In this unit, you will learn how to give incentives for stakeholders to engage and collaborate in your project or initiatives. We will explore how giving stakeholders usable and actionable outcomes can motivate stakeholders and ensure their continued participation in projects. Using examples from ONEPlanET’s stakeholder engagement activities, we will focus on how to involve policymakers, industry professionals, non-profit actors as well as academics and researchers in sustainability projects.

Hackathons can serve as an effective participatory research methodology by creating a space where diverse groups collaborate to generate ideas, prototype solutions, and address complex challenges. They foster dialogue across disciplines and sectors, encourage creative problem-solving, and enable researchers and stakeholders to co-develop insights that are both innovative and grounded in real-world contexts.

ONEPlanET's "The Nexus Hackathon" was held in collaboration with Strathmore University in Nairobi, from February to July 2025 and brought together students, entrepreneurs, researchers and NGO practitioners. The hackathon sought to develop new solutions to challenges faced by a lack of long-term investments in scalable solutions, dependency on rain-fed agriculture, exclusion of women and the scalability of low-cost solutions in Kenya. This recording of the final pitching sessions shows how participatory methods can co-create new WEF solutions by involving local actors.

This playbook is designed to support researchers, policymakers, industry, and nonprofit professionals working on African sustainability initiatives, with a focus on the water, energy, and food (WEF) sectors. It offers practical tips, culturally informed strategies, and practice-based tricks for effective stakeholder engagement. The goal is to help project teams and practitioners build long-term ethical and equitable relationships with local stakeholders that promote shared ownership.

Effective communication is central to successful sustainability partnerships. This course provides practical strategies for building trust, strengthening collaboration, and achieving lasting impact in Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus projects in African contexts. Participants will explore why open communication means more than technical explanation. Active listening, transparency, and valuing all perspectives help address scepticism, bridge cultural gaps, and foster genuine engagement.

Attention is also given to cultural context and power dynamics. Understanding who is included, who is left out, and how messages are tailored across different groups ensures that solutions reflect local realities. By the end of the course, participants will have the tools to adapt communication, design inclusive processes, and nurture partnerships that continue to thrive beyond the pilot phase.