Division Of Early Warning And Assessment MODULE 6: PRERARING FOR THE ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING PROCESS

Division Of Early Warning And AssessmentOverview This module outlines on how to prepare for the assessment and reporting process. It shows:  How to prepare for the assessment process as a project  How to outline the stages of the assessment  How to organize tasks by institutions, and  How to communicate the message on environmental assessment effectively

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Introduction  Careful and complete planning of the whole process from conceptualization to production is essential before starting any activity  Some activities may be modified later, include those that seem most feasible at the time of the plan.  Include in the plan a strategy to communicate your activities to the public and to show them how they will gain  Learn from existing best practices

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Outline the SOE report as a project How AEO-2 was planned as a project:  All key players were identified  Responsibility of each player was clarified  Major outputs of the project were outlined

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Clearly state all stages  Draw out all stages of the activity, clearly defining their sequence and how each one of them adds to the progress of the project  Make sure all direct participants clearly understand the sequence of activities and know what their role is, if any, at every stage throughout the whole process  May need to draw several supplementary flow charts for different groups to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment An example of the stages (Rump 1966)

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Assign responsibility for each stage of the report  For each stage, state the tasks involved, the organization to carry out each task, and the expected output, e.g. AEO identified 10 tasks.  May be difficult to stick to the original schedule till the end but it is still useful to let participants know what is expected

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Consecutive tasks, responsibilities, and results outline for AEO-2 Task 1: Engage CC’s Task10: Printing and distribution UNEP-DEWA Africa Draft agreements with CC’s UNEP-DEWA AfricaFinished Report

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Communicate SOE message widely  Communicating the message requires special attention especially at the national and sub-national levels where detailed information is required from stakeholders  Should be part of the original plan not an afterthought during the progress of activities  Reach a very broad audience including non- scientists and non-specialists

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment  Study the beliefs, lifestyles, available time to absorb the message, etc., of each group addressed and decide on the most effective mode of communication  Modify and improve your message to make it more effective as you know more about each group during the time of message delivery  Continue to deliver and modify messages over time Communicate SOE… (cont’d)

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment SOE message should be:  Relevant and desirable to each specific audience, pointing out what the group stands to gain by participating  Understandable by the particular audience

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment  Delivered by a very wide system to cover all groups of society. Consider the following media and select what is most appropriate for particular groups:  Periodic reports on critical issues  Bulletins on new developments  Articles by in-house experts or by professional writers  Newsletters  Radio and television  Internet-based reporting  Other alternatives:  Posters  Picture books  Songs  Dialogues  Street theatre SOE message… (cont’d)

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Real Life example from South Africa  SA developed capacity for producing SOE reports at national, provincial, and city level since 1990s  The National Environmental Management Act provided the legal mandate  In preparation for the assessment, wide consultation took place with input from over 200 stakeholders and comments from the public

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment  Consensus on the issues was agreed upon by a wide range of stakeholders and specialists in natural resources, and social, economic and political environments.  Information on each of the issues was gathered and interpreted by specialists in the relevant fields.  The framework was developed through a series of expert workshops and general review Real Life example… (cont’d)

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Process of preparing South Africa’s national SOE Report

Division Of Early Warning And Assessment Development of the 2005 report  Project initiated by conducting comprehensive national planning sessions. Issues reported in the 1999 report were reviewed to determine their currency and to see if new issues have emerged  Empowerment of historically disadvantaged individuals in environmental assessment and reporting was given important focus by including these groups in project management and coordination. This helps to ensure skill transfer