Vulnerable Groups Experience Project Impacts Differently: Are you considering these unique needs?
As projects, programs, or initiatives are created throughout the project lifecycle, particular attention should be given to the assessment of vulnerable groups and the impacts they may experience. Why? The premise is that vulnerable people are more likely to experience project impacts differently – or more severely – than the broader community assessed.
This means that your assessment also needs to be conducted with a unique lens that asks unique questions. In assessing vulnerable groups with an equitable lens, the potential impacts, mitigations, and therefore residual impacts will be fit-for-purpose instead of a pan-community approach that may have unintended consequences for a group that may be uniquely exposed to certain risks. At current time, the (social impact) assessment process considers vulnerable groups in multiple regulatory frameworks and guidance documents including Canada’s Impact Assessment Act and World Bank Standards.
Here are a few tips to ground our thinking in assessing vulnerable populations and making sure their unique needs are considered in project development:
Understanding the indicators: There are certain aspects that all project teams should consider when conducting their social impact assessments and defining who vulnerable peoples are and why they are considered vulnerable. People can experience vulnerabilities (and the intersectionality across multiple vulnerabilities) related to poverty; age; race, ethnicity, and religion; sex and gender; physical and mental disabilities; remoteness; and many more.
Before assuming, engage on the solution: Throughout the project assessment phase, vulnerable groups may be identified through contextual analysis or demographic data. However, it is critical to engage the identified vulnerable groups (or groups representing their interests) to further understand their needs and develop a fit-for-purpose remedy or mitigation that addresses the issue. Let’s use a simple example: a project is being developed and communication is digital only. However, the primary community in the region is remote, and consultation on the project cannot be done effectively as 60% of the population has no access to internet or it’s of poor quality. All consultation documentation needs to be developed with a lens to equity and distributed in a form that is accessible for the entire community. A simple fix: door-to-door newsletter drops. While assessing vulnerable groups, there are many more complex issues including labour remedies to improve localization benefits, impacts of site closure on reliant communities, and addressing human rights of marginalized groups, to name a few.
Integration is a step-by-step process: There are five considerations that support integrated project solutions for vulnerable groups, which include: 1) Collect the information from a broad range of resources. 2) Engage the vulnerable group directly to verify your assumptions. This is often done with a representative group or an NGO. 3) Plan to remove the barriers that persist to ensure the project is being developed equitably. 4) Create the elements that support the integration of vulnerable group remedies into the project design. 5) Monitor and improve on these fit-for-purpose project remedies
Monitor, monitor, monitor, and act if needed: It is likely that your project will measure the indicators and progress of vulnerable groups. In some World Bank funded projects, project proponents have hired non-governmental organizations with previous experience working with identified vulnerable groups to develop and assess the mitigation activities, support the grievance mechanisms, and report back to the project proponents on what is working, what is not, and support changes in the initial remedies. The reason: these third-party experts understand these sensitive issues more intimately than a project proponent.
Check out public resources to learn more: The Government of Canada’s GBA+ (Gender-based Analysis Plus) analytical tool is a great resource for practitioners interested in learning more about supporting inclusive project and program development. Of note, this tool has been developed for Government of Canada employees, but its application is multifunctional.
When developing a project remember to assess the project for all, not just the majority.