The details of an intervention matter. The details are where impacts come from, not the whole. An intervention is a series of choices before it becomes actions and activities. People make these choices and people can change them. People make decisions about what to do and how to do it.

Criteria Matter

The criteria for deciding the details of any intervention matter enormously. How we make our decisions has a huge impact on the outcomes of projects and programs. Experience shows that interveners often make these decisions too quickly and without enough thought.

We use criteria in all program choices. Too often, these criteria are implicit and not formalized. Making the criteria explicit is central to effective Do No Harm programming. It is in these details, as they relate to the context, that impacts either do harm or promote positive outcomes for people.

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Related Topics
Two Methods of Critical Detail Mapping
Critical Detail Mapping with the Seven Elements of Circumstance
Critical Detail Mapping with the Six Critical Details
Lesson 5: The details of interventions matter

Much of Do No Harm is about bringing implicit assumptions up to explicit conversations. If you take one thing away from this Guide, let it be that you should ask your colleagues and community members about how they perceive the world.