ACCESS4ALL Group

In the Sundarbans Resilience Project, the national ministries directly in charge of environment, water, disaster management and planning, together with the main international donors and the project management team, clearly fall in the high power–high influence quadrant, so they should be managed closely. They control approvals, funding and overall direction, and their institutional reputation is tied to the project’s outcomes.

Higher‑level authorities and regulatory or law‑enforcement bodies that mainly ensure legal compliance and policy alignment would sit in the high power–low influence area, where the strategy is to keep them satisfied. They can halt or shape the project, but their day‑to‑day interest in this specific initiative is more limited.

Local coastal communities, including fishers, smallholders and other vulnerable residents, belong in the low power–high influence quadrant, to be kept informed. Their livelihoods and safety are directly affected, so their interest and potential benefit are very high, but they have limited formal control over funding and design, which exposes a strong power imbalance with donors and ministries.

Peripheral actors such as researchers, academic institutions and the media fit in the low power–low influence quadrant, where they are mainly monitored. They provide knowledge, analysis and visibility, yet they do not depend on the project for their survival and have little direct capacity to alter core decisions.