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Reading and exercises to be done by the participants prior to the workshop: Module

? Case studies (National WSSD Reports, and SoEs). 3

? Two to three relevant articles on impact, influence, communications processes
? Research the political context for their assessment: why has it been mandated? Who supports it in
their government? Who doesn’t?

? Count the number of stories in their newspaper over a week related to environment, health, and
development.
? Find sources of public opinion polling data in their country.

? Find relevant data and resources on stakeholders and NGOs role and involvement in assessment
processes in their countries. 9-12 December, 2013 - Abu Dhabi, UAE

2 Understanding Impact

In this section you will learn:

? Why it is important to have an impact strategy,

? How to understand the external environment (context) for an assessment,

? How to recognize an issue cycle [using media, polling data]

2.1 What is an impact strategy?

An impact strategy consists of the steps you take to ensure that the work you do will leverage real
progress on key issues or concerns. It is proactive in nature, and adaptive in a public policy environment
where priorities of governments and citizens can shift and change.

2.2 When do you prepare an impact strategy and who is responsible for it?

An impact strategy should be prepared by the management team once you have initiated the process
for an Integrated Environmental Assessment. It is part of the “institutional setup” for an assessment
process of a GEO-style IEA (See Module 2). It should be initiated at the “Scoping and Design” stage,

implemented, regularly monitored, assessed and improved. The management team, for the IEA process
should be responsible for:

? Developing the impact strategy, or ensuring that an impact strategy is developed;

? Implementing the impact strategy; and
? Monitoring performance on the strategy to ensure that it is achieving the anticipated results and
modifying or adjusting it, if necessary.

IEA Training Manual Workshop for the National Reporting Toolkit (NRT) 7