Module 2: National IEA process design and organization

Module 2 at a Glance

Session 1: Introduction

Session 2: Key Features

Session 3: Stages of the IEA Process

Purpose of Module 2

For a successful integrated environmental assessment at the national level, it is important to:

understand the design and organization of the whole process;

identify the main stages and activities.

This module orientates how the other modules fit into the integrated environmental assessment process.

Objectives Of Module 2

• To understand the main stages of the IEA process.

• To understand the institutional arrangements to be developed for the IEA process.

• Learn to lead an IEA process in an interactive and participatory way.

• To identify the main activities and procedures for preparing IEA reports and promoting their findings.

• To be aware of and able to manage the challenges of running the process while involving the public.

Structure Of Module 2

1. Introduction and objectives2. IEA process features3. The GEO Approach for a National IEA

3.1 Objectives and importance3.2 Basic conditions for initiating an IEA process3.3 General structure of the IEA process3.4 The role of participation in the IEA process3.5 Stages of the IEA process

3.5.1 Start-up3.5.2 Institutional set-up3.5.3 Scoping and design3.5.4 Planning 3.5.5 Implementation3.5.6 Product communication and outreach3.5.7 Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Module 2 Sessions at a Glance

Session 1: Overview

Session 2: Key Features

Session 3: Stages of the IEA Process

Key Features of the IEA Process

Participatory

Multi-disciplinary &Multi-sectorial

Integrated

Multi-product

Institutionalized

Integrated, in the context of GEO includes:

• Linking environmental quality with policy• Incorporating global and sub-global perspectives• Incorporating historical and future perspectives• Covering a broad spectrum of issues and

policies• Looking at dynamic and complex interactions

between the environment and human well-being in place-based contexts

GEO represents the unique combination of:

• A wide range of relevant interests;

• Acquainting a wide audience with policies, data, resources and problems;

• Facilitating policy analysis and a search for solutions to disjuncts between policy and management.

IEA Process Objectives

The IEA process promotes an organized participatory integrated environmental assessment.

Its objectives are:

1. To bring together organizations and people with an interest in IEA that may not have a history of collaboration.

2. To involve the policy-makers in order to secure their support for the process and its key findings.

3. To facilitate the process of interaction based on a common methodology, fostering the dialogue between science and policy.

Basic Conditions For IEA Process

Political Will and a Legal Mandate

Management and technical / scientific capacity to conduct the process, requiring lead institutions that can mobilize stakeholders through the process.

Professionals on environmental issues to lead and enhance the analysis.

Basic Conditions For IEA Process

1. Political Will and a Legal Mandate

• legislation may call for collaboration among government agencies that contribute to the report;

• a common methodology for data collection may be identified among the national authority, private and public organizations and the technical team for data collection;

• the legislation may refer to environmental reports to be produced by a range of public and private organizations;

• legislation may promote exchange of data and harmonization of report initiatives;

• the lead agency’s role in preparing the way for consultations and external participation .

Basic Conditions for IEA Process

Examples of Legal Mandate

• Peru: yearly SOE report required of the National Environment Council; regional and local reports are also required.

• Uganda: SOE report every 2 years; required of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)

• North Korea: SOE every 5 years as per the National Framework of Environmental Database Management for Environment Assessment and Reporting

2. Do you see initiatives in your country that could be strengthened by an IEA process? If so, what are the opportunities for beginning that process?

1. Identify the main organizations that use an integrated approach to lead participatory processes focused on environment-development interactions in your country. Explain briefly the main activities that were/are involved.

Group Discussion: IEA in Your Country

Module 2 at a Glance

Session 1: Overview

Session 2: Key Features

Session 3: Stages of the IEA Process

• Overview of questions addressed in the GEO approach to IEA

• Introduction to the 7 typical stages of the IEA process

• Role of participation• Benefits of the IEA Process• The 7 stages in more detail

The GEO Approach to IEA addresses 5 Questions:

Stages of the GEO-based IEA Process

Stages of the GEO-based IEA Process

Role of Participation

• An IEA requires blending knowledge and perspectives from many different points of view.

• It aims to influence audiences with different interests and information needs.

• It is essential to have the participation of a wide range of actors, either as contributors to the assessment, or as audiences.

• Open and transparent participation is more likely to recognize interests of poor, vulnerable groups and women in formulation of policy responses.

Basic Definition of a Stakeholder

• Whose interests are affected by environmental problems or whose decisions have environmental effects;

• Who have information, resources or expertise required for policy formulation and strategy implementation; and/or

• Who control key mechanisms for policy and strategy formulation and implementation.

Increase effectiveness of participation by…

• Building participation into all relevant stages;

• Ensuring open communication among technical experts to clarify uncertainties and verify assumptions;

• Increasing ownership by involving stakeholders from the beginning in aspects of the process;

• Recognizing participant contributions in outputs;

• Ensuring stakeholder inputs are properly and accurately recorded in meeting minutes.

A GEO-based IEA provides benefits including:

• an opportunity to contribute to, and have access to the assessment database;

• development of analytic skills and capacities, using an integrated approach to environment and development problems; and

• opportunity to contribute to addressing major environment and development issues at the policy level.

• Individually, list the benefits you hope to get from, and the contributions you feel you could make to your national level IEA.

• Form two groups, representing public and private perspectives.

• Discuss the benefits and contributions identified in the first step.

Group Discussion: Benefits of a National-Level IEA

Stage 1: Start-up

STAGE 1: Start-Up

Select the national authority that will lead the process:

• May be initiated by a country request for an IEA process or through GEO or through GEO-related institutional networking.

• UNEP-DEWA responds to the interest of the national environmental authority to begin the IEA process.

• An important stage for identifying political will, responsibility, expected outputs, and the best means for IEA to be an effective policy tool

• Also, identify what institutions need to be involved in the process and who will manage the process

STAGE 1: Start-Up

• Strategically plan for results that are useful to your audiences and identify who your audiences will be

• Potential uses of results include: reliable information for policy making and

environmental management; materials for educational and research activities; identification of new research priorities, development of joint projects.

Key Outputs from Start-Up

1. Conceptual framework• Prepared by the national environmental

authority and the core team• Includes:

general organization methodology the IEA process guidance for implementation an assessment of resources required further fund-raising or identification of in-kind contributions

2. Memorandum of Understanding

Stage 2: Institutional Set-Up and Identification of Stakeholders

STAGE 2: Institutional Set-Up(s)

Typical institutional framework, Latin America and Caribbean

Institutional Arrangements

National government institutions responsible for the environment sector or environmental reporting

Collaborating Centres (CC) of UNEP-DEWA regional offices provide technical assistance on methodology and management

This institutional framework enables spread of methodology regionally and incorporation of improvements through iterative revisions.

Lead Institution

• Lead institution manages and coordinates the process

• That institution must have a legal mandate to prepare an integrated environmental assessment

• The institution may be a:

National agency such as Ministry of Environment or Environment National Council

Private institution (e.g., NGO, university) with support from government

Selecting the Lead Institution

Criteria:

1. Capacity to engage key stakeholders

2. Sufficient capacity to manage the process (i.e., no need to depend on consultants)

3. Acceptable to a wide range of stakeholders

4. Recognized ability to carry out high quality assessment and reporting on time and on budget

Local Technical Team

Criteria for selection:

1. Experience in environmental assessment

2. High public profile and recognized leadership capacity

3. Good relationship with the national environmental authority

4. Capacity to dialogue with different stakeholders

5. Experience in organizing and facilitating workshops

6. Sufficient human resources to dedicate time to a demanding assessment

Types of Technical Teams

Small technical team (3–5 people) One researcher responsible for whole report Team of researchers in charge of many aspects of

the report, from data collection, to analysis, writing and organizing consultations

Extended technical team Small technical team can add experts that have

access to data and information in specific areas

Collaborating Institutions and Other Stakeholders

• Collaborating institutions, also known as primary stakeholders. Their commitments defined at the beginning of the process.

• Secondary stakeholders may include: social and business leaders political party representatives scientific community representatives of private sector and business associations professional schools, associations and academia NGOs media women’s and youth groups indigenous communities civil society religious groups … many others

Collaborating Institutions and other Stakeholders

A successful IEA requires an active relationship with the collaborating institutions. It is important to:

Identify a contact person for the duration of the process

Establish a clear definition of their role and responsibilities

Keep the contact person regularly informed about the IEA progress

Collaborating Centres

Set up by UNEP-DEWA regional offices. Centres help with the IEA process and provide technical assistance on methodology and management

Collaborating centres can: clarify methodological issues in the processProvide technical support to the local team for

preparing workshopsHelp facilitate capacity building and other workshopsReview drafts of products or workplans

Other Example Institutional Frameworks

Typical institutional framework from the Africa region

Other Example Institutional Frameworks

IEA institutional framework in the case of Panama

Developing an Impact Strategy

Why an Impact Strategy? • Increase impact a national IEA process has on policies

Key Steps: 1. Anchor the assessment with a change statement

2. Relationship management

3. Knowledge management

4. Opportunity management

5. Monitor, evaluation and improvement

Steps for Developing an Impact Strategy

Who are the Stakeholders?

Their interests are affected by environmental problems or their decisions have environmental effects

They have information, resources or expertise required for policy formulation and strategy implementation

They control key mechanisms (e.g., funding) for policy formulation and strategies for implementation.

Principles for Engaging Stakeholders

Inclusivity• Include a full range of stakeholders representing different

interests, including marginal and vulnerable groups

Pertinence• Include stakeholders with significant interest in the process

Gender perspective• Both women and men must have equal access to all stages

of the participatory process, the IEA team must respond to the demands from women and men. This allows formulating and implementing better integrated policies and strategies.

Identifying Stakeholders, their Roles and Interests

Keeping Stakeholders Engaged in the Process

Listen and take into account their points of view

Keep them informed of the activities and results of the process

State clear rules for participation and define expectations

Incorporate key stakeholders in the monitoring process

Develop a range of activities to keep close relationships with the stakeholders

• As individuals, identify the main stakeholders in your country that should be included in an integrated environmental assessment process.

a. _____________b. _____________c. _____________

• For each stakeholder, list the main organizations or people that should be included.

Exercise: Identifying Stakeholders

Exercise: Constructing a Stakeholder Map

Objective: To have a shared vision of the stakeholders, their relationship with key environmental issues and their relative importance.

Materials: • White cards (three times the number of participants)• Cards of different colours.

Procedure:1. Write the name of each important stakeholder on a

white card. Stick them on a blackboard.2. Identify the main interest of the suggested stakeholders

related to the key issues of the IEA process.

Exercise: Constructing a Stakeholder Map

3. Group the cards according to the common interests among stakeholders. Each group of interest is replaced by a

coloured card. Each stakeholder name is transferred to the

coloured card along with that person’s main interests.

Exercise: Constructing a Stakeholder Map

4. The coloured cards are arranged in a star-shaped pattern, with each coloured card forming one ray of the star.

The stakeholders are arranged according to its importance to the key environmental issue that is the centre of the star.

The most important stakeholders are close to the centre.

Stage 3: Scoping and Design

Stage 3: Scope and Design

Main objectives:

• Define geographic boundaries of the report

• Agree on methodology for the assessment, and clarify any methodological issues

• Establish the structure of the main IEA report, considering the priority environmental issues

• Determine target audiences

• Define an impact strategy

• Determine the main elements of a communications and outreach strategy

Designing the IEA Process

An interactive and flexible process enables learning by doing

Past national IEA reports are useful resources

Preparatory and on-going meetings of the technical team help with planning and keep momentum going

Report Structure

Individually, consider:

• Why you think it is important for your country to be involved in a national level IEA?

• What you would hope to see as a result of that involvement?

• What constraints you might face?

Exercise: Identify Challenges and Strategies for a National IEA

• In groups of 3, identify 3 strategies you might pursue to overcome those constraints.

Exercise: Identify Challenges and Strategies for a National IEA

Stage 4: Planning

STAGE 4: PlanningSeveral outcomes to be achieved from planning:

• To share and make sure participants of the process understand the IEA methodology

• To have a timetable and well- defined results at each stage;

• To identify the requirements of human, financial and infrastructure resources and how to overcome any shortfalls in these;

• To have adequate coordination mechanisms with the process stakeholders;

• To establish adequate mechanisms of coordination with the UNEP-DEWA team and collaborating centres, if available;

• To review and adjust the impact strategy and define measures of impact;

• To develop a communication and outreach strategy; and

• To establish a monitoring and evaluation system.

Example: Process Timetable

Example: Budget Structure

In groups of 3,

1. Summarize the characteristics of the planning process for integrated environmental assessment in your countries.

2. Draw a flow chart that expresses the items in common among your countries.

Share results in plenary.

Exercise: Applying the Scoping Steps

Stage 5: Implementation

STAGE 5: Implementation

There are three main components of the implementation stage:

1. identification of environmental problems, indicators and sources of data

2. data collection, analysis and writing

3. translation and publication

…we will elaborate on the first two stages.

1. Identification of environmental problems, indicators and sources of data

Integrated analysis of environmental trends and policies(see Module 5)

Indicators: number and type may vary (see Module 4: Data and indicators)

Sources of data and information: relying on secondary sources (see Module 4: Data and indicators)

First workshop: 1 or 2 days

Technical teamshould work thesetopics in advance

2. Data collection, analysis and writing

Collecting information (see Module 4: Data and indicators)

Processing, analysis (Module 5) and writing (Module 7) Explaining the economic, social, political

and institutional context Defining economic, social and institutional

pressures Assessing state and trends of the national

environment (SoE) Analyzing the impact of the SoE Assessing the responses of government

and society Identifying emerging issues and scenarios Producing conclusions and

recommendations(chapters of the National IEA Report)

Ad hoc meetings

Validation(2nd workshop)

• As individuals, summarize the data collection strategy you would use in your country, and tabulate any problems you think you might encounter.

• In groups of three, discuss common problems and suggest tentative solutions.

• In plenary, discuss ways the IEA focus on data could improve data collection processes.

Group Exercise: Strategies for Data Collection

Stage 6: Communication & Outreach

STAGE 6: Product Communication and Outreach

Make your messages understandable to your audiences

…avoid jargon and use graphics to illustrate

Make information relevant to your audiences…seek first to understand audience

perspectives

Shape the delivery system for the audience …tailor length of report according to audience

For more details, see Module 7.

Communication Options

• Classic methods, largely oriented to print – reports, synopsis report, bulletins, articles,

newsletters

• Radio and TV – interviews, pre-recorded messages

• Internet-based reporting – put report on line in various formats, interactive

reports, active systems based on electronic bulletins by e-mail

Stage 7: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

STAGE 7: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

Evaluation of Process• were expected results accomplished in each stage?

Evaluation of Impact• was the analysis relevant, legitimate and credible? • what were the impacts of IEA outputs on policy-

makers, policy and environmental trends?

Recommend and make improvements for the next IEA process.

For more details, see Module 8.

In groups of 5–7, discuss the following questions:

1. Why is it important to evaluate National IEA processes?

2. Which measures will be good to keep track of the process?

3. Which mechanisms could be implemented to promote continuity and continuous improvement of the IEA reporting processes?

Report group discussion results in plenary.

Discussion: Evaluation and Learning