Stakeholders Assessment in Water Sector (Case Study: Rafsanjan Area)

Public participation has been given a momentum in the recent decades. Stakeholders’ participation in the process of decision making can result in a variety of ideas and experiences which can come up with alternative solutions. Stakeholder analysis will help to recognize the power and the benefits of all players involved in a managerial process or a policy. Water resources systems should be assessed from different aspects in a systemic way. Although very vital, assessment of the social structure in water resources development plans is indeed a forgotten stage in the process of water resources management. The present study aims at investigating the social structure to enhance the process of water resources management relying on the local water governance. That purpose is illustrated in terms of stakeholder analysis in the Rafsanjan plain study area. Thus, adopting the UNDP1 methodology based on field and questionnaire surveys, the paper adopts the stakeholder assessment in three steps. The data were statistically analyzed using the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method in the SPSS software. As the results, the stakeholders’ power and benefits were found out and they were prioritized regarding their levels of importance. The key stakeholders were identified and four levels of participation were suggested for the groups of stakeholders. Close interaction and decision making in the first level of stakeholders was identified as the ideal scenario to motivate stakeholder's participation in achieving a consensus on a road map to conquer the local water problems. The outputs can be considered as the starting point to encourage the local public participation.