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Module strengthens their relevance, legitimacy and comprehensibility, but also the likelihood of their actual use
4 in decision making.

The process of identifying issues for an IEA is discussed in Module 2. Briefly, a larger number of issues
may come up during a stakeholder process. You might find it useful to use a set of criteria to narrow
down the issues, using criteria such as the following:
9-12 December, 2013 ? ? ? Irreversibility
Urgency and immediate impact
?

Effects on human health

Effects on economic productivity

Loss of aesthetic values
? ? Number of people affected
? Impacts on cultural and historical heritages

Similar to the process of identifying and selecting key issues, obtaining and analysing data, developing

indicators and indices involves making decisions about what to measure and include. Due to constraints
in resources, not everything that we want to measure or analyze can be included in the assessment
process. It is also inefficient to have so much information that the resulting analysis is too complex for
anyone to use effectively. A participatory approach may help you narrow down the list of indicators
by ensuring that the the ones selected are relevant, reliable and understandable. A participatory
approach also engages people in the process, which can lead to shared responsibility for the state of
our environment and society, leading to greater possibility for change. As outlined in Module 2, when

developing a participatory approach, it is useful for us to consider who needs to be involved, and when
and how to include them. Experts, stakeholders and policy-makers are general categories of critical
actors in the process.

BOX 2 Attributes of stakeholders and experts

Stakeholders are individuals or groups that include governmental, non-governmental
institutions, communities, universities and research institutions, development agencies and
banks, donors and the business community. Stakeholders are presumed to have an interest
in or have the potential to be impacted by a project, and therefore have a stake that may be

14 Monitoring, Data and Indicators