In 2014, Veolia issued an in-house methodology guide, Understanding, Talking and Acting with our Local Stakeholders, that helps our operational teams and sustainability coordinators deliver an effective dialogue process.
The guide is designed to organize, formalize and emphasize mechanisms for providing information, dialogue and consultation with all actors directly or indirectly related to our activities. Veolia understands that this is a precondition for ensuring its activities are legitimate and effective. The guide sets out four stages that our teams and coordinators should follow:
- identifying stakeholders and deciding on an action plan that takes account of their wishes, primarily by using monitoring tools
- promoting and strengthening social ties with stakeholders through tools that foster information and dialogue (platforms, thinktanks, etc.). Internationally, this takes the form of contributions to specialist forums for debating key issues surrounding sustainability. Nationally, we use dialogue on topics that relate to the various activities of the Group and its stakeholders. And locally, we favor dialogue on operational matters with local people and civil society
- contributing and innovating, in collaboration with stakeholders, to deliver ambitious engagement programs that provide lasting support to local socioeconomic development in places where Veolia operates, seeking to ensure that everybody has access to resources
- measuring the impact of the strategies it rolls out externally as well as in-house, and communicating to highlight and boost engagement among all actors in the regions where they operate.