Sustainable Development Policy Planning Training Course

Participants can align a policy issue with national priorities and relevant SDG commitments.

• National development plans translated into sectoral policy objectives
• SDG target selection using materiality, mandate and policy influence
• Localising global targets through national baselines and administrative realities
• Alignment matrices connecting policy objectives, SDG targets and indicators
• Voluntary National Review evidence requirements and institutional reporting roles
• Reconciling international commitments with legally binding national policy instruments

Participants can produce an evidence-based problem definition for a sustainable development policy issue.

• Problem trees separating root causes, symptoms and institutional failures
• Systems maps showing feedback loops, dependencies and unintended consequences
• Baseline analysis using administrative data, surveys and geospatial evidence
• Disaggregating impacts by gender, income, location, age and disability
• Causal assumptions tested against available evidence and local knowledge
• Policy problem statements specifying affected groups, scale and urgency

Participants can analyse interdependencies among natural resources, infrastructure and social outcomes.

• Water-energy-food nexus analysis for competing public resource demands
• Land-use choices linked to biodiversity, livelihoods and infrastructure needs
• Material flow analysis for municipal waste and circular economy policies
• Ecosystem services valuation informing land and watershed policy choices
• Infrastructure service chains from inputs through household-level outcomes
• Cross-sector dependency maps identifying coordination and sequencing requirements

Participants can identify policy synergies, conflicts and mitigation measures before implementation.

• SDG interaction matrices scoring reinforcing, neutral and constraining relationships
• Trade-off analysis between affordability, access, resilience and environmental protection
• Policy coherence screening across legislation, strategies, budgets and regulations
• Temporal trade-offs between short-term costs and long-term public benefits
• Distributional incidence analysis for taxes, subsidies, tariffs and service reforms
• Mitigation measures addressing adverse impacts on vulnerable population groups

Participants can plan inclusive, purposeful stakeholder engagement for policy design and delivery.

• Stakeholder segmentation by influence, exposure, interests and contribution capacity
• Participation spectrum from information disclosure to shared decision-making
• Consultation plans defining purpose, participants, methods and feedback loops
• Free, prior and informed consent considerations for indigenous communities
• Grievance redress mechanisms linked to policy implementation arrangements
• Documenting consultation evidence for cabinet submissions and public accountability

Participants can appraise policy evidence and state its limits for decision-makers.

• Evidence hierarchies for administrative data, evaluations, research and lived experience
• Data quality checks covering completeness, timeliness, comparability and disaggregation
• Rapid literature reviews structured around policy questions and decision criteria
• Cost-benefit analysis assumptions, discount rates and non-market valuation limits
• Multi-criteria decision analysis for options with non-monetary outcomes
• Evidence briefs distinguishing findings, assumptions, uncertainties and recommendations

Participants can construct a theory of change for a selected sustainable development policy.

• Theory of Change pathways from policy actions to intended outcomes
• Results chains distinguishing inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts
• Assumption mapping for behavioural, institutional and market responses
• Preconditions identified through backward mapping from long-term outcomes
• Causal pathways tested against stakeholder evidence and implementation capacity
• Outcome statements written with populations, changes and measurable conditions

Participants can select policy instruments suited to the problem, institutional context and objectives.

• Regulatory instruments including standards, permits, bans and compliance requirements
• Economic instruments: taxes, subsidies, fees, deposits and tradable permits
• Public service instruments for infrastructure, outreach and targeted support
• Information instruments using disclosure, labelling, advisories and behavioural prompts
• Policy mixes assessed for administrative burden, enforceability and equity
• Instrument selection criteria covering effectiveness, cost, legitimacy and political feasibility

Participants can incorporate environmental and social considerations during policy formulation.

• Strategic Environmental Assessment stages for policies, plans and programmes
• Scoping significant environmental effects and reasonable policy alternatives
• Cumulative impact analysis for multiple projects and resource pressures
• Climate risk screening using hazards, exposure, vulnerability and adaptive capacity
• Social impact assessment covering displacement, livelihoods, safety and inclusion
• Mitigation hierarchies: avoid, minimise, restore and compensate adverse effects

Participants can integrate equity and just transition considerations into policy design.

• Equity analysis identifying who benefits, pays, participates and bears risks
• Gender-responsive policy design using sex-disaggregated data and consultation findings
• Poverty and social impact analysis for major policy reforms
• Just transition principles for workers, communities and affected enterprises
• Targeting mechanisms for subsidies, transfers and essential public services
• Accessibility requirements for persons with disabilities in public programmes

Participants can define governance arrangements that support coordinated policy implementation.

• RACI matrices assigning responsible, accountable, consulted and informed parties
• Interministerial committee terms of reference, decision rights and escalation routes
• Vertical coordination between national, regional and municipal authorities
• Regulatory governance roles for independent agencies and sector regulators
• Data-sharing protocols addressing ownership, confidentiality, quality and access
• Partnership arrangements with civil society, academia and private providers

Participants can estimate policy costs and identify feasible public financing arrangements.

• Costing policy actions through unit costs, quantities and implementation phasing
• Capital and recurrent expenditure separated within medium-term budget estimates
• Fiscal space analysis using revenue, expenditure, debt and commitment constraints
• Public investment appraisal for infrastructure and climate-resilient assets
• Financing options: budget allocations, earmarked revenues, grants and concessional finance
• Financial sustainability tests for operations, maintenance and replacement costs

Participants can prepare sequenced implementation roadmaps with realistic delivery controls.

• Implementation roadmaps linking actions, owners, milestones and dependencies
• Critical path analysis for legislative, procurement and infrastructure activities
• Readiness assessments covering authority, capability, systems and financing
• Procurement planning for goods, works, consulting and service contracts
• Change management plans addressing incentives, communication and capability gaps
• Service-delivery standards specifying access, quality, timeliness and grievance channels

Participants can identify delivery risks and design proportionate mitigation and contingency actions.

• Risk registers recording causes, events, consequences, owners and treatments
• Likelihood-impact scoring with inherent and residual risk ratings
• Scenario planning for fiscal shocks, climate events and political changes
• Sensitivity analysis testing assumptions behind costs, uptake and outcomes
• Contingency triggers linked to monitoring thresholds and decision authority
• Anti-corruption controls for subsidies, permits, procurement and benefit targeting

Participants can design monitoring and evaluation arrangements for policy performance and learning.

• Results frameworks linking indicators to outputs, outcomes and policy objectives
• SMART indicators with definitions, disaggregation, sources and collection frequency
• Indicator reference sheets specifying calculation methods and data responsibilities
• Baselines, targets and milestones calibrated to implementation and resource constraints
• Evaluation questions using relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency and impact criteria
• Learning loops connecting monitoring findings to policy adjustment decisions

Participants can establish reporting arrangements that support accountability and policy adjustment.

• Data governance frameworks assigning stewardship, quality assurance and access rights
• Administrative data integration across ministries, municipalities and delivery agencies
• Open data publication balanced against privacy, security and confidentiality obligations
• Performance dashboards designed for executives, implementers and public audiences
• Annual reporting cycles aligned with budget, planning and parliamentary processes
• Data quality audits identifying errors, gaps, duplication and reporting delays

Participants can prepare decision-ready policy communications for senior officials and stakeholders.

• Cabinet memoranda structuring problem, options, implications and requested decisions
• Policy briefs presenting evidence, trade-offs, costs and implementation recommendations
• Option appraisal tables comparing effectiveness, equity, cost and feasibility
• Risk communication addressing uncertainty, public concerns and misinformation
• Data visualisation principles for maps, trend charts and distributional findings
• Briefing presentations tailored to ministers, technical committees and community representatives

Participants can integrate planning components into a coherent draft sustainable development policy package.

• Problem statement refined using evidence, systems mapping and stakeholder perspectives
• SDG alignment matrix completed for selected targets and national priorities
• Theory of Change connected to instruments, assumptions and expected outcomes
• Implementation roadmap populated with actions, owners, milestones and dependencies
• Costing assumptions reconciled with financing sources and budget cycles
• Monitoring framework checked against decision needs and data availability

Participants can build, review and present a complete sustainable development policy plan for senior decision-maker review.

• Assemble policy problem, evidence base and SDG alignment rationale
• Integrate theory of change, policy instruments and equity safeguards
• Complete implementation roadmap, costing model, financing strategy and risk register
• Review coherence between proposed actions, indicators and institutional responsibilities
• Apply peer review criteria to feasibility, clarity, evidence and accountability
• Present policy plan recommendations and respond to decision-maker questions