Consultation

CD workers consult the community to interpret the need, priorities and possible solutions, to learn why community members might want a project, and to plan to do what the community actually wants. Besides, simply by raising questions, you have started to educate them by getting them thinking about your topics. As a result, consultation is actually a two-way street. Then later on, continued consultation will let you know whether you are still doing what the community wants and get feedback on any changes in their perceptions.

 

What to do

How you consult will depend on how institutional you are. In a small-scale personal program, consultation will probably be a series of personal visits and informal small group discussions.

Institutional bodies are more likely to research needs with more formal methods to develop a concrete plan for public discussion and official approval. In an institutional consultation, you may need to get a draft plan out for people to look at. Who this is will vary from organization to organization, and might also depend on the kind of plan (some are less public than others.) It might have to be available for hundreds of people to read, or for the general public.

First of all, get one or two people to read it and sort out as many of the more obvious mistakes and gaps at this stage. Make sure you clearly identify each draft (e.g. Use the date or first draft, second draft, etc.) Then you can put it out for wider comment. This might be on the website or on a notice board. If you're in the government, it might be though a document circulated to public libraries. Identify it clearly as a draft, not the final. Make sure you set a final date for comments. Alternatively, you might survey people or hold focus groups.

Your main task here is to get out and make contact with people. Unless you're unusually gregarious, you'll probably be afraid of this, especially in another culture where you could offend people unknowingly.

In some cases, you'll have to build a network and constituency from scratch.

The steps are:

  1. Identify gatekeepers and people who can make decisions in the community. You may need their approval and support to do anything at all. Or you may just need to make show appropriate respect, so that what you do is not hidden from them.
  2. It usually starts with a series of personal informal visits. In some cases, it could start with the research to develop a concrete plan for public discussion. Meet key local people to hear and understand their viewpoint:
  3. As long as you don't offend anyone, you may also be able to ask questions that introduce new ideas:
  4. Discuss what you expect of them, and allay any fears they might have.
  5. Try to get them on side and actively try to get their input and advice.

By listening to their needs and concerns, they will more likely be sympathetic do what you are doing. Find out what they think and write down your results.

This specifically means:

Expect to find that they see their problems differently from you, and may see problems and solutions that you don't see. They will probably prioritize things differently from you. You'll see the emergent understanding model of CD in action. In intercultural situations, their logic might not always make sense to you; for example social, worldview, or historical factors may affect their approach in ways that you don't yet understand. When they have described how they see the particular need you want to address, it is your role to adjust your understanding of it.

At an advanced stage, you may even be able to start negotiating any issues arising and discuss more concrete plans.

 

Hints and tips

  1. Put the person at ease. Unless they have been consulted before, they will be unsure what you expect and will probably be unable to speak on behalf of their organization.
  2. Use the consultation as an opportunity to make friends. It usually takes some time to gain at least a basic level of interest or trust, and you will depend on it to promote the program later on.
  3. Respect their time. They may have very little available. On the other hand, in some cultures it may take more time to build trust, and people could take offense at a rushed meeting.
  4. Use ordinary language. Avoid specialized jargon; it can unnecessarily confuse people.
  5. Don't give advice early. Be humble, listen a lot, and speak no more than you have to.
  6. Be empathetic and patient, especially with people people who can't easily express their ideas.
  7. Ask follow-up questions about things that people seem to be understood. See whether you really are talking about the same thing.
  8. Offer some hope, but don't make promises that you might be unable to keep.
  9. Manage the tone. How business-like do you need to be? How much personal chat can you include? These will vary greatly depending on the situation.
  10. You can negotiate. You don't have to to give people complete control over what you do, but neither should you write up whatever you want and ask them simply to agree to it. It's a two-way street.
  11. Don't be surprised if they don't really know what they want. They sometimes only say, "Um, yeah, that sounds pretty good," and not see a need to say any more. But people who think they don't know sometimes give excellent advice: "Gee, I don't know but I kind of wonder if ..."
  12. Expect bias. People give advice from their own viewpoint, so most advice will be biased in some way. Or they might give their answer, not the one you are fishing for. By accounting for the different perspectives, and perhaps doing some negotiating, you should come up with a set of goals that everybody accepts.
  13. Beware of power struggles, misunderstandings, and very different perspectives. You might find yourself negotiating or brokering between different stakeholders.
    Avoid being politicized. Don't be seen to take sides with one stakeholder group against another. Your role also implies that you can be proactive and have some say as lead negotiator.
  14. Give people time to digest new ideas. Even if they understand the ideas straight away, they need time to ask questions about them, consider implications, and make them their own. (Implications in particular take time to identify.)
    Some people instinctively reject new ideas, but they can come around if given time and the opportunity to discuss it again later on. Unless they offer immediate agreement based on a sound understanding of the idea, it's often a good to let them think it through. And even if they do immediately agree, it could be wise to let them reflect on it rather than make an impulsive commitment.
  15. Make sure you keep good notes of everything, e.g. a detailed diary. Your assessor may ask you to verify your work from them. (In some cultures, it may be best to make your notes in private.) Write your results down, saying what you achieved.
    Report the benefits of the consultation. A common weakness is to report that it was done, but not any worthwhile result.

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