This 28 slide presentation Stakeholder & Consultations is Module 4 of a nine (9) module online course for adult education policy makers and practitioners to complement an innovative toolkit to guide adult education policy and practice. Participation in adult education varies significantly across states and regions of Europe! Why? Evidence and literature suggests a wide disparity in policy making, programming and implementation skills in the adult education sector across Europe. It is imperative that policy makers and programme managers address this disparity to foster life-long learning for a smart-sustainable Europe (see EU2020 https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/eu-economic-governance-monitoring-prevention-correction/european-semester/framework/europe-2020-strategy_en) and to achieve a European target of 15% of the adult population engaged in learning. In response to this challenge, the ERASMUS+ DIMA project (See https://dima-project.eu/index.php/en/, 2015 to 2017) developed a practical 9 module online course to complement an innovative toolkit to guide adult education policy and practice. The DIMA toolkit (See https://dima-project.eu/index.php/en/toolkit) introduces tools for developing, implementing, and monitoring adult education policies, strategies, and practices. Author: Michael Kenny and DIMA Project partners (https://dima-project.eu/index.php/en/partners)

1. www.dima-project.eu
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication]
and all its content reflect the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number: 2015-1-CY01-KA204-011850
Module 3: Stakeholder &
Consultations
The Content of the following presentation was prepared
jointly by the ERASMUS+ DIMA Project consortium partners
working collaboratively – Voice overs added for the purposes
of the Irish partner by Michael Kenny, Department of Adult &
Community Education, Maynooth University.
(See partner list following …)

2. DIMA Consortium
The consortium consists of 6 partners, from 5 European
countries which cover a wide range of expertise related to
the aims of the project
 Cyprus: Ministry of Education and Culture
 Cyprus: Centre for Advancement of Research and Development in
Education Technology Ltd – Cardet
 Ireland: Department of Adult & Community Education, Maynooth
University
 Slovenia: Slovenian Institute for Adult Education
 Slovakia: National Institute of Lifelong Learning
 Belgium: European Association for the Education
of Adults

3. At the end of this module learners will be
able to:
• Describe the steps in designing an adult
education stakeholder policy consultation
process.
• Present one model of an adult education
stakeholder policy consultation process.
Learning Outcomes

4. • For the purposes of this module content ‘consultation’
and ‘stakeholder engagement’ are deemed to be
equivalent. Therefore the term ‘consultation’ will apply
to both.
• The context of a consultation will influence the outcome
for better or for worse. The following is content for
general application.
Consultation = Stakeholder engagement
The context for stakeholder consultations

5. A stakeholder is a person or agent who has a stake
in a decision making process and its effects.
Who can be Consulted
• Direct stakeholders
• In-direct stakeholders
• Agents and agencies
• Experts
• Other vested interests
Who is a stakeholder?

6. • Consultation is a formal process through which an
agent collects inputs from stakeholders about
policies, plans, activities and other aspects.
• Consultation is ideally a continuous process that
compliments other modes of formal stakeholder
interaction such as required governance
meetings, audits, promotion and public events
See also Module 2 Needs Analysis in the Dima Toolkit
What is consultation?
(Download toolkit from E-Prints
http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/10121/
Or https://dima-project.eu/index.php/en/toolkit)
i

7. A consultation process can be structured in three interacting phases:
Each phase consists of several consecutive steps which provide the
framework for a high quality, transparent stakeholder consultation.
What is consultation?
1. Problem
definition
2. Selection of
target group
3. Data
collection &
analysis

8. The 3-Phase Consultation Strategy
Consultation Phases
Phase 1: Establish the
consultation strategy
1.Set expected outcomes
2.Identify stakeholders
3.Design consultation
strategy
4.Select appropriate
consultation tools
5.Select appropriate
consultation process
Phase 2: Conduct
consultation work
1.Publicize and invite
engagement
2.Conduct consultation
3.Collect consultation
feedback
4.Analyze feedback
Phase 3: Inform
policy/strategy making
1.Produce consultation
outcome reports
2.Discuss with agency
governance structures
3.Circulate reports to
stakeholders
4.Circulate reports widely

9. Identifying the stakeholders
There are 3 models of identifying stakeholders
Models
A snowball process –
engage others to engage
with marginalised
stakeholders
Unexpected stakeholders –
invite those who were not
involved previously
The usual suspects –same
stakeholders

10. The stakeholder range can be
broadened by:
• Asking knowledgeable informants
• Interviewing known stakeholders
• Using social networks to identify
excluded stakeholders
Identifying the Stakeholders

11. • Direct access to all-stakeholders – silent
majority/ peripheral minority, directly or
indirectly affected.
• Stakeholder representatives – person or
agents who represent stakeholders – can
be a route to more stakeholder groups.
Increasing width and depth of Consultation

12. Non-adversarial
People consulted encouraged to
act for the benefit of the whole
community being consulted.
Forms of Consultation
Adversarial
People enabled to argue for their
own interests - people say what
is most advantageous to their
cause

13. Better Consultation
… achieved through:
1. Universality,
2. Inclusiveness,
3. Focus on the most marginal,
4. A dialogical process [Agreement from dis-agreement /
Trust from mis-trust]
See also Module 1 What is Policy? in the Dima Toolkit
(Download toolkit from E-Prints
http://eprints.maynoothuniversity.ie/10121/
Or https://dima-project.eu/index.php/en/toolkit)
i

14. Following questions will help consultation design:
• Level of participation expected?
• Stakeholder Lists: Who should / must be included?
• Best means of communication?
• Resources required?
• What are the limitations?
• Timing and method of feedback?
• Have we brainstormed on helpful tools?
• When is the consultation complete?
Designing the Consultation Process

15. Is the aim of the consultation to:
• To give information
• To get information
• To exchange information
• To gain partial or full policy agreement
• To check on the impacts of policy
• To input into the renewal of policy
Purpose of Consultation
Note:
The aim of the
consultation will
impact on the width
and depth of the
consultation.

16. Levels of Engagement
Levels of Engagement in
Consultation
1.Being informed
2.Being asked
3.Commenting on decisions
4.Developing solutions
5.Partner in decision making
1.Consultation
2.Engagement
3.Partnership
Adapted from: Sunderland Community Development Plan 20017
(http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=3030&p=0&fsize=350kb&ftype=Community%20Development%20Plan.PDF)

17. Barriers to stakeholder engagement
1. The participative capacity of stakeholders
2. Reaching hard-to-reach groups
3. Contested/divided communities
4. Geographically isolated communities
5. Literacy and numeracy isolation/
dominance of oral culture

18. Scope of the consultation
The Scope of a consultation can
range from
Single issue
consultation
General / broadly
issue consultation

19. Consultations timescales range over …
• One-off brief consultation event(s)
• Extended consultation event(s)
• Ongoing consultative process
• Synchronous or asynchronous consultative
interaction
Consultation timescale
Note: it is difficult
to maintain
consultation over
longer periods of
time.

20. Stakeholder previous experiences of
consultation will influence receptivity. If
unsatisfactory - need more time for a trusting
relationship.
The following aspects need to considered:
• The numbers of people engaged
• The method of engagement
• The effect of the engagement
• Levels of polarisation or trust breaking
previously
Previous experience
In general: the
greater the
number of people
involved previously
the harder to
involve a wider
population.

21. Consider these design issues:
1. Techniques/ engagement methods used
2. Independent facilitation?
3. Location/accessibility consultation venues
4. Number/type consultation events
5. Transport requirements
6. Childcare requirements
7. Format/content of communication/publicity
8. Use of interpreters and signers
9. Role of outreach
Design issues
Design Issues

22. Consider …
• Input by staff, volunteers, and others
• Background information
• Independent facilitation
• Communication, promotion, venue hire, transport,
childcare, translation and write-up
• Printing costs/circulation draft reports/feedback
• Resources to disadvantaged stakeholder groups
• Resources to stakeholder groups to commission research,
convene meetings, prepare reports, make proposals, etc.
Time & Resources

23. • Creative design of consultative structures
will impact on stakeholder engagement.
• The creative use of subcommittees
facilitate multiple levels of involvement.
• The use of committees, working groups,
social media events, open evenings, etc.
add to the diversity of stakeholder
engagement.
Consultation structures

24. Stakeholder consultation is a process.
See Module 4 Policy making as a Process and
Module 8 Renewing Policy (Dima Toolkit)
The following should be considered:
• How or when feedback would be provided
• Further opportunities for engagement
• Presentation opportunities
• Opportunities for implementation involvement
• Opportunities for participation in policy reviews
Timely feedback

25. • It is critical that any engagement process is evaluated.
• Ongoing/phased and final evaluation should be scheduled
in the plan.
• Evaluation can provide valuable feedback to inform future
engagement processes.
See Module 7 Monitoring and Evaluation Dima Toolkit
Evaluation

26. The following standards should be considered for stakeholder
engagement:
• An involvement standard
• A support standard
• A planning standard
• A methodologies standard
• A Process standard
• An information standard
• A feedback standard
• A monitoring and evaluation standard
Setting standards

27. Creative methods can be used …
• Video, photography, audio
• Songs, forms, art work
• Public events/Street stalls
• Grafitti walls
• Web-based engagement (See involve)
• Open Space Technology (OST)
• Citizens Juries/Panels
• Future search
• Simulation activities
• Open focus groups
• Depiction in drama
• Street debates
• Policy Mapping/Surveys
• Documentaries
• Audio/video/acted Discussion starters
Creativity in Stakeholder Engagement

28. www.dima-project.eu
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication]
and all its content reflect the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any
use which may be made of the information contained therein. Project Number: 2015-1-CY01-KA204-011850
End of Module 3 of 9
Thank you