Mersal is a digital platform designed to enable large-scale public consultations among Sudanese communities inside the country and across the diaspora, with over 9,000 subscribers. It operates through a WhatsApp chatbot, allowing participation in a context marked by limited connectivity. For this consultation, the platform used a combination of the chatbot and the Pol.is platform. Pol.is is a deliberative tool that allows participants to vote on statements and submit their own contributions. Rather than selecting predefined options, participants engage by agreeing or disagreeing with a range of statements, which are then grouped to identify areas of consensus and divergence across the discussion. This approach makes it possible to capture both shared priorities and points of disagreement at scale.

This consultation is based on voluntary participation and is not statistically representative of the Sudanese population. Participation was shaped by access to mobile connectivity and awareness of the platform, which may exclude some groups. This consultation is not intended to replace in-person dialogue processes; rather, it is designed to complement them by broadening participation and incorporating perspectives that may otherwise remain underrepresented.