Who are the stakeholders and why?

1. Who has direct or indirect interest in the issue in question? 
2. Who has relevant knowledge and experience with the issue?
3. How are you going to involve stakeholders in the various phases of the policy process?

When creating policy, you need others in all phases of the process. After all, policy is always drawn up on the basis of cocreation with the stakeholders. This may mean internal colleagues, but particularly external parties as well. You decide how you are going to involve them in advance, because that may be different in each case. You involve others, for example, to collect knowledge on the issue, gain support, or identify the practical/implementation perspective. In order to control the policy process properly, it is important to identify the relevant points of view and the corresponding stakeholders as early as possible by conducting a survey of the setting. During the various phases of policy development, you will always reassess how stakeholders are to be involved and you will also require new insights into stakeholders and their connection with, and role in, the issue. Each question in the Policy Compass is accompanied by resources to help you answer that question on the basis of co-creation. 

This includes, in any event, the following actors: 

• Citizens (see the methods at the bottom of the page for assistance): 
  • The target group. 
  • Citizens who need the government most. 
• Civil society (trade unions, interest groups, etc.). 
• Businesses (individual companies, trade associations, employer confederations). 
• Other ministries. 
• Implementing bodies: In doing so make a distinction between the policymaker at an implementing body and the lead parties that actually have contact with the user – so-called 'street level bureaucrats'. It is important to involve both. 
• Subnational authorities. 
• Supervisory authorities. 
• The Caribbean Netherlands. 
• The judiciary. 
• ICT service providers. 
• International bodies. 

When involving internal colleagues, you should also take account, in any event, of the following: 

• Lawyers (who specialise in legislation). 
• Colleagues from the Financial and Economic Affairs Department (FEZ). 
• The CIO Office. 
• Behavioural scientists. 
• Colleagues in the knowledge departments. 
• Colleagues from the communication department. 

Decide, for each of the five main questions, how you are going to involve the above factors in the process of making the right considerations. The guidelines underneath each question will help you with this.

• The guidelines of the Project and Programme management Advisory Centre (Project management Programma management AdviesCentrum (PPAC) of the Ministry of Justice and Security can help you to get going with a survey of the setting. 
• The Participation knowledge hub of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management contains information and knowledge relating to the design, implementation, supervision and evaluation of participation processes. 
• One of the core values of the cooperation without borders programme is people-oriented working. For inspiration and examples, visit the website of the cooperation without borders programme. 
• Whenever subnational authorities are relevant for the issue, the Subnational Authorities Implementation test (Uitvoerbaarheidstoets Decentrale Overheden, UDO) can point you in the right direction. 

• Cooperation without borders 
• Interministerial (stakeholder) 
• Participation Working Group PPAC (Project and Programme Management Advisory Centre) 
  PPAC at the central government intranet 'Rijksportaal' 
• Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations > Democracy division