This section offers step-by-step guidance to design and implement a feedback loop, drawing on the experience of local authorities from Moldova, Mexico, El Salvador, and Slovakia, where NDI has supported feedback loop processes and shared learning for over a decade. This guidance also draws from the experiences of other local authorities worldwide that have designed and implemented their own two-way communication programs based on similar principles and methods, including Queensland, Australia,27 and Dublin, Ireland,28 among others.
The following presents the feedback loop implementation process as a series of discrete steps. However, keep in mind that these steps – especially the initial steps – are closely linked and may not, in practice, take place one after the other as outlined here. In reality, it is likely that several steps will need to happen in parallel or sometimes be repeated.
Finally, consider the following framework to be flexible guidance rather than a rigid formula. While the contents of each step are important, the emphasis, order and timing will need to be adapted based on your best judgment of what is needed in your circumstances.