Step 1: Authorize a feedback loop process
“Talk with people, not at people.”
- Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, OBE, Mayor of Freetown, Sierra Leone29“Local government is not the lowest form of government in an ecosystem of governments, but the highest form of coordination and advocacy for the community.”
- Charles Marohn, Founder of Strong Towns30
Summary:
- Local officials – perhaps spurred on by civil society pressure – assess whether a feedback loop can help them solve local problems.
- Consider the problems facing the community – can public feedback help to navigate trade-offs or prioritize a path forward among competing issues?
- Examine current outreach practices – how does the local authority talk to residents and how residents talk to officials?
- A series of do-no-harm and inclusion questions helps prepare the team to communicate with hard-to-reach communities and avoid exacerbating divisions or marginalization.
- Finally, authorization to implement the feedback loop is given, unlocking resources and kickstarting the formation of a team – whether by a formal resolution, act, or decree, or the less formal assignment of staff and resources to the process.
As a first step, consider whether a feedback loop is suited to the local context and would be worthwhile to address a particular challenge or issue. Once a local authority decides to implement a feedback loop, ideally, it would issue a formal authorization through a legal or administrative instrument. A formal authorization ensures that the weight and resources of the local authority unit are behind the process (and enables access to resources and staff as needed). On the other hand, reform-minded officials may worry that specifying a legal or administrative instrument from the outset can create additional hurdles and delays and spark resistance. They may instead opt for an informal, ad hoc approach to pilot the feedback loop effort on a small scale, and then formalize it through a statute later after building awareness among staff and with the benefit of lessons learned. Consider the benefits and drawbacks of formal authorization compared to informal agreement with respect to, among other things, accountability and the allocation of staff, time and financial resources.
The decision should be made with a particular problem or goal in mind that the feedback loop could potentially address. It may be easier to start with an established process, such as setting local budget priorities or development planning. Why do you want to convene people for their feedback? You could seek public input to design a government program, reform a regulation, evaluate a policy, or some similar goal.
Leaders should be prepared to listen for information about their current outreach practices and to identify the governance process(es) that the feedback loop data would contribute to, among other information. In other words, consider:
- How the local authority currently engages with the public and how the public speaks to the local authority
- Whether and how that dialogue is integrated into local authority decision-making processes or the day-to-day work of the local administration (elected officials and staff)
- The resources the local authority can bring to the process
- The unique circumstances of the community – Are there particular groups in the community that are difficult to engage with or are apathetic/disengaged? Are there divisive or controversial fractures in the community that need to be monitored?