2.2 Stakeholder engagement Inadequate stakeholder involvement is
one of the most common reasons programmes and projects fail.
Therefore, every effort should be made to encourage broad and
active stakeholder engagement in the planning, monitoring and
evaluation processes. This is particularly relevant to crisis
situations where people’s sense of security and vulnerability
may be heightened and where tensions and factions may exist. In
these situations, the planning process should aim to ensure that
as many stakeholders as possible are involved (especially those
who may be least able to promote their own interests), and that
opportunities are created for the various parties to hear each
other’s perspectives in an open and balanced manner. In crisis
situations this is not just good practice but is fundamental to
ensuring that programming ‘does no harm’ at the least, and,
hopefully, reduces inherent or active tensions. Perceptions of
UNDP neutrality, and at times the success of the programme or
project, depend on