Conservation stakeholder engagement glossary: 40+ terms defined
Quick answer
Managing stakeholder relationships in conservation comes with its own vocabulary. Whether you're reading through a stakeholder engagement plan for the first time, trying to understand what your project manager means by "joint agreement", or need to explain the difference between a Partner and a Provider to your team, this glossary provides clear definitions of essential stakeholder engagement terms.
All terms are used consistently across WildTeam resources.
You can access the full glossary when you download the Stakeholder Engagement for Wildlife Conservation best practice as part of the course.
You can access the full glossary when you download the Stakeholder Engagement for Wildlife Conservation best practice as part of the course.
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Why conservation projects fail without proper stakeholder engagement
A
Active roles: Stakeholder roles established for the project team and other stakeholders carrying out joint work together. The active roles are Lead, Partner, and Supplier, each with specific responsibilities and decision-making authority for implementing project activities.
Adviser: An observer role established for stakeholders needed for information. Advisers provide input and recommendations but are not involved in implementing the joint work or making decisions about it.
B
Biodiversity targets: The specific species, habitats, or ecosystems that the conservation project aims to protect or restore, forming the focus of the conservation strategy and impact.
C
Concentrate on consensus: A principle encouraging the project team to plan and carry out their project in a way that achieves the desired conservation impact while also helping to fulfil stakeholder needs, balancing conservation goals with stakeholder interests.
Conservation impact: The positive changes in biodiversity and ecosystems that result from conservation work, representing the desired outcomes that the project aims to achieve and sustain over time.
Conservation strategy: The overall approach and set of actions designed to address conservation challenges and achieve the desired conservation impact for specific biodiversity targets.
Consulted party: An observer role established for stakeholders needed for consent and those with at least a high effect rating. Consulted parties are asked for their views and permission but do not implement joint work.
E
Effect rating: A scored assessment (very high, high, medium, low, or very low) of how much a stakeholder may be positively or negatively affected by the project, calculated from descriptions of potential project impacts.
Enable involvement: A principle encouraging the project team to create the conditions that enable all stakeholders to get involved if they wish to do so, removing barriers to participation.
I
Information-sharing events: Meetings or gatherings arranged to build a shared understanding of the conservation situation and each stakeholder's experience, vision, capacity, and motivation.
Initiating the relationship: The second step in the stakeholder engagement process where the project team assesses stakeholder relationships and support, makes initial contact, and organises relationship-building and information-sharing events.
J
Joint agreement: A document created between the project team (as Lead) and stakeholders with observer roles that documents the information both parties require, such as what resources or consent the stakeholder will provide and what the project team will communicate in return.
Joint plan: A document created between the project team (as Lead) and stakeholders with active roles detailing what they have agreed to, including joint impact, schedule of activities, budget, and how they will work together.
Joint planning: Workshops where the project team and stakeholders work together to clarify what impact they want to achieve, what work each will carry out, how they will monitor success, how they will manage the work, what each will provide, and what roles each will take.
Joint report: A document created by the Lead with input from active stakeholders to communicate progress of joint work to observer stakeholders and unselected stakeholders.
Joint status meetings: Regular meetings where the Lead, Partners, and Suppliers discuss progress of their joint work using Joint status reports as input, and identify any new information or changing conditions affecting the work.
Joint status report: A document created from the Joint work tracker showing progress of joint work, used as input for joint status meetings between the Lead, Partners, and Suppliers.
Joint work: Activities and tasks that the project team and stakeholders with active roles have agreed to carry out together as documented in the Joint plan.
Joint work tracker: A tool used by the project team (as Lead) to document and track the relevant information from the Joint plan, including activities, responsibilities, deadlines, and progress of joint work with Partners and Suppliers.
L
Lead: The active role taken by the project team with overall responsibility for the joint work, including coordinating with Partners and Suppliers, making final decisions, and managing stakeholder relationships. There should only be one Lead to ensure clear decision-making.
M
Managing the relationship: The fourth and final step in the stakeholder engagement process where the project team nurtures relationships, manages progress of joint work, manages joint reporting, and manages changes in relationships with stakeholders.
N
Need rating: A scored assessment (very high, high, medium, low, or very low) of how much the project needs each stakeholder for information, consent, participation, or resources, calculated from descriptions of stakeholder contributions.
O
Observer roles: Stakeholder roles established for those affected by or able to affect the joint work but who do not carry out any of it themselves. The observer roles are Provider, Consulted party, and Adviser.
P
Partner: An active role for stakeholders who share responsibility with the Lead for specific aspects of the joint work, implementing agreed activities and contributing to decisions within their area of responsibility.
Plan phase: The initial phase of a conservation project where the project team develops their conservation strategy and begins engaging stakeholders, ideally starting stakeholder engagement before the strategy is finalised.
Project effect: The degree to which stakeholders may be positively or negatively affected by the conservation project, assessed through descriptions and ratings to help select which stakeholders to engage.
Project need: The degree to which the conservation project needs each stakeholder for information, consent, participation, or resources, assessed through descriptions and ratings to help select which stakeholders to engage.
Project plan: The comprehensive document containing all the information the project team needs for managing the whole project, including activities, timelines, budget, roles, and stakeholder engagement activities.
Project team: The group of individuals and organisations responsible for planning, funding, implementing, and managing the conservation work, taking the Lead role in stakeholder engagement.
Project tracker: A tool used by the project team to track detailed progress of project activities, tasks, assignments, and milestones, expanding on the work plan to include individual responsibilities.
Provider: An observer role established for stakeholders needed for resources such as funds, infrastructure, skills, or equipment. Providers supply resources but are not involved in implementing the joint work.
R
Relationship-building events: Meetings or gatherings arranged to build mutual trust between the project team and stakeholders, or between different stakeholders involved in the project.
Relationship rating: A scored assessment (very bad, bad, neutral, good, or very good) of the quality of relationships between different stakeholders, used to determine how to arrange stakeholder events and manage engagement activities.
Respect differences: A principle encouraging the project team to engage each stakeholder in a way that acknowledges and appreciates their unique identity, including their culture, values, decision-making processes, rights, knowledge, and relationships.
S
Selecting stakeholders: The first step in the stakeholder engagement process where the project team identifies potential stakeholders, assesses how they will be affected by the project, assesses the project's need for them, and selects which stakeholders to engage.
Stakeholder: Any individual or group that may affect, or be affected by, the conservation work. Stakeholders differ for each situation and may include local communities, government departments, NGOs, private companies, and others.
Stakeholder engagement: The systematic process of involving stakeholders in conservation work through selecting them, initiating relationships, clarifying roles and agreements, and managing ongoing relationships throughout the project.
Stakeholder engagement worksheet: A supporting tool used throughout the stakeholder engagement process to record stakeholder information, including types, descriptions, effect ratings, need ratings, relationship ratings, and support ratings.
Stakeholder role: A temporary set of responsibilities and decision-making abilities agreed to by the project team and stakeholder, defining how each party will be involved in the project. Roles can be active (Lead, Partner, Supplier) or observer (Provider, Consulted party, Adviser).
Start early: A principle encouraging the project team to engage stakeholders well in advance of when their participation is needed, ideally during the Plan phase and before developing the conservation strategy.
Supplier: An active role for stakeholders who provide specific services or deliverables to the joint work as needed, implementing discrete tasks or providing particular resources according to agreed terms.
Support rating: A scored assessment (strongly against, against, neutral, supportive, strongly supportive) of each stakeholder's level of support for the conservation project, used to determine if sufficient backing exists to proceed.
U
Unselected stakeholders: Stakeholders identified during the selection process but not chosen for active engagement based on their effect and need ratings, though they may still receive updates on project progress.
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