Effective stakeholder engagement for decision-relevant research on food-energy-water systems

Abstract

Given the integrated nature of food-energy-water systems (FEWS), stakeholder engagement is central to developing solution-oriented projects. However, effective engagement requires substantial time and resources, by both the organization conducting the project and the stakeholders themselves, making effective engagement challenging for many projects. To help teams prioritize, prepare, and sustain stakeholder-engaged environmental projects, we propose a methodological foundation for effective engagement based on six gears: diversity, listening, value, trust, accountability, and flexibility/adaptability. The application of these gears is demonstrated using a set of case studies in Arizona, Idaho, Mexico, and Guatemala. In practice, incorporating all the gears during stakeholder engagement can be challenging. This framework can help teams implement and foster more sustained, comprehensive, robust, actionable, equitable, inclusive, and timely engagement, processes, and outcomes.