1.4 Do No Harm | Feedback Loops

Determining “who gets how much and when” can be politically contentious and risk creating or exacerbating social and political divisions. To plan for and mitigate these risks, the team implementing a feedback loop process should be prepared to apply “do-no-harm” principles. There are different approaches, but a common framework involves mapping “dividers” – actors and factors that push communities apart – and “connectors” – actors and factors that promote peace and cohesion. Then consider your intended actions (what you will do, the resources you will deploy and how) and patterns of behavior (how your team interacts with the community and the message this interaction communicates).

When authorizing and planning the process (especially with regard to context analysis and inclusion in Step 2), the following are examples of questions to keep in mind:

Who will be consulted during the feedback loop process? Will outreach privilege or legitimize certain organizations, groups or voices over others?
How will your team listen to and handle grievances that may arise during the process?
Will everyone (men, women, boys and girls, etc.) benefit equally if the problem is solved? Who stands to benefit from proposed solutions, and who might lose out?

For more detail on context analysis and do no harm, see Annex III.

Box 9. Learn from experience – Community engagement toolkits from the local level in Australia, Ireland and the United Kingdom

These three countries have long histories of devolved and active local government and accordingly have a wealth of published guidance online for local officials and individual residents to understand local processes and ways to get involved. For example:

The National Assembly of Wales published a guidance document³⁵ for public engagement for use by its officials; the Welsh Government published a guide to local planning processes³⁶ for community members. Both guides use clear language that is broadly accessible. For example, the National Assembly’s guide outlines nearly two dozen outreach practices (focus groups, site visits, newsletters) and describes their strengths and weaknesses and their relevance to the assembly’s processes.
The Queensland, Australia State Government’s Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning offers detailed guidance³⁷ on principles for outreach, potential tools and suggestions for reaching specific groups, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
In Ireland, a group of civic organizations collaborated with the Irish government to publish “A Guide for Inclusive Community Engagement in Local Planning and Decision Making,” which offers guidance, case studies, and principles for public engagement relevant to the Irish context.³⁸
Organizations like the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU)³⁹ offer similar guidance and training. The LGIU offers training, guides and analysis, and a network to local officials and communities “to make local democracy stronger” in the U.K., Ireland, and beyond.

While guidance accounts for differences between these communities, such as important local minorities or different legal and decision-making bodies and processes, they all rely on common foundational principles. Irish local governments striving for “genuine, purposeful, and collaborative” processes will find common cause with Australian counterparts’ principles of transparent, open and meaningful public engagement.

In sum, fostering more inclusive, democratic and participatory local governance is an ongoing process in countries around the world. Collaboration between civil society and government can generate effective guidance on inclusive and tailored practices relevant to the social, legal and political context.

Footnotes

³⁵Public Engagement Toolkit (National Assembly for Wales, 2014), Link.

³⁶Community Guide Development Plans Community Guide (Welsh Government & Planning Aid Wales, 2022), Link.

³⁷Community Engagement Toolkit for Planning (Queensland Government - Department of Infrastructure, Local Government, and Planning, 2017), Link.

³⁸A Guide for Inclusive Community Engagement in Local Planning and Decision Making (The Department of Rural and Community Development, February 2023), Link.

³⁹About the LGIU (Local Government Information Unit, 2024), Link.