Conducting EIA’s is an information-led process, it requires assessors to make judgements of the impact of a policy based on empirical data that is either available in-house, or if necessary obtained elsewhere. Equality Foundation’s EIA support package is different from others as it heavily promotes the use of data to make judgements of impact; thus using this package will require you to find useful data, and demonstrate the ability to use information to inform decision-making.
This package encourages organisational independence from using consultants to conduct EIAs and promotes the development of in-house capability and proficiency to use EIAs as a business tool that can improve strategy development, planning, and decision-making.
The package will take your organisation through a structured approach to conducting an EIA. The package is split into three sections which are detailed below:
Part 1 - Preliminary Action.
This details what actions are required to prepare for conducting an EIA. Depending on the length of a policy, procedure or decision this stage can be up to a ½ day exercise where EFL will review your policy or function and determine what type of information is required to successfully carry out the EIA. The output from Part 1 will include providing you with details of what information is required; and ideas on how to obtain it.
Part 2 – Screening.
This is a 1-day workshop that will take you through the process of conducting a screening exercise. Live policies or functions will be screened using the information obtained from Part 1. Included in Part 2 is the paper or electronic completion an EIA template (If the organisation already has a template, theirs will be used, alternatively, one can be provided by EFL). The output from this section will be a determination on whether the assessment will end at the screening stage or progress to a full EIA.
Part 3 – Full Impact Assessments
Part 3 provides detailed instructions on how to conduct a full EIA. It provides useful tips on conducting a deeper analysis of the data you have collected; developing a strategy for conducting consultation exercises; and developing a monitoring discipline. Due the nature of Full EIA’s, the level of EFL’s involvement will depend on how much support is needed by the organisation.
Back