PROTOCOL P-22 | Inclusion & Safe Expression

Vulnerable Group Engagement Protocol Protocol

TRIGGER When vulnerability and exclusion screening identifies groups at high risk of exclusion; before any consultation that affects groups with participation barriers.

STEPS

1. Complete the Vulnerability and Exclusion Screening

   Use T-18 to identify which groups face participation barriers and what those barriers are. Identify the specific groups requiring tailored engagement and the specific barriers each faces.

2. Design a tailored engagement format for each group

   Use the Inclusive Engagement Design Guide (T-17). For each group: identify the appropriate format (small group, separate session, community visit, walking consultation); identify the appropriate facilitator (trusted by the group, no authority over their livelihood or welfare); identify accessible venue and timing.

3. Identify and brief the facilitator

   The facilitator for vulnerable group sessions should ideally not be a developer representative. CSO contacts, community health workers, women's organization leaders, and cooperative officers are often more appropriate. Brief them on: the group's context, key sensitivities, questions to explore, and how to document without intimidating.

4. Conduct the session using safe space principles

   Ground rules: concerns will be documented (with anonymity if requested); input will be used; participation will not result in negative consequences. Start with their questions and concerns. Not with project information. Use open questions. Document concerns in plain language, accessible to participants.

5. Integrate findings into the main engagement record

   Concerns raised in vulnerable group sessions must enter the Signal Tracker or Grievance Register. Not remain in a facilitator's notes. Feed findings into the main engagement process within 24 hours.

6. Follow up with the group

   Inform participants of what happened to what they said. Vulnerable groups have often experienced having their concerns heard and then ignored. Closing the feedback loop is essential to maintaining engagement and trust.

7. Document the session and findings

   Record: date, group, facilitator, format, number of participants, concerns raised, and follow-up actions.

PURPOSE

To define tailored steps for engaging groups facing barriers to participation, fisherfolk, women, tenants, elderly, informal settlers, migrants, youth, through separate sessions, accessible formats, and trusted intermediaries. Engagement that does not specifically design for these groups will not reach them.

Roles and Responsibilities

Coordinates:

Actor: ComRel Officer / PCO
Responsibility: Identifies need; selects and briefs facilitator; ensures findings enter the GRM system; manages follow-up.

Facilitates:

Actor: CSO / Trusted Community Contact
Responsibility: Designs and conducts the session; documents concerns; briefs ComRel officer on findings.

Excluded from session:

Actor: Developer / Project Representatives
Responsibility: Authority figures from the developer side should not be present unless the group specifically requests it. Their presence changes what people are willing to say.

Field Notes and Adaptation Guidance

• Field Note — Separate sessions are not exclusion

  Conducting separate sessions for women, fisherfolk, or tenants is sometimes questioned as divisive or unnecessary. It is neither. It is a recognition that these groups face specific barriers to expression in mixed settings, and that their concerns are unlikely to surface without deliberate facilitation. Separate sessions are about creating genuine voice, not about segregating communities.

• Field Note — The facilitator's identity matters

  A vulnerable group session facilitated by the developer's ComRel officer, however skilled and well-intentioned, will not produce the same quality of expression as one facilitated by a trusted community figure. The power differential is too significant. Invest in identifying and briefing appropriate facilitators from within or close to the community.

• Adaptation Guidance

  For groups with very low literacy or no prior experience with formal consultation processes, consider a participatory visual methods approach: mapping exercises, photo documentation, or simple pictorial ranking of concerns. These methods produce richer data and more genuine participation than verbal formats that privilege literacy and verbal fluency.

Required Output / Documentation

• Session documentation: group, facilitator, format, concerns raised, follow-up actions

• Concerns entered in Signal Tracker or Grievance Register within 24 hours

• Follow-up communication to participants confirming what happened to their input