Case study
A regional consultation, start to record.
How a structured consultation on climate resilience policy reaches the people a workshop in the capital never would — and what the public record shows when it closes.
The starting point
A ministry is preparing a climate resilience policy. The safeguard framework attached to its donor financing requires documented stakeholder consultation. The traditional route is two workshops in Addis Ababa: roughly sixty attendees, most from the capital, with input recorded in minutes that no participant ever sees again.
Step 1 — The consultation opens
The ministry publishes a structured consultation on SHENGO: three thematic categories, a four-week deadline, response templates, and invitations to registered stakeholders. The consultation is open in English, Amharic and Afaan Oromoo.
Step 2 — Submissions arrive from beyond the capital
A water-management specialist in Adama submits a structured response in twenty minutes, without a plane ticket. A farmers' union, verified against the civil society registry, submits the position it agreed at its last assembly. Citizens submit through the portal — some named, some anonymously. Every submission is timestamped and cryptographically logged, and every contributor receives a verifiable reference for their submission.
What the dashboard shows mid-consultation
- Submissions by stakeholder type: experts, civil society, citizens, policy makers
- Regional spread — the map fills in beyond Addis Ababa
- Language split across the three supported languages
- Days remaining, with automatic reminders to invited stakeholders
Step 3 — Synthesis in hours, not weeks
When the consultation closes, the three-stage synthesis pipeline runs: a structured draft, an adversarial review pass, and a final synthesis approved by a human domain expert. Officers receive a briefing organised by theme and position — with every raw submission still available beside it, and dissenting views flagged in their own section. (See the methodology for how this is kept honest.)
Step 4 — The decision, with the record attached
Decision makers work from the synthesis. When the policy is finalised, the consultation record is published: who was invited, who took part, what was submitted, what was incorporated, and what was not — with reasons.
What the public record shows at the end
| Item | In the record |
|---|---|
| Participation | Every submission, timestamped, by stakeholder type and region |
| Attribution | Expert contributions cited; anonymous citizens protected |
| Synthesis trail | Draft, adversarial critique, and approved final synthesis |
| Outcome mapping | Which themes were incorporated into the policy, and which were not |
| Compliance export | Safeguard documentation generated from the record in one step |
Why this matters
- For the ministry: consultation becomes demonstrable legitimacy, not a compliance burden.
- For the donor: safeguard evidence is produced by the process itself, not reconstructed afterwards.
- For the contributor: a verified record that their voice was part of the decision — checkable by them, forever.
To discuss a pilot consultation in your ministry or programme, write to hello@shengo.com.