Action Plan Skills Building:Action Plan Skills Building:Module 2Module 2

Defining Action Plan Purpose and ScopeDefining Action Plan Purpose and Scope

January 2013

2

Module 3: Planning the Details

Module 4: Implementing and

Evaluating

Module 1: Getting Started

Module 2: Defining Purpose

and Scope

Action Plan Skills Building Workshop

3Outline

Developing the “foundation” of the Action Plan:

Establishing the problem statement and goal

Conducting a situation analysis

Conducting a gap analysis

Setting objectives and indicators

Establishing the Problem Statement 4

Brief description of the specific problem

Include enough contextual detail

Outlines the need for the action plan

Based on, for example:

Decisions at the international level

Accidents

Significant hazards

Gaps in chemicals management

Establishing the Goal 5

Goal builds on the problem statement:

Concise statement

Describes the action plan’s purpose

Must be realistic and not too ambitious

Problem statement

Goal

Conducting a Situation Analysis: Purpose

Obtain insight and guidance on challenges & opportunities

Identify relevant existing structures

Reveal potential overlap

Analyse existing problems and scope

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Conducting a Situation Analysis: Structure & Information Sources

Key steps: 1. Information collection2. Information analysis

Information sources:

National Chemicals Management Profile

National SAICM Capacity Assessment

Literature reviews

Personal communications

Inventories

Site visits

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To provide some direction for the situation analysis, identify what sorts of information will need to be collected

Dissect the goal at a general level

Consider relevancy of:

Legal and administrative issues

Monitoring and reporting practices

Regulations

Operational issues

This will also later help in conducting the gap analysis

8Conducting a Situation Analysis: Tool

9Basic Situation Analysis Questions

Relevant existing legal instruments, policies, and/or non-regulatory mechanisms?

Relevant ministries, agencies, and other governmental institutions?

Relevant industry, public interest groups, and bodies in the research sector?

Relevant existing technical infrastructure (including data access and use)?

Level of awareness, understanding, and competence of government, workers, and the public concerning the AP issue?

Human and financial resources (possibly having only a preliminary understanding at this stage) available for AP implementation?

Based on the results of the situation analysis

Identify where current situation does not meet the established goal and related possible requirements

Question: “What is missing?”

May identify gaps in:

Legislation

Enforcement

Analytical capacity

Material

Human resources

Organisational issues

10Conducting a Gap Analysis

Having now developed a more complete picture, it

may be desirable to modify the goal to more

accurately reflect the current situation

Setting Objectives

Explicitly state, at a finer level of detail, what the AP aims to achieve

Direction for setting objectives suggested by situation and gap analysis

Objectives can be met at the end of a project or along the way

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Problem statement

ObjectiveObjectiveObjective

Goal

Setting SMART objectives

Well-developed objectives are “SMART” objectives: Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Time-dependant

An example of an unrealistic objective is: “To install a functional metals analysis lab within one year for under 10,000 USD”

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To strengthen capacity for information collection on PCBs in the country by 2012

To strengthen the legal framework on PCBs in use and PCBs waste by 2014

To establish an ongoing programme to replace PCBs transformers by 2015

13Setting SMART objectives: Examples

Defining Indicators

How will we know if we are achieving or have achieved this objective?

The success of the AP can be measured by the degree to which its objectives were achieved

Define indicators to evaluate if objectives were met

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Defining Indicators: Examples

Objective: To strengthen capacity for information collection on PCBs in the country by 2012

Possible indicator: Number of entries in the PCB inventory database

To establish an ongoing programme to replace PCBs transformers by 2015

Number of transformers containing PCBs in use (decrease) each year after 2010

To successfully train lab staff by 2013

(Decreased) response time for laboratory analysis

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Basic possible characteristics of indicators

Quality: measure the kind (or nature) of the change

Quantity: measure the scope (or extent) of the change – e.g. by how much? how many?

Timing: measure by when the change should have taken place

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Situation and gap analysis identified the country’s current situation – the baseline

It will later be possible to look at each indicator and compare the relevant information collected at the start of the AP and following its completion

17Defining Indicators (cont.)

Summary

Establishing the problem statement and goal

Conducting a situation and gap analysis

Setting objectives and indicators

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Thank youThank youChemicals and Waste Management

ProgrammeUnited Nations Institute for Training

and Research (UNITAR)Palais des Nations1211 Geneva 10

Tel: +41 22 917 1234Fax: +41 22 917 8047Email: cwm@unitar.org