Adapting social life cycle assessment stakeholder categories and impact subcategories for informal economic sectors: insights from fish farming in Ghana

The informal economy plays a critical role in sustaining livelihoods but is often overlooked in the discourse of sustainability assessments. This limitation is reflected in the guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) which is largely oriented towards formal economic structure and may not adequately capture the realities of informal sectors. This study examines how S-LCA stakeholder categories and impact subcategories can be adapted to better reflect informal economic contexts using fish farming in Accra, Ghana as a case study. A mixed-method approach is adopted, including a participatory stakeholder engagement and a review process. The methodological process was structured into three different phases. Phase 1: Scoping exercise to access the contextual relevance of selected impact subcategories for fish farming in the informal sector; Phase 2: Analytical re-evaluation and adaptation of stakeholder categories and impact subcategories; Phase 3: Participatory validation of the adapted stakeholder categories and impact subcategories through focus group discussions. The findings reveal a disparity between guideline-based S-LCA subcategories and the realities of informal fish farming, particularly regarding assumptions of formal employment structures and institutional support. Several context-specific subcategories were identified, including seasonal work, financial and institutional barriers, role of technology for workers; gender inclusion and economic empowerment for local communities; freedom of association, quality standards, gender inclusion, environmental impact, government support, and licenses and regulations for small-scale entrepreneurs which was also defined to include fish farm owners, processors and market vendors. The study also highlights the need to balance stakeholder perceptions with normative considerations, such as labour rights, when adapting S-LCA frameworks. Adapting S-LCA for informal contexts requires flexible, context-sensitive stakeholder categories and impact subcategories grounded in participatory processes. Rather than proposing a universally generalisable framework, this study provides a structured approach for context-specific adaptation. Such adaptations enhance the capacity of S-LCA to identify social risks and stakeholder concerns in informal sectors, thereby supporting more informed decision-making to improve conditions in the sector.