ID: 2080
Presenting Author: James Beard
Session: 610 - Reaching the Unheard: Inclusive Public Engagement in Practice
Status: pending
Explores how EqIA findings and stakeholder engagement inform each other to improve inclusion, design, and mitigation in major infrastructure projects.
Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) is increasingly recognised as a critical tool for ensuring inclusive outcomes in large infrastructure projects. This paper examines the dynamic relationship between EqIA findings and stakeholder engagement strategies, highlighting how each process can inform and strengthen the other. Emerging EqIA insights often reveal disparities in access, representation, and vulnerability, shaping decisions about which groups to prioritise, which engagement methods to adopt, and how to reach seldom-heard communities effectively. But, stakeholder engagement also provides valuable qualitative evidence that can refine EqIA conclusions, ensuring assessments reflect lived experiences rather than assumptions. By exploring this iterative feedback loop, the paper demonstrates how integrating EqIA and engagement can lead to more responsive project design, robust mitigation measures, and improved social outcomes. Practical examples will illustrate how this approach fosters trust, reduces risk, and enhances compliance, ultimately supporting successful development, permitting, and delivery. The discussion situates these findings within the broader context of misinformation and communication challenges, arguing that transparent, inclusive processes are essential for legitimacy and resilience in impact assessment practice.
Global Lead for Social Outcomes at Mott MacDonald, improving the social impact of infrastructure projects through analysis, design, and stakeholder engagement.