Page 192 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

190 A Project of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) 16 Review Coming to agreement on what is and is not in the final report requires the group to test the recommendations with one another. There are many different methods for this that can involve facilitation techniques ranging from dotmocracy (fast process) to sociograms (involved process that gets immediate feedback on recommendations). The focus of the review stage is on agreement and clarity. You should be asking the group questions around what might need to change to get the required amount of support from the group. At this point, the group should not worry about grammar and tiny mistakes in recommendations, the intent is to capture whether or not the recommendation has support (not the way the recommendation is written). A key concept to apply here is to ask groups “Can I live with this?” and whether they would be prepared to stand behind a statement and agree that it reflects the view of the room. You should avoid voting as this can cause people to get entrenched into positions – you are looking for feedback on how a recommendation can meet the two tests just mentioned.