Key Actions
i. Develop a response plan
Developing a plan can begin simply, for example, by designating an individual or team within the company to take responsibility for addressing specific human rights risks identified during impact assessment processes. It is important to note that effective responses often require ongoing collaboration with a range of internal and external stakeholders, from workers to governments to business partners.
Those leading on response planning within a company can then develop action plans that contain, for example:
- discussing human rights risks within the company and developing solutions;
- reporting on progress internally and externally;
- consulting affected stakeholders, in particular in the case of risks associated with high-risk contexts and/or severe impacts (see box below);
- engaging external experts to provide support on addressing specific challenges.
Definition Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement
The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises note that stakeholder engagement involves “…interactive processes of engagement with relevant stakeholders through, for example, meetings, hearings or consultation proceedings.”
Effective stakeholder engagement is characterised by:
- two-way engagement (parties freely express opinions, share perspectives, listen to alternative viewpoints);
- good faith (engaging with genuine intention to understand and address adverse impacts);
- responsive engagement (follow through on outcomes including remedies where appropriate);
- on-going engagement (dialogue continues throughout the lifecycle of an operation/not a one-off endeavour).
Definition Stakeholders
Any individual who may affect or be affected by an organization’s activities. An affected stakeholder refers here specifically to an individual whose human rights has been affected by a company’s operations, products or services. A potentially affected stakeholder is an individual whose human rights may be affected by the company’s operations, products or services.
