Planning
DOES THE PLAN CONTAIN ALL THE ELEMENTS OF A 'GOOD' PLAN?
Common Assumptions
Teams that invest time and money in the use of the Conservation Standards, create better plans.
Improved stakeholder input and inclusivity leads to improved conservation planning and practice.
Priority Indicators
Presence of each of the elements of a 'good' situation analysis
Use binary (presence / absence) or categorical data (e.g. B06 in the CS Scorecard) to assess the situation analysis. For more information on the key attributes of a good situation analysis, see the CCNet Situation Analysis Key Points presentation.
Presence and rating score of each of the elements of a ‘good’ strategic plan.
Use the Conservation Standards Scorecard to assess how well the project is demonstrating best practice in planning design as laid out in the Conservation Standards (or equivalent frameworks, such as The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC’s) Conservation by Design 2.0).
Degree of stakeholder input into the strategic plan
Survey relevant stakeholders to assess the quality and impact of stakeholder engagement. Survey relevant stakeholders to understand: a.) feelings of inclusion and opportunities to be heard b.) acceptance of the desired output (e.g. Situation Model, threat ranking) as a reliable means of summarizing the evidence c.) faith in the evidence d.) trust in the planning team. See Haddaway et al. 2017 for more details. Disaggregate data by the stakeholder type and the proportional representation of each identified stakeholder group.
List of Indicators
Understanding of the situation
Presence of each of the elements of a 'good' situation analysis:
Presence of a clearly-defined stakeholder analysis
Presence of a project purpose and vision that has been clearly articulated
Presence of a clearly articulated project scope
Presence of conservation & (when necessary) human wellbeing targets that have been well-justified, mapped and described
Presence of direct threats that have been described and rated (or ranked)
Presence of a shared Situation Model / Situation Analysis informed by documented evidence that captures relationships among targets, threats, drivers, opportunities & key stakeholders
Indicators pertaining to a measure of the elements of a “good” strategic plan can be collected as: binary data (e.g. presence or absence), OR categorical data using a tool such as the Conservation Audit Tool or the Conservation Standards Scorecard.
NOTE 1: SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-orientated, Time-limited.
NOTE 2: The stakeholder analysis must identify key actors and relationship to indirect threats or drivers and opportunities. Analysis should contain some assessment of level of "influence/interest"
Plan development
Presence of each of the elements of a 'good' conservation plan:
Presence of strategies that have been selected through a robust process and meet the criteria of being linked to threats, factors, and/or targets, focused, feasible, appropriate
Use of a theory of change (elaborating assumptions, the expected intermediate and ultimate results, and identifying actions)
Presence of SMART goals and objectives defined using a standard criteria and linked to a theory of change
Presence of a detailed monitoring, evaluation & learning (MEL) plan, including information needs, audiences, indicators, methods, responsible parties, and frequencies
Presence of an operational plan, which includes funding & capacity needs, sustainability and/or exit plans and risk assessments that are built into strategies and high-level work plans
Indicators pertaining to a measure of the elements of a “good” strategic plan can be collected as: binary data (e.g. presence or absence), OR categorical data using a tool such as the Conservation Audit Tool or the Conservation Standards Scorecard. NOTE: SMART = Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Results-orientated, Time-limited
Stakeholder input & support
Degree of stakeholder input into the strategic plan
Change in the quality, communication & impact of stakeholder engagement during plan development. Map and prioritize stakeholders against two criteria: their level of interest in the project, and their degree of influence over the project. Survey stakeholders to assess the quality and impact of stakeholder engagement. Survey stakeholders to understand: a.) feelings of inclusion and opportunities to be heard b.) acceptance of the desired output (e.g. Situation Model, threat ranking) as a reliable means of summarizing the evidence c.) faith in the evidence d.) trust in the planning team. See Haddaway et al. 2017 for more details. Disaggregate data by the stakeholder type (See Fig 1.) and the proportional representation of each identified stakeholder group
Presence of a stakeholder engagement plan
The stakeholder analysis will provide a guide for this indicator. Level of interest and any resulting roles of stakeholders/partners should indicate level of support and needs to be monitored. Details and methods could be simplified with a generic "ranking" tool eg., awareness, engagement, commitments, implmentation.
Level of stakeholder support for the strategic plan
{include details and methods}
Time
Amount of time spent creating the strategic plan
What are the key elements of planning that either facilitate or hinder an efficient time allocation.
Financial investment
Amount of money invested in developing the strategic plan
Methods & Details
Tools and Resources
The purpose of this tool is to allow teams to easily track not only whether they have all the elements of a good strategic plan, but also elements of implementation efficiency, project support, and the delivery of outcomes and impact.
