The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide - Democrats Against UN ...

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The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide simple weighting system for ranking different issues. Experience shows that priorities ultimately will be ranked on the basis of both the available quantitative information and the qualitative views, values, and perceptions of a community. Therefore, a successful priority-setting process will, to a large extent, depend on the provision of effective forums for stakeholder discussion and consensus building. Deciding on Goals, Targets, and Triggers Establishing a consensus to achieve specific targets and triggers can be a difficult and sometimes controversial process. It therefore needs to be very clearly defined how targets will be decided by the participants in the process. The ability of the action planning process to establish clear targets will require that: • clear information is available about the nature and extent of a problem or need; • viable and acceptable action options have been identified to address the problem or need; and • the costs of implementing different options are known. The design of the action-planning process should assure that the above information is available in a user-friendly form before the negotiation of targets begins. Selection of Methods and Tools for Action Planning The Glossary of Methods and Tools provided in this guide presents a variety of participatory approaches and methods that can be used to define action goals and priorities, develop action options, and negotiate consensus on targets. 4.2.2 REVIEW OF THE COMMUNITY VISION AND FINDINGS FROM COMMUNITY-BASED ISSUE ANALYSIS The community-wide review of findings from issue analysis should be seen as an educational process aimed at building stakeholder understanding and confidence that they can affect complex problems through their own actions. The review process will provide people with an opportunity to collectively reflect on technical information and engage in critical thinking, heightening their capacity and motivation to act. It will provide further opportunities for community-based groups to contribute their views and indigenous solutions as action options, thereby allowing them to buy into the process. Such a review already may have been implemented at the final stages of a community-based issue analysis process. Technical information will need to be prepared in forms appropriate for dissemination to different communities and community groups. Stakeholder and community group meetings will need to be organized to synthesize existing community knowledge and opinion with the findings of the issue analysis process. These meetings should also be used to review the Community Vision that was first prepared by the Stakeholder Group to guide the planning process. Does this Vision still reflect the issues and conditions that were clarified during issue analysis? If necessary, the Vision should be revised by the Stakeholder Group to reflect changed understandings. A community-wide review of the findings from issue analysis can build stakeholder confidence that can affect complex problems through their own actions. http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (86 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
The Local Agenda 21 Planning Guide 4.2.3 ESTABLISH STRATEGIC ACTION GOALS The revised Vision can be used as a starting point for the establishment of Action Plan goals. The specific values and principles embodied in the Vision can be applied to relevant issue areas, such as employment or air pollution control, in order to establish a specific goal for each issue area. These goals should show how the stakeholders intend to achieve the Community Vision. The goals must be practical and achievable, but they also must be sufficient to ultimately achieve, over time, the Community Vision. Fulfilling these two conditions may require that a priority-setting exercise be used to give immediate priority to the achievement of some goals, leaving other goals to be implemented only after progress has been made with the priority goals. This approach recognizes that sufficient resources may not be available in the community to achieve all goals simultaneously. Nevertheless, while in the short term it focuses resources on the priority goals, it ensures that the Action Plan still addresses the other longer-term goals that are essential to the ultimate achievement of the Community Vision. Under this approach, future evaluations of Action Plan implementation are used to determine whether sufficient progress has been achieved with a priority goal to permit resources to be redirected to a secondary goal, or whether the community itself has changed its priorities. Force field analysis is a priority setting method that is specifically designed to help stakeholders to identify which goals should be given immediate priority. The method guides stakeholders to identify the facilitating and the hindering conditions that are present to achieve each goal. In this way, it encourages actors to implement in those areas goals where present conditions will facilitate immediate success and to work, in the meantime, to reduce the hindering conditions that would undermine progress in other action goals. A full description of the force field analysis method can be found in Appendix 4. While in the short term, resources may be focused on priority goals, the Action Plan must address long-term goals that are essential to the ultimate achievement of the Community Vision. 4.2.4 SET TARGETS AND TRIGGERS Once goals are agreed upon, it is vital that concrete targets be developed and agreed upon for each goal. A target is a measurable commitment to be realized within a specific time frame. Targets are the core of any strategic Action Plan. They focus resources and guide the selection of action options. They also are used to measure progress in implementing the Action Plan and to evaluate the Action Plan during future Action Plan reviews. Because targets imply very concrete actions and behavior changes by different stakeholders, they are the product of negotiation. Some questions that a Stakeholder Group may wish to discuss during this negotiation are: • Is the target level of achievement sufficient to meet immediate, priority needs? Is the target level sufficient to achieve, over time, the ultimate strategic goal? • Can the target be achieved? What measures would need to be taken? Are the responsible stakeholders willing to take these measures, or are we willing to convince them to take these measures? • Would we be willing to settle for a lower level of achievement than is set in the target? What level? • Can performance relative to the target be objectively measured? A target is a measurable commitment to be realized within a specific time frame. A trigger is a commitment to take specified actions at a future date. Figure 15 presents the policy goals and the related targets established under the Sustainable City Program of Santa Monica, USA. Under this Program, the city’s Task Force on the Environment worked with municipal departments and local organizations to develop measurable targets for FIGURE 15 THE SANTA MONICA SUSTAINABLE CITY PROGRAM Goals, Targets, and Indicators In 1994, the Santa Monica Task Force on the Environment developed a Sustainable City Program in partnership with the City of Santa Monica Environmental Programs Division. The Program’s strategy has four policy areas, each with clear goals that reflect the city’s current and future programs. Specific targets have been established for each goal. The target year is 2000 and the base line year is 1 990. In order to measure performance, an indicator has been established for each target. The goals, targets, and indicators for two of the four policy areas are presented below. http://www.idrc.ca/openebooks/448-2/ (87 of 180)18/10/2010 12:47:23 AM
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