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the media through whom we reach the public, who can also influence decision-makers. Central to Module
determining who to reach is the concept of relationship management: maintaining the connections and
influence over time. 3

3.2.3 Step 3: Knowledge management

Once you have articulated who will help with achieving the decision you seek, you need to analyse
both what they need to know, and what you need to know that will help them take or influence the

decision. This is the knowledge management process of the assessment. The remainder of the Training Abu Dhabi, UAE
Manual will provide you with the tools you need to gather, analyse and process your information.

You will need to consider how to build trust in your final product, including the data, the analysis
and the recommendations. As outlined in Module 2, participation by your key decision-makers in

the actual process of the assessment ensures saliency and relevancy to your finding (GEA 2005). In
other words, it helps to ensure that the findings are relevant to their needs and will be more likely to
be used. This could include not only leading scientists who ensure the assessment reflects the latest
scientific results, but also others such as indigenous people whose traditional ecological knowledge
can broaden the assessment’s perspective or corporations that may have access to more in-depth

and privileged information. Generally, the constructive collaboration of a wider set of actors may
increase not only the credibility of the IEA but its legitimacy in the eyes of a broader set of social
stakeholders.

3.2.4 Step 4: Opportunity management

Step 4 involves moving that knowledge into the hands of those you want to influence. There are many
tools available to do this: the products to be released, the conferences and workshops to hold, and the
amplifiers, including electronic mailing lists and websites, which get replicated throughout much wider
audiences than may have been targeted.

At the heart of the tactics and strategies that are developed is the creative management of opportunities:
both taking advantage of key windows to move the assessment findings into the hands of others, and
creating opportunity directly.

An important part of this process is the development of “key messages,” a series of short,
simple, plain language statements that capture the essence of the work. There is a real skill in
drafting statements that capture the essence of what you want to say, and expressing it in a way
that is relevant to those you wish to influence and inform. This can be done with end users and
tested in focus groups. The IPCC case study talks about one of the “key messages” from its work.

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 23