• Develop a full understanding of the program’s context including the impact of national and community-level political, social, economic, cultural, power, gender and environmental factors, as well as the enablers and the barriers to social change
• Seek the perspectives and experiences of primary stakeholders directly impacted by poverty or inequality
• Seek the perspectives of all vulnerable or marginalised groups where protection/safeguarding risks could be increased e.g. people with disability, women, children, people identifying with different or non-binary gender etc.
• Carry out an analysis of the key relationships that will impact the project, how that impact will occur, and how those groups or people can be positively engaged
• Train staff in how to carry out power analyses as a basic step in the preparation of any development activity
• Periodically review the context as it changes over time as part of regular monitoring activities and reflect any changes by adapting project plans and approaches.
• Ensure program guidelines explicitly outline the importance of identifying the needs and expectations of all key stakeholders, including potential differences in interests and points of view.
• Use stakeholder analysis tools in project design so that you can identify the key local organisations and stakeholders and the relationships between them that contribute to or can break down poverty and inequality; vulnerability, risk and capacity for each stakeholder group.
• Identify key groups marginalised through vulnerability and analyse the increased vulnerability and risks posed through intersectionality of vulnerabilities.
• Conduct research to identify the enabling factors and barriers for participation of local people.
• Invest resources in and create opportunities for local organisations and/or primary stakeholders to discuss and agree on their own priorities for development and to fully contribute to the design and planning of initiatives that affect them.
• Assess the level to which primary stakeholders have been involved in the initial planning of the program and the level of consultation and engagement with various community groups and the local government.

Undertaking an analysis of gender and power dynamics should ideally be done in close consultation with your partners and the communities or target groups with whom you work. The focus of your analysis should be nuanced depending on the context although there are some common issues or areas that can be considered. These include:

• Ensure careful analysis of how gender and power intersect and the impact each aspect has on the other.
• The legislative or regulatory environment within a particular country that could inhibit or enable. This could include regulations or laws relating to industrial relations or labour, land and asset ownership, marriage, sexual orientation and gender identity, child protection, sexual exploitation and abuse.
• Cultural and religious norms that could inhibit or enable how decisions are made in work places, within households and within communities – who holds the information and knowledge, who influences decision making and who controls decision making.
• Ownership and control of land and other productive assets e.g. land, animals, productive trees, water ways.
• The division of labour in general and in regards to these productive assets i.e. men may own the assets but women may undertake all the labour
• The control and use of other assets within the workplace or community i.e. public spaces and services
• Ownership and control of profits and incomes
• Control of body and sexuality – how are decisions about sex and relationships made within families, households and communities
• Attitudes in the workplace, households and communities towards sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

Resources to help organisations undertake an analysis of power dynamics, including issues of gender equality and equity, can be found in the Resources section below.

• Consider both organisational and initiative based risk analysis.
• Establish protocols for the conduct of regular risk reviews.
• Share risk assessment, analysis and management strategies with the governing body and periodically review these.
• Appoint a staff person or committee to be responsible for ensuring regular risk assessments are carried out.
• Use ISO standards to guide your risk assessment processes.
• Undertake targeted risk analysis for particular initiatives, for example risks related to child protection, risks related to vulnerable groups, risks related to gender or gender identification.
• Communicate your commitment to risk analysis and management amongst your staff, governing body, and partners.
• Work with partners to develop their risk management capacity and procedures.

Risk identification should be a collaborative process that involves partners and staff from key functions that are relevant to logistics, security, field offices, programs, technical staff, HR and partner management. In any development and humanitarian initiative, there will be a wide range of risks to be considered that are specific to the sector of work and the context. In all initiatives, however, there are some risks that should always be considered. These include:

• Child safeguarding incident involving staff or partners
• Sexual exploitation or abuse incident involving staff or partners
• Resources being diverted to proscribed ‘terrorist’ groups
• Poor fraud management planning leading to repeated fraud incidents
• Lack of staff or specific technical skill-sets in country office or partners
• Security situation affecting implementation negatively

Each context will present different protection and safeguarding risks, and it can be helpful for organisations to systematically identify what these risks are and how they can mitigate these. If the initiative is working directly with children, a child protection and safeguarding risk assessment should be undertaken.  Some questions to consider include:

• What contact will this activity have with children?
• What contact will this activity have with vulnerable adults?
• What contact will staff and volunteers have with children and/or vulnerable adults?
• What hazards exist in the activity or the context that may make children and adults vulnerable to exploitation and abuse?
• What safeguards exist to prevent the exploitation and abuse of children and vulnerable adults?
• What mechanisms exist for children, vulnerable adults and staff to report concerns and incidents relating to exploitation and abuse?
• What policies and procedures are in place to safeguard children and adults from exploitation and abuse?
• What additional mitigating strategies are needed to protect children and adults from exploitation and abuse?

• Use ACFID’s Research for Development Impact (RDI) Network Principles for Ethical Research and Evaluation in Development to inform your approach to research.
• Ensure that local stakeholders have a meaningful input into the design of research initiatives and in undertaking the research.
• Provide appropriate training to local staff and primary stakeholders who may be involved in research activities
• Include local stakeholders in research teams and hold meetings at the completion of the research with local stakeholders to share the findings and receive feedback on them.
• Translate research findings into local language and conduct forums where this information can be shared.