The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement – DSF Webinar

The recent DSF Members’ Webinar, The Importance of Stakeholder Engagement - Establishing the multi-stakeholder Local Management Group, provided Members with the opportunity to learn of the benefits of stakeholder engagement in their sustainability program implementation. Two members, Helen Dornom from Dairy Australia and Peter Dawson from the UK Dairy Roadmap, outlined how they delivered a successful process, from selecting appropriate representation through to the benefits of having such a group as an external sounding board at numerous levels. Forming a Local Multi-stakeholder Management Group (LMG) is one of the initial requirements when implementing the DSF process.

The speakers talked about the range of organisations they invited to join their LMG including trade bodies, retailers, NGOs, government and academics in sustainability to mention a few. Helen spoke about how they approached their first meeting with some trepidation, knowing that they were going to share areas where the dairy industry had issues with external stakeholders.  The concern was, that by opening up and "exposing" the challenges the industry had, might this make the dairy industry more vulnerable to attack?  However, she went on to explain, the exact opposite was the case. They asked the group for their views on the sustainability goals and targets the industry was setting itself and the discussion was very positive. They found that the group were pleased to see the industry’s acknowledgement of their issues and were keen to be involved, to work with them on achieving the targets. Both speakers acknowledged that over time their LMG was proving extremely valuable and in fact those on the group have become advocates for the dairy industry.

A recording of the webinar is available on the DSF Members Area of the website.