsequent stages of the project or ESW. As a rule of thumb, the appropriate approaches for involving stakeholders of differing levels of influence and importance can be as follows:

• stakeholders of high influence and high importance should be closely
  involved throughout to ensure their support for the project;
  
  
• stakeholders of high influence and low importance are not the target of
  the project but may oppose the intervention; therefore, they will need, as appropriate, to be kept informed and their views acknowledged to avoid disruption or conflict;
  
  
• stakeholders of low influence and high importance require special efforts
  to ensure that their needs are met and their participation is meaningful; and
  
  
• stakeholders of low influence and low importance are unlikely to be
  closely involved in the project and require no special participation strategies (beyond any information-sharing strategies aimed at the "general public").

Stakeholder Analysis
Small Group Work Assignment
Elect a rapporteur to record a summary of the group's discussion, fill in the
matrices, and briefly present the results in plenary. Your facilitator will help you to accomplish the following tasks.

Discuss the range of stakeholders likely to be involved in the project, and select six key stakeholder groups for the purposes of the exercise.

In Table 1 identify, for each stakeholder group:

• what interests they are likely to have in the project;
• what effect the project will probably have on these interests (positive, negative, or neutral);
• the level of importance of the stakeholder for the project (in other words, to what extent the project focuses on meeting the needs of the stakeholder);
• the level of influence that the stakeholder is likely to have over the project (the extent to which the stakeholder has some control over how the project operates).

Using the information in Table 1, map the relative importance and influence of the stakeholder groups in Table 2. Discuss how the stakeholder groups compare to each other and consider how, if at all, the project should involve the different groups in each stage of the project cycle.  In Table 3, insert some examples of how some of the stakeholder groups can be involved in each stage of the project cycle. The following guide may be useful as
you plan.

• stakeholders of high influence and high importance: should be closely
  involved throughout to ensure their support for the project;
  
  
• stakeholders of high influence, low importance: may oppose the project
  as their interests are not the target of the project, and will, therefore, need to be kept informed and their views acknowledged, where appropriate, to avoid disruption or conflict;
  
  
• stakeholders of low influence, high importance: special efforts will need
  to be made to ensure that their needs are met and their participation is meaningful; and
  
  
• stakeholders of low influence, low importance: are unlikely to be
  closely involved in the project, and no special participation strategies are required for this group (beyond any information-sharing strategies aimed at the "general public").

 
Adapted from The World Bank at www.worldbank.org