Stakeholder power and influence
National government decentralized departments and the project donor holds more power and influence, as the control the core parts of the project in terms of decision-making regarding resources, resource allocation, budgets and other approvals, policy directtion, among others. However, the beneficiary community members are those who benefit most from the project outcomes though the national government and its decentralized departments and the donor also benefit somehow.
The national government decentralized partments are the main coordination and planning unity on behalf of beneficaries, and benefits from several angles including capacity building, strengthened coordination and planning, trust and reputation from both the communities and the donor. They hold high power and high influence over the project, as the can do or undo the project.
The donor provides the financial means for the project to happen besides providing technical guidance and direction in alignment with the project goal and objectives. They intend benefit from trust and credibility from the national governemnt decentralized departments, and from the communities. They also benefit from reputation as they are viewed or seen as credible and reliable partner in development. They also hold high power and influence as they can determine the success or the failure of the project through several angles, such as delayed release of funds, poor direction and guidance, among others.
Governemnt agencies, NGOs, local communities and researchers are dependent on one another, and therefore benefit mutually in several folds. Government agencies will relie on the NGOs to complement field and community level facilitation and engagement, while the NGOs depend on the powers of the government agencies to have their work carried out smoothly in the beneficiary communities. Local communities will depend on government agencies, NGOs and researchers to have their voices and decisions heard and listened to. They will articulate their aspirations and needs through the government agencies, the NGOs and the researchers, while the government agencies, the NGOs and the researchers will depend on the communities to have their work done well. The reaserchers and the NGOs will work under the powers and the authority of the government agencies to ensure their work is well articulated to the communities. The government agencies will relie on the support from the NGOs, the researchers and the communities to facilitate and to engagement the communities.
Definitely, yes. there are power inbalance among all the key actors, most especially the communities. They NGOs because the have control over the resources, can sometimes ignore the government agencies decisions and consultation as witnessed on several projects I have worked for. The researchers may be compelled to comply to the rules and the game of the NGOs because they control financial resources. The government agencies may decide to use their power and authority as the government mouthpiece to delay or to deny certain actions to be taken by the NGOs and the researchers. At the bottom of the power inbalance are the communities who suffer most as the hold very little power. The action and the inactions of all the other actors greatly and negatively impact the communities at the receivig end. However, the communities also hold the power to reject decisions that are not in their best interest. The communities may not give them the needed cooperation to work in their communities.
I used level of interest, authority, contorl of resources, decision-making, among others to determine the level of power and the level of influence.