Using Stakeholder Analysis in the Process of Management and Planning System of Rural Development

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Understanding the various stakeholders play a role in the planning process, and to identify the role of each of them and their relationships with each other in various stages of planning (from detecting problem to using and evaluation) can provide an appropriate context to achieve program objectives. One of the basic steps of planning is understanding the various elements that go hand in hand, make up the totality of a phenomenon (system). Usually without knowing these factors, the role of each of them, and their relations should not expect formulates a plan to reach its goals. Unfortunately, rural development planning and its management process, after 7 decades from the formation of the planning system in the country, and 36 years after the Islamic Revolution in Iran and attention to rural development, players of rural development planning just have not been identified yet. and the role and importance of each stakeholder is unknown, and the integrated, documented, regular and stable mechanism for the role of players and their responsibilities in this regard does not exist. According to review of existing literature and the experience of other countries, this research is going to specify the importance of considering the role of various players (stakeholders) in rural development planning. On the eve of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan, this study intends to provide the application of this theory to the analysis of rural development issues, particularly the organizing of the management system and rural development planning. By using the theory of players, the research answers this question: how can organize country's system for rural development management and planning?
Reviewing the status of current situation of players/stakeholders of rural development shows that in macro and micro level as a first step of stakeholder analysis, several organization play role in this context and without organizing and reorganizing of the institutions, there is no expectation to achieving to rural development.
 
Research Methodology
This research has been prepared using the methods of documentary research and accumulated experience of the authors. According to this method, first the authors reviewed the definitions of stakeholder carefully, and introduced and used the terms Player/Stakeholder such as Descriptive/Empirical Stakeholder Theory, Instrumental Stakeholder Theory, Normative Stakeholder Theory, Integrative Stakeholder Theory, and then they specified the types of classification of different groups of stakeholders and using in rural development planning process. Finally, given the importance of Five-Year Plans for Rural Development, it’s discussed the application of the theory in organizing the country’s system for rural development management and planning.
Discussion and results
Experiences of using of stakeholder theory (formed from 1960 onwards) has shown that players and stakeholders should be identified in the rural development planning process. To understand the impact of stakeholders on projects that should be mapped their power and influence, and improving their role and providing greater benefits should be ready in this process. The survival of programs, projects and companies and achieving to program goals will depend on the amount of interest to stakeholders. Accordingly, stakeholder Analysis is concerned with the way in which various players of a program, project, or activity are identified, and the method determined their amount of power and influence, so by analyzing their relationships, organizing and improving the activities provided. A wide range of several methods are used to analyze players that can be used according to the scale, budget, type/subject of project, and variety of stakeholders.
Hence we can say that the stakeholder analysis in each program and project needs to the following activities:
-         identifying stakeholders;
-         determining characteristics stakeholders;
-         determining power of stakeholders in relation to the project;
-         determining funding requirements;
-         recognizing the expectations of reward for assistance;
-         strategic decision to organizing using of the influence of players/stakeholders.
Conclusion
The results showed that Stakeholder Analysis as a theory and practical approach can be used to plan at different levels (from macro to micro –local/project). Reviewing the experiences of rural development programs suggests that achieving to development and goals of Rural Development Vision, in other words, the best conditions for Iran rural, need to organize and formulate a mechanism and legal proceedings, and coordination between different agencies, and monitoring activities, and evaluating the performance of related organizations. This is not possible without the use of Stakeholder Analysis that its general framework was explored in this work. Based on Stakeholder Analysis (as a first step), it must be made a list of all players and stakeholders in rural development (in both macro and micro level), and the role of each of them could be identified in rural development process.
Finally, in this regard, it’s recommended the following actions to formulate in the Sixth Plan:
-         Selecting a group of professional and unbiased experts and authors;
-         Developing the Vision for Rural Development;
-         Analysis of rural development stakeholders.