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 contact@shengo.com.et.