On this page you will find the steps you can take toward equitable policy review and development.
Consultation Guide
The Consultation Guide offers detailed action steps for integrating stakeholder participation into every step of the policy development process. Key recommendations include:
At the start of your policy development or review, develop a consultation plan, and share it with the Office of EDI-R and the Office of Indigenous Relations for feedback.
Consult everyone affected by the policy, including:
- The people who will implement the policy.
- The intended beneficiaries of the policy; and
- Other people who might experience unintended effects.
The Consultation Guide identifies steps policy developers can take to:
- Ensure representation of the most affected groups, keeping intersectional effects in mind.
- Maximize participation by the most affected groups at all stages of the process, including initiation, drafting, review, and approvals.
- Consult stakeholders in the right ways (consider integrating stakeholders into the formal process of policy development, e.g. committees; in-person interviews or focus groups; surveys; and quantitative measures of material effects).
- Address power imbalances so that participants will feel safe disclosing concerns or adverse effects.
- Establish metrics to assess.
Evaluation Guide
The Evaluation Guide offers detailed action steps for to assess whether a policy is achieving its intended effects, and whether it is working fairly. Findings and feedback from the evaluation can help policymakers adjust the policy and its implementation, to ensure it is workable and successful for all everyone. Key recommendations include:
In the early stages of policy review/development, develop an evaluation plan, and share it with the EDI-R Office and the Office of Indigenous Relations for feedback.
- Identify the intended outcomes of the policy, and metrics that will be used to achieve them. Ensure that affected groups actively participate in defining the outcomes that are intended to benefit them.
- Practice data equity - consult affected groups about which data to collect, and how store, analyze, and interpret them.
- Ensure that affected groups are represented in determining what counts as success and what metrics will be used to assess it. Affected groups should participate in decisions about what evidence or data will be taken into account, and—especially—how findings are interpreted.
- Establish mechanisms to receive, store, and analyze quantitative data in ways that are secure and allow outcome measures to be disaggregated by, e.g., race, gender, disability, SOGI, or any other relevant dimensions of equity.
- Establish mechanisms to solicit, receive, store, analyze, and interpret qualitative feedback from implementers, intended beneficiaries, and anyone else affected by the policy.
- Use qualitative and, where possible, quantitative measures to assess whether a policy is working equitably, whether its effects are fairly distributed (e.g., did a proportionate share of equity-seeking group members benefit from the policy? Did they benefit as much as more privileged groups did? Did implementation of the policy reduce, or aggravate disparities?).
- Reflect on the findings. What changes to the policy or its implementation could sustain the beneficial effects, reduce disparities, and mitigate adverse effects? Ensure stakeholder participation to determine what policy, program, or practice changes might improve beneficial effects and prevent adverse ones.