Guidance:
Beneficiaries: Identify the target group that will benefit from your project. Be specific about their demographics such as age, location, socio-economic status, etc. Take into account their needs, challenges, and aspirations. For example, our project aims to promote recycling in our local community. Our target group are families with children aged 6-12, who live in the area. Our goal is to educate young kids about the importance of reducing waste and preserving the environment, while also providing them with practical ways to get involved in the recycling process.
Customers: Identify the individuals or groups that will buy and utilize your products or services. Understand their objectives, needs, and challenges. Consider how your offerings can aid them in achieving their goals or resolving their issues. For example, our project aims to create an online website that connects local farmer producers with schools. The customers are schools’ managers that are looking to support local farmers and provide local food to their students while they will promote the local employment. Another example: Our customers are local businesses and organizations who generate a significant amount of waste. By offering a convenient and eco-friendly recycling solution to them, we aim to make it easier for them to reduce their waste and minimize their environmental impact. Our customers will benefit from increased sustainability, cost savings, and improved reputation within the community.
Funding & supportive stakeholders: Identify the parties that provide financial support or other kind of support (technical etc) for your initiative. Understand their motivations, expectations, and goals. Evaluate how your project aligns with their values and priorities. For example, our project is supported by a local non-profit organization that focuses on environmental conservation. The funding stakeholders are the non-profit organization that provides financial support for our project and expects us to align with their values of environmental conservation.
It’s important to keep in mind that stakeholders can come in different forms, they can be individuals, groups, organizations, communities, etc. and that their needs and expectations might change over time.
Want to learn more?
Check out the submodule 7.1 “Identifying the key stakeholders of the social enterprise” for all the details!