Planners or implementers do not have complete control over the critical details of their intervention. There are constraints they are operating under which can guide or, in some cases, determine the details.

Using the Constraints Box

While you are doing a critical detail map, check the details to determine if any of them are influenced or directed by entities in the constraints box. Where the details are constrained, are there negative impacts or likely to be negative impacts? When there are negative impacts based in a constraint, are there options for shifting or educating the constraint?

This is a moment when many interveners throw up their hands and say, “I can’t change. My donor/HQ/mandate makes me do it!” This reaction is an example of Powerlessness. The person crying out has given away his or her efficacy and creativity, two things no interveners should ever be without.

The best method for changing something that appears to be constrained is conversation. Do No Harm offers a very good way to structure a conversation with a desk officer or a donor. The reason Do No Harm is effective is because it offers real evidence of the relationships between decision making and the social dynamics in a context.

Once upon a time, at a Do No Harm Consultation, a field worker raised a problem he was having and some possible solutions. “But,” he concluded, “my headquarters will not allow me to change my implementation.”
 
As chance would have it, the desk officer from HQ was also at the Consultation. He looked up, startled, at his colleague and said, “You never asked! Of course you can change.”
 
A few hours later, the same desk officer was describing in great detail how he wished he could alter some pieces of a big program so that it would have a more significant impact. “But,” he concluded, “my donor will not allow me to change the program.”
 
As chance would have it, the desk officer from the donor was sitting at the end of the table. She said, wryly, “You never asked. Your detailed analysis has convinced me. Of course you can change.”

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Related Topics
Mandate
Fundraising and Donors
Mapping with the Constraints Box
Critical Detail Mapping
The Relationship Framework