Interactive LabStakeholder Mapping & Power Analysis Lab
Map actors, interests, influence, and relationships to design smarter interventions. Build a power-interest grid, analyse types of power, and turn your map into an engagement strategy — for development work across South Asia.
Why Map Stakeholders?
Every intervention sits inside a web of actors — some visible, some hidden. Stakeholder mapping helps you see who has power, who cares, and who can block or accelerate your work.
The cost of not mapping Illustrative cases
An NGO launched a literacy programme in rural Rajasthan without consulting the sarpanch. The panchayat blocked classroom access. Six months of work stalled — because the actor holding the keys was never mapped.
A health campaign in Bihar missed that local private clinics were losing patients to a new government scheme. The clinics quietly spread misinformation, and uptake fell sharply — an unmapped stakeholder with the motivation to block.
Three questions stakeholder mapping answers
Who has power?
Formal authority, resources, information, legitimacy, or the ability to coerce.
Who cares?
High interest = likely to engage. Low interest = hard to mobilise, but can still be affected.
How are they connected?
Allies, rivals, dependencies, and the information flows that link them.
Identify Your Stakeholders
You are designing a waste-management intervention in a mid-sized city in South India. Build the stakeholder list together — this list carries through the rest of the lab.
Add stakeholders
The Power-Interest Grid
Rate each stakeholder on interest and influence, then read their position on the grid to decide how to engage them.
Rate each stakeholder
Your power-interest map
High Influence + High Interest
High Influence + Low Interest
Low Influence + Low Interest
Low Influence + High Interest
• Manage Closely (high influence + high interest): co-create, involve in governance, build genuine partnership.
• Keep Satisfied (high influence + low interest): brief regularly, address concerns proactively, don't overwhelm.
• Keep Informed (low influence + high interest): share updates, invite to events, build an advocacy base.
• Monitor (low influence + low interest): track for changes; minimal engagement for now.
Mapping Relationships & Alliances
Power does not exist in isolation. Stakeholders are connected by alliances, rivalries, dependencies, and information flows — and those links often decide outcomes.
Exercise: map the connections Illustrative
Drag each relationship type onto the stakeholder pair it best describes in our waste-management scenario.
Relationship types (drag)
Stakeholder pairs (drop here)
What the map reveals
Network insights
- Brokers: actors who connect otherwise disconnected groups (e.g., an NGO bridging government and community).
- Gatekeepers: control access to key resources or populations.
- Blockers: have both the power and the motivation to stop your intervention.
- Champions: high influence, high interest, well connected — your best allies.
Power Analysis — Beyond the Grid
The power-interest grid is a start. Deeper power analysis asks: what kind of power? Over whom? Under what conditions?
Types of power in development contexts
Formal power
Legal authority, official position, budget control. Example: District Collector, Block Development Officer.
Economic power
Control over resources, contracts, employment. Example: large contractor, local landlord.
Information power
Control over data, media, narratives. Example: local journalist, data broker.
Coercive power
Ability to punish, exclude, or use force. Example: local strongman, police.
Moral power
Legitimacy, trust, moral authority. Example: respected elder, social-movement leader.
Interactive: match the primary power type Illustrative
For each actor in the waste-management scenario, pick the primary type of power they hold.
From Map to Strategy
Mapping is useless without action. Turn your analysis into an engagement strategy by matching each actor's quadrant to the right approach.
Choose a scenario Illustrative scenarios
Scenario A: Health intervention
You are launching a mobile health clinic in a tribal area. The local PHC doctor sees you as competition. The tribal council is supportive but has limited formal authority. A mining company funds local projects and has strong government connections.
Scenario B: Education reform
You are advocating for mother-tongue instruction in primary schools. The state education department is neutral. A powerful teachers' union opposes it (fears job losses). Parents are supportive but disorganised. A local language-activist group is vocal but small.
Scenario C: Climate adaptation
You are promoting drought-resistant crops. Large landowners are risk-averse and sceptical. Small farmers are interested but lack capital. The agriculture department is supportive but underfunded. A seed company would rather sell hybrid seeds instead.
Lab complete
You can now map power, interest, and relationships — and turn that map into an engagement strategy that navigates complex political landscapes.
- Map before you act — not after things go wrong
- Plot actors on a power-interest grid (Mendelow) and read their quadrant
- Power has many faces: formal, economic, social, informational, coercive, moral
- Relationships matter as much as individual actors — look for brokers, gatekeepers, blockers, champions
- Match engagement to quadrant, and revisit the map regularly because power shifts
Go deeper
- Power-interest grid — Aubrey Mendelow (1991); quadrant labels via Johnson & Scholes, Exploring Corporate Strategy.
- Stakeholder salience — Mitchell, Agle & Wood (1997): power + legitimacy + urgency.
- Powercube — John Gaventa & the Participation, Power and Social Change team, IDS Sussex (powercube.net).
- Net-Map — Eva Schiffer, IFPRI (2006-07): influence-network mapping.