ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the broad topic of stakeholder engagement. Literature and training courses on stakeholder engagement sometimes tend to focus only on engagement with communities. While affected communities are critical stakeholders, the chapter also looks at other important external and internal stakeholders. Countries are increasingly legislating the requirement to undertake stakeholder engagement, although the degree to which they specify requirements varies and many have limited formal requirements. The level of engagement will depend on the project stage, the level of project impacts and risks, as well as the stakeholder in question and their concerns and importance. The extent to which a project focuses on different stakeholders largely depends on the nature and extent of project impacts on the stakeholder, the project stage and the level of influence of the stakeholder and whether they are a supporter or opponent of the project. Countries are increasingly regulating how stakeholder engagement is undertaken with indigenous people.
