Guidelines for conducting a stakeholder analysis

“Politics,” as much or more than technical information, drives health sector reform. This is true at the sector, institutional and facility levels, where politics directly affects the ability of policymakers and managers to develop and implement necessary reforms. Yet many policymakers and managers in the health sector are not trained to deal with “politics” nor is there information available on how to manage the political process inherent to health sector reform. In developing this document, Partnerships for Health Reform (PHR) addresses one aspect of managing the “politics” of the reform process: the need for information on key players who have an investment in proposed reforms. Policy makers and managers can use stakeholder analysis to identify these key players or “stakeholders;” predict whether they might support or block the implementation of health reforms; and develop strategies to promote supportive actions and decrease opposing actions before attempting to implement major reform at the national, regional, local, or facility level.