The role of participation and social involvement is one of the things that most people take for granted, rarely considering the impact of the social assessment system and the related issues. However, when it comes to major social problems, such as a global crisis, or a rapid economical, financial, or social decline in a specific state or a part of a state due to specific conditions, the importance of the social assessment system and the role of the stakeholders come into the open. Taking a closer look at the two aforementioned phenomena and the associated issues, one can evaluate the importance of social involvement and, probably, come up with the means to improve the existing system.
When talking about the social assessment and the stakeholder analysis, one must mention several key points that allow for a better understanding of the issue. To start with, the phenomenon of the social assessment must be defined. According to the existing data, social assessment is the kind of evaluation method that helps incorporate social analysis and participation in order to address the current problems related to the World Bank projects, as well as economic and sector work. In addition, the steps that the social assessment involves must also be described. First of all, carrying out a social assessment means figuring out what the current social issues are and how these issues are related to the business sphere/economy. Thereafter, it is necessary to trace the information sources, including both the internal and the external sources of information. While the former help consider the environment in which the problem occurred and, therefore, understand its nature, the latter allows to specify the outer factors that contributed to the development and the manifestation of the problem. Further on, it is crucial to come up with the strategies that will help deal with the loopholes in the economical/financial/political performance and, therefore, deal with the emerging issues in the most efficient way possible. The last, but definitely not the least is the step that involves the use and the further assessment of the newly adopted strategy. Another important issue in question, the role of stakeholders should also be addressed. All those involved into the issue in question, stake holders are the people in whose interests a specific project is being developed. Taking a real-life situation for an analysis will help understand the role of the stake holders and the social assessment system.
According to the data presented in the news report, the recent cataclysm on Haiti has affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, which means that the given event involves many stake holders and is of state importance from the economical, political, financial and social standpoints. As the news says, the 7.0-magnitude earthquake has claimed more than 220,000 lives and left more than 1.9 million people without any shelter. In the given context, the people whose lives have been affected by the cataclysm can be considered the stakeholders, as well as the entrepreneurships, companies and even states that helped Haiti overcome this disaster. In the given context, an astute manager can apply the framework suggested by the social assessment system guidelines to analyze the situation and offer the solutions for the current economical crisis that Haiti is facing. To start with, it is necessary to prioritize the issues, which in the given case means setting the key goals. For instance, the first logical thing to do in the given circumstances will be to provide temporary shelters for the people who have suffered from the earthquake. The second step will be allocating the possible resources, both financial and material. Analyzing the undertaken actions, the government of Haiti should further on consider the ways to close the performance gaps. For example, providing vaccinations and locating the missing people seems rather reasonable course of actions from the Haitian government; however, it is obvious that the state has not offered the victims a temporary dwelling yet. However, the Haitian government does not rush to close the gaps that have been made in the course of strategy development. Therefore, it seems that the social assessment of the case in point can use much improvement. With proper financing, however, the given problem can be solved.
Judging by the example offered above, the social assessment system is crucial for handling such cases as the one described above. The analysis of the stake holders passes rather unnoticeable in the realm of the everyday world. However, when it comes to extreme cases like the one mentioned above, the evaluation of the stake holders, their key assets, their chances of keeping these assets intact and the possible losses that they are likely to take in the course of the further operations is crucial. As long as all the factors that have the slightest impact on the stake holders in question are taken into account, even the most complicated cases can be solved, which the example of the Haiti earthquake has proven.