ESTABLISHING A STAKEHOLDER S ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A PALM OIL PROCESSING CENTER IN NGUIBASSAL-CAMEROON By NDJIB Marie International Correspondent Douala, Cameroon eliane.ndjib@petros-online.com ABSTRACT This article presents the engineering of stakeholder s engagement management in a project. It is a practical overview of how stakeholder s commitment to a project has been sustained in a conflicting environment through project leadership. The value of this article lies in the practical understanding of stakeholder s engagement management. 1. The project context Project management standards have put great emphasis on stakeholder s management. Theories and empirical studies have demonstrated that the implication of stakeholders in projects is a sure path to achieve expected results. According to (Chinyio and Akintoye, 2008), to achieve project objectives, it is essential to formulate a process for stakeholder management and to identify effective approaches for stakeholder analysis and engagement. However, it has been demonstrated that maintaining stakeholders engagement to the project requires a concrete understanding and integration of internal and external factors that could hinder the results of the project. This goes along with understanding the interest of various stakeholders and adjusting it to the benefit of the project. This is particularly challenging, especially in project where stakeholder s participation is at the hearth of the project. 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 1 of 10
Palm oil production has rapidly increased over the past ten years in Cameroon. To sustain the local and the world demand, there has been a wide expansion of agroindustrial palm s plantations and the growing implication of independent farmers, supported by the government, especially in rural area in the southern region of the country. Nguibassal (fig1) is rural settlement situated in the centre region of Cameroon. Located in the division of Nyong-Ekelle, with a population of around 4 500 habitants involved in pastoral activities. Its particularity since 2010 is the growing implication of the local population to palm oil production. The activity has proven to be profitable for the socio economic balance of the locality. Nguibassal Fig1: Nguibassal s location in Cameroon However the production tools and approaches are still very traditional. In order to enhance the production of palm oil in the village, the local authorities with the consent of the traditional chiefs, have decided to develop a modern oil-processing unit (fig 2) to ameliorate the working conditions of the farmers. The project was launched in May 2013 and was supposed to enter into the exploitation phase in January 2014. 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 2 of 10
Fig2: Traditional to modern oil mill. Behind the idea of boosting the production of oil, the project had as secondary objectives to: Expand the village s plantations from 1000 hectares to 4000 hectares by the end of 2015. Train 100 farmers /year in the production of palm oil. Acquire cultivation and production facilities (seeds, mills ) Raised 60 000 000 Fcfa for the construction of modern health centre in the village. This project however meets a situation where the local population and local authorities are in conflict on land use. This has contributed to the development of hatred and social instability. In addition to this, the population is very attached to its culture and local farmers were adamant to the ideas of getting together to develop one production unit Developing a reliable stakeholder-participatory based approach to keep the stakeholder committed to the project was essential in respect of the fig 3, below. Design identification of stakeholders, preparation of questionnaires and interviews sheets for the survey Planning conducting the survey, idention of causes of issues and development of engagement plan Capitalisation implemantion the engagement methods Monitoriing evaluation engagement methods and collection lessons learned Fig3: Stakeholder engagement phases 2. Stakeholder identification approach of the project The main objectives behind the stakeholder s identification were to: 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 3 of 10
Identify the major groups of individuals who have a stake in the construction of this oil palm production center and who could impact the project positively or negatively. Develop a room to dialogue among the various stakeholders. Anticipate their reactions and reduce opposition among those who perceive themselves to be losers in this initiative; Determine the impact (positive and negative) of the project in the improvement of the livelihood of the local population. Identify potential strategies (communication) to increase stakeholder s support to the project. Develop a set of indicators to monitor the engagement of stakeholders to the project activities. Considering that about 60 interviews were planned, prior appointments were fixed with most of the stakeholder representatives, precisely, government representatives in the locality, local leaders, Ngo s representatives, local farmers, community leaders, inhabitants to inform them about the broad outline of the project, as well as purpose of the study. About 10 focus group discussions were planned to interact with the community. A team of four interviewers conducted interviews so that responsibilities of facilitation and reporting could be shared and information systematically recorded. Notes were formatted for easy data processing and analysis. The team also exchanged notes to better understand the information. As a result of the above, key stakeholders were grouped as follow: Local government official representatives. Political leaders Community leaders Project team Private providers of resources. Non-governmental organization Agro-industrials involve in oil palm production in the locality. Local farmers The interview protocol investigated stakeholder perceptions and views concerning the project based on: The practical opportunities of such a project to the development of the locality. Their implication to the success of the project. The capacity of the village to perpetuate the project. Regarding the appreciation of practical opportunities, the interviewee perceive the project as followed: 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 4 of 10
Development of social facilities( schools, health center) 12% Job opportunities for the local population 10% Ameliorate the technical knowhow of the population 32% Source Valuable income 46% Fig4: Distribution of project appreciation. Generally, the population has a positive view of the project; nevertheless conflict could arise at this level: The distribution of the outcome of the project. Land mis-appropriation by the authorities or the project. (payment of compensation in case of loss of land) The loss of concern in the production of other food crop for most of the active people will be implicated in the project. The capacity of the local population to perpetuate the project after the departure of the project team. Deforestation and loss of valuable conservative site. Regarding the implication of the stakeholders to the project, it resulted that people were ready to get involve to the project if: Landowners would be consulted before any action was taking. (Meaning if someone has to sale out its land, the government should be ready to give compensation). Farmers could have a clear idea of their benefit from the implication to the project. The project output will be at local community advantage. There will be a respect of traditional values. In this sense, it was clear that developing a room for key stakeholders exchange with clear output was the only mean to achievement commitment. The project was to be implemented in 4 phases. An analysis of stakeholder s implication (fig 5) at each phase was necessary for resource optimization. 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 5 of 10
5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Designing Development Transmission Exploitation Local government official representatives. Political leaders Traditional leaders Project team Private providers of resources. Non-governmental organization Farmers Agro-industrials involve in oil palm production in the locality. Population Fig 5: Stakeholder s influence assessment by project phase. Doing so, the project team knew how to monitor each group of stakeholders at each stage. This analysis was made to appreciate stakeholder s implication at each stage to develop effective engagement strategy. 3. Stakeholder s engagement strategy In order to effectively develop a clear strategy, stakeholders had to be classified by order of priority to the project based on their power to influence the implementation of the project and their interest to the output of the project. N Group of Impact Potential Interest to the o stakeholders Power Interest Priority Implication project 1 Population 5 5 25 Positive/negativ Job opportunities e and sustainability. Respect of traditional value Respect of land ownership 2 Local 5 3 15 Positive Social stability government official representatives. 3 Local farmers 3 5 15 Positive/ negative More benefits from oil production 4 Community 4 3 12 Positive/ Understanding and leaders negative respect of land ownership Population benefits 5 Project team 5 2 10 Positive Project success 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 6 of 10
6 Political leaders 2 3 6 Positive Socio-economic development of the locality 7 Agro-industrials involve in oil palm production in the locality. 8 Private providers of resources. 9 Nongovernmental organization Table 1: level of importance of stakeholders The above helped in determining how and which group to: Keep satisfied Manage closely Keep informed Monitor 1 4 4 Negative and positive The result is presented is power/interest grid below: Additional fruit palm 3 1 3 Positive Respect of agreement terms 3 1 3 Positive Respect of the environment Keep satisfied Manage closely High 5 5 2 1 8,9 3 5 4 Power Keep informed 6 Monitor Low 0 Interest 7 7 5 High Fig 6: Power/interest grid of the key groups of stakeholders 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 7 of 10
From the grid above, it appears that most of the important stakeholder found in the box Manage closely were determinant to the success of the project. The following methods of engagement were therefore developed. No Group of stakeholders Strategy Methods 1 Population Collaborate, involve In addition: Prices were giving to the most dynamic farmers throughout the project. Thanking notes were openly addressed to the population. Agricultural Tools were offered to women for their support to the project. 4. General observation Field, communication, General sensitization, survey, knock door, impression assessment, general reporting, argument meetings, testimonies, Review meeting, site visits 2 Local government official Involve representatives. 3 Local farmers Consult, involve Training, review meeting, 4 Community leaders Empower Focus groups, formal memos, daily report, review meetings. 5 Project team Involve Project status meetings, field report meeting, brainstorming, alert meeting 6 Political leaders Inform 7 Agro-industrials involve in oil palm production in the locality. 8 Private providers of resources. 9 Non-governmental organization Inform Inform Mailing Meeting, mailing Site visit, meetings Stakeholder engagement management is an essential element to project management, however the success of this relies on project leadership. This is an example of a project were the utilization of direct approaches to maintain the various stakeholder s commitment to the project was effective. Theses methods mostly implied public meetings and project reporting, field s visit direct discussions, and so on. This methods were stressful for the project team, time and resource demanding and the implications were as followed. For every opposition had to 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 8 of 10
be handle in a proactive manner. The impact on the scope, cost and schedule of the project was visible. Fig 6: example of a community open air meeting. However, theses technics eased the process of risk management and the improved quality of the output. In addition a consensus was found upon the problem of land misappropriation and the respect of traditional value. One agro industrial freely provided the project with seeds and the project contributed in: The resolution of the problem of land mis-appropriation. The organization of farmers in units of production, even in others pastoral activities. More jobs opportunities were created. A sustainable utilization of forest source plan was developed. The exploitation phase of the project was effectively launched on the 28 of January 2014. Even though the project went through a lot of challenge, this article can help in understanding the importance in developing direct approaches for stakeholder s management especially in project found in unstable environment. References: 1. Reed, M.S. (2008). Stakeholder participation for environmental management: A literature review. Biological Conservation, 141, 2417-2431. 2. WWF report. 2012. Oil palm development in Cameroon.April edition 3. Project Management Institute. 2013. A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide). -- Fifth edition 4. wwf.panda.org/wwf_news 5. http: www.ambacam.de 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 9 of 10
About the Author Marie Eliane Ndjib Douala, Cameroon Ms. Marie Eliane Ndjib is a dynamic, results-oriented and proactive professional, with three years of experience in strategic planning and management, and three years of experience in project planning, tracking and controls. Her interest is in helping organizations to improve their performance and optimize the implementation of programs and projects to sustain their strategy and better manage change issues. She is also a trainer on total quality management and project management. Among recent projects, she has contributed in the development of strategic plans for 3 organizations. She has developed a human resource tracking system for employee performance assessments, planned and implemented a total quality management system, planned and implemented a Lean Six Sigma project, and planned and implemented a management-by-results program in a company. Marie Eliane has a Bachelor s degree in Geography from the University of Buea- Cameroon (2009) and a Master s degree in Project Management (With the PMI-PMBOK approach) from the Panafrican Institute for Development-Central Africa (PAID-CA) (2012). She expects to have her PMP and MS Project certifications in 2013. Marie is motivated to modestly participate in the professional development of project management in Cameroon, including the planning for the first National Congress on Project Management in Cameroon. She wants to help people who are interested in this professional field to better develop their knowledge on Project Management. Marie Eliane can be contacted at eliane.ndjib@petros-online.com. 2014 Maire Eliane Ndjib www.pmworldlibrary.net Page 10 of 10