OUR CAPITALS

Our Relationship Capital - Stakeholder Engagement

OUR CAPITALS

Our Relationship Capital - Stakeholder Engagement

Building and maintaining strong relationships and staying connected with our key stakeholders is vital for the success and sustainability of our operations.

To address this need, stakeholder management has been elevated to a strategic priority, allowing us to oversee stakeholder relations more comprehensively and ensure we meet expectations while enhancing the quality of our connections. Our commitment to understanding and addressing the needs, interests, and expectations of our stakeholders drives us to rejuvenate our engagement strategies, which aim to solidify the foundation of our relationships. We periodically conduct stakeholder surveys, and we plan to increase their frequency in the future to gather valuable feedback.

The Governance, Social, and Ethics Committee monitors our stakeholder engagement efforts. We have revised our stakeholder map using the Power-Interest approach, which helps us identify, assess, and prioritise stakeholders based on their influence and interest in our organisation. This approach involves two key dimensions: 1) the influence or power each stakeholder holds over SANBS and 2) their interest in our activities. By plotting these dimensions on a simple rating scale, we can categorise stakeholders into four groups.

The strategy for engaging each group will differ, with a particular focus on stakeholders in the top right quadrant—those with high influence/power and high interest. Business process owners are responsible for developing tailored stakeholder engagement plans and effective communication strategies to ensure we foster meaningful relationships with all our stakeholders.

Categorisation of the Stakeholders and Key Issues

Influence/Power of Stakeholders
 High Power, Low interest [Meet their needs,Keep satisfied] High Power, High Interest [Key player, Engage closely]
  • nDoH – Sufficient, quality blood products; Improved patient outcomes
  • SAHPRA – SANBS commitment to achieving and maintaining appropriate transfusion medicine-related quality standards
  • SANAS – SANBS commitment to achieving and maintaining appropriate transfusion medicine-related quality accreditation
  • Media – Education and awareness; Accurate and effective communication
  • Blood donors – Excellent donor experience
  • National council – Election of the Board; Appropriate governance
  • Medical aids – Sufficient, quality blood products; Accurate and timely billing
  • Doctors – Sufficient, quality blood products
  • The Board – Meeting strategic objectives; Improved governance and ethics
  • Employees – Reward and recognition; Safe working environment; Growth and development; Job security
  • Unions – Fair and equitable remuneration and working conditions; Employee safety
  • Suppliers – Payment for goods and services; Fair and transparent procurement practices
Low Power, Low interest [Least important, Minimal effort] Low Power, High Interest [Show Consideration,Keep informed]
  • ISBT, AfSBT, WHO, AABB – National and international collaboration
  • Patients – Sufficient, quality blood products
  • Branch and Zone Donor Committees – Donor interests and wellness; Donor recruitment
  • WCBS – Collaboration in national blood product and service delivery; Ensuring blood product availability
  • Nurses – Sufficient, quality blood products
Interest of stakeholders

We group our stakeholders as follows:

Employees

Include the people we employ, our Board and the unions that represent our people.

Donors

These comprise anyone who donates blood, the donor structures including National Council, Zone Donor Committees and Branch Donor Committees.

Regulators

Comprises the National Department of Health, SANAS, SAHPRA and the ISO Standards

Medical Fraternity

Includes anyone who accesses our products or services including doctors, nurses and patients

Funders/Payers

Medical aid schemes, Treasury, Regional DoH

Suppliers

Those from whom we buy goods and services

SA and International Blood Partners

Local and international health and transfusion medicine organisations (Western Cape Blood Service (WCBS), International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT), Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapy (AABB), African Society for Blood Transfusion (AfSBT), South African Society for Blood Transfusion (SASBT)

Disclosure of Stakeholder Engagements

The information that follows in the tables, on the following pages, describes our frequency of engagement with our stakeholders, their needs, interests and expectations, risks and opportunities and how we respond to these.

We also provide management’s assessment of the current relationship against a desired relationship and give details of the status of current engagements with our various stakeholders. Management have assessed most relationships as good (i.e. engagement is ongoing and some opportunity exists for improvement). Three are rated as fair (i.e. while engagement takes place, improvement is required).

Our Efforts Underway and Planned for Building Trusted Relationships

Ongoing work is being done to give attention to improving our relationship with stakeholders in line with SANBS’s strategic priorities. Particular attention will be given to stakeholders categorised as having high power and high interest.

Specific actions will include deepening the foundation of communication, periodically revisiting the mutual understanding of expectations and seeking opportunities for both parties to gain from the relationship.

We recognise that building trust is a gradual process that requires consistent effort over time.

#We are the pulse.
Save lives

Stakeholder Engagements