This toolkit has been developed for in-country assessment teams undertaking national ecosystem assessments in partnership with the National Ecosystem Assessment Initiative. The purpose of this toolkit is to offer practical guidance on engaging with knowledge holders and a range of stakeholders throughout the national ecosystem assessment process. Inclusive and meaningful engagement of multiple stakeholders and knowledge holders is the core principle that underpins the legitimacy of national ecosystem assessments. Recognising that stakeholder contexts are unique in each assessment country, this toolkit is designed to be adaptable to a range of stakeholder engagement needs and scenarios. The toolkit includes practical guidance, top tips, case studies, links to additional guidance materials, and templates to support stakeholder and knowledge holder engagement activities for national ecosystem assessments.

Drawing on best practice guidelines on stakeholder engagement1, the steps outlined in this toolkit will support the user to develop an overall Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan. Similar to the way that a Scoping Report serves as a blueprint to guide the assessment process, a Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan is designed to help assessment teams to identify and plan engagement activities that will best contribute to the overall aims and impact of the assessment. The process of developing a Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan takes the user through a series of necessary steps to be able to identify the most valuable moments and methods for engaging different stakeholders and knowledge holders in the assessment. Having a clear and strategic plan about when and how to engage stakeholder and knowledge holders in the assessment is particularly important when time and resources for engaging with stakeholders is limited. Each section of the toolkit covers an essential activity for developing a Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan and following this toolkit as a step-by-step guide is the best way to ensure that the Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan is as comprehensive and robust as possible.

Communicating effectively is one critical aspect of engaging with stakeholders. For this reason, it is highly recommended to align your Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan with the assessment’s Communications Plan. This will help to ensure that the relevant knowledge holders, stakeholders and target audiences have been identified in these respective plans, and that your approaches for communicating and engaging with them are streamlined and complimentary to one another. In addition, making sure that your Stakeholder and Knowledge Holder Engagement Plan and Communications Plan align with one another can make it easier to allocate time and resources more effectively, whilst avoiding duplication.