Stakeholder engagement for competitive advantage 2025

Stakeholder engagement has become a pivotal process in achieving an organisation’s ESG strategy, mitigating risk and ensuring business agility and durability.

Increasingly, whether internal or external, stakeholders have the power to influence the success or failure of business performance. Yet few businesses adequately demonstrate a grasp of modern techniques, frameworks, and best practices needed to navigate a rapidly transforming and increasingly complex stakeholder landscape. Closing this knowledge gap is essential for any company wanting to optimise the impactful long-term advantages of effective stakeholder engagement.

Join us for a fifteen-hour immersive learning experience, held over five days, enabling you to examine your own challenges and to apply insights, skills and knowledge in the planning and implementing of effective public engagement strategies.

When and where?

24 to 28 March 2025, 13:00 to 16:00 SAST

This course will be held remotely, most likely on Zoom - exact details will be sent to registered participants a few days before the course.

Course outline

The purpose of this course is to equip participants with the confidence and knowledge to inspire, lead and effect changes to their organisation’s stakeholder engagement strategies, for maximum competitive advantage, improved ESG performance and long-term value.

Through this learning process, participants will gain fresh insights and learn practical skills to effect risk-reduction stakeholder engagement strategies and how to optimise the benefits of social capital.

Case scenario group work throughout this highly interactive course will allow participants to test their knowledge as they progress.

In addition, the course is designed to encourage a critical consideration of the role that the participant can play in their company’s transition to a more sustainable business model.

Participants will explore principles, standards, guidelines and methodologies with which to evaluate their company's stakeholder engagement strategies. Examples from around the world of stakeholder engagement excellence, as well as controversy, will be examined, to enrich the learning experience and assist the participant to identify both opportunities and obstacles within their own organisation.

Through a Pan-African lens, participants will be capacitated to plan stakeholder engagement processes specifically for African conditions.

Who will benefit from this course?

Anyone responsible for planning and executing stakeholder engagement processes, including:

• Those involved in development planning and decision-making
• Government officials responsible for public participation co-ordination and implementation
• Stakeholder engagement outreach co-ordinators to environmental assessment practitioners
• Risk, HES /SHEQ and compliance officers and managers
• Public and private sector change agents
• Environmental governance and sustainability stewards and leaders
• Non-profits and community organisations

Presenter

Jennifer Kamerman is an environmental lawyer who holds a B.A. LLB. LLM (Environmental Law) from the University of Cape Town. After graduating with an LLB, Jennifer spent 17 years in the retail industry, gaining broad-based experience in commercial law, business organisation, leadership, management and governance, at a senior level.

Jennifer is passionate about creating a platform for meaningful participation in environmental decision-making to communities who lack the know-how to navigate environmental law, policy and regulation. Jennifer expresses her commitment to on-going education by researching, writing and teaching professional skills development courses, in various aspects of environmental law, ESG, stakeholder engagement and sustainable development.

How much?

R7,200 per person.

Certificate

A digital certificate from UCT will be issued to those who attend the full course.

SIGH UP HERE: Stakeholder engagement for competitive advantage | UCT Law at Work