Elements for Terms of Reference
for SDNP Feasibility Studies

Scope

The objective of the feasibility study is to design a project for the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP). The output of the feasibility study is an SDNP Project Document. A draft generalized project document and/or examples of completed project documents form part of the terms of reference (separate).

What is the SDNP?

The SDNP is a project of the UNDP and of other collaborators that seeks to enhance the exchange of information for and the participation of key stakeholders in sustainable development. Building capacity for informed decision for sustainable development is the basis of the SDNP.

The SDNP is consistent with Agenda 21, the plan of action for sustainable development agreed by the international community on the occasion of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

The SDNP promotes the use of computer mediated communications (CMC), and of the Internet especially and of related information and communications technologies. These tools are used to enhance collaboration among key stakeholders for sustainable human development.

The SDNP also promotes the use of knowledge management technologies and practices as tools for development. Consultants and UNDP staff responsible for SDNP feasibility studies should be familiar with the principles of SDNP operation and other relevant information about the SDNP.

Feasibility study and SDNP design

SDNP design will depend on local needs and circumstances. Using rapid survey and assessment methods and elements of business planning methodology, key actors are identified and immediately involved, data assembled, markets, policies and perceptions documented and discussed, and options are explored.

A management scenario is proposed for the SDNP operation and modified according to the results of the study. All along, key actors, assembled in an ad hoc group or interim Steering Committee, are involved to provide ongoing input and reality checking and to engage the support of key actors.

Process

The feasibility study is open and undertaken in an equitable fashion. A marketing approach is used to provide an idea of eventual cost recovery. A solution is recommended. The output of the study is a project document which substantiates this solution. The document shows how this solution contributes to better informed decision making and enhanced information exchange among key actors for sustainable development. It describes the activities and information products and services an SDNP operation could eventually provide. It shows why the SDNP is essential to sustainable human / economic development.

During the feasibility study, data elements are acquired to support an SDNP business plan. Much of what the SDNP does is related to the provision of Internet information products and services and the development of capacity to provide these services in the context of sustainable human and economic development.

The SDNP feasibility study will be realized in consultation with the UNDP Resident Representative in situ and with other key development actors, as well as with Mr. Chuck Lankester, the Director, UNDP SDNP, New York.

Details

The study should cover all relevant issues, but in particular should address:

1. To identify, characterize and document the real and potential beneficiaries of networking for sustainable development;

  • Description of key beneficiaries in Government, and others in the public sector; in the private sector, especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) capable of providing SDNP products and services; the education, research and academic community, which may also be the main provider of not for profit Internet services as well as being an important user; local and community groups and local government; NGOs and grass roots organizations; the media and others.

  • To characterize the needs and circumstances of these beneficiaries as it affects decision making for sustainable development;

  • To determine and show how access to information and related information sharing tools and services (especially those available through the Internet and related technologies), can facilitate action for sustainable development;

  • This should include a description of the types of information sought by potential SDNP participants, how they now get their information and from what sources, and how much is spent on communications, data collection and processing.

2. To identify the problems or constraints the SDNP can help overcome and to show how this is so;

  • This includes a description of the issues and trends affecting decision making and the flow of information in the country or jurisdiction concerned;

  • The study will document the state of information flow across sectors of society, the economy, between government agencies, between the government and non-governmental organizations. The role of all sectors of civil society in decision making for sustainable development needs to be explored;

  • This analysis will include an inventory of key knowledge resources, especially those that are in computer readable format, i.e. key databases, datasets, text and images useful to decision makers for sustainable development;

  • Policies, local capacity and especially the availability of human resources capable of meeting the needs of informed decision making and of contemporary information management are part of this study;

  • The availability of unix programmer/operators, system engineers, Internet specialists with TCP/IP expertise, and other related technical capacities (such as ability to use CMC and to operate BBS') needs to be documented;

  • Capacity to use and apply technologies and management practices such as geographic information systems (GIS) used for contemporary environmental management may also be useful;

  • The potential of involving expatriated nationals as a source of expertise in support of the SDNP needs to be documented in this study;

  • Policies on freedom of the press, access to government information and public participation are to be documented;

  • The telecommunications sector and the market for telecommunications services is to be described.

    1. The status of the telecommunications infrastructure is to be evaluated;

    2. The market for telecommunications products and services is to be assessed;

    3. Is there a national monopoly on telecommunications services, are there any joint ventures with international investors?

    4. Are authorities supportive of an open or liberal market for telecommunications services, and especially for Internet services?

    5. Can non governmental operators provide and/or resell telecommunications services? and

    6. What is the outlook for the telecommunications sector.

  • To document the benefits of the SDNP

  • To determine or identify and, where possible, to document opportunities for enhancing and/or strengthening networking for sustainable development.

3. Information Needs and Sources

What are the national priorities for sustainable development? Who are the main actors in promoting sustainable development and the follow up to the Earth Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992? What national or other relevant plans for sustainable development exist, including national plans for Agenda 21, environmental action plans, including Tropical Forestry Action plans and National Conservation Strategies, five year development plans, and other plans. Are there national information policies or national informatics policies?

4. Existing Networks

To understand and to characterize, with site visits, interviews, expert analyses and consultations, inventories and surveys for example, the existing networking environment and the sustainable development context in the country or jurisdiction in question.

This will include documenting the policy environment for sustainable development, access to information, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, freedom of access to information (especially public information and information on the state of the environment), notional information policies and/or strategies, national policies affecting the telecommunications sector (is it a monopoly or is the telecommunications sector open to investors and of so, under what circumstances - joint ventures with % national ownership guaranteed, etc.),

What are the existing networks in the different areas?

Among international networks, the network of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): Infoterra, the global environmental information referral system and other activities of Earthwatch and Development Watch, especially the Environment and Natural Resources Information Networks (ENRIN) need to be determined.

The study needs to consider Internet access and the existing state of connectivity between the country where the feasibility study is being undertaken and the Internet. The study will document all networks and/or Internet service provider (ISPs) and the conditions under which subscribers or users of these services can gain beneficial access to the Internet. This is intended in part to determine what opportunities the SDNP has in the existing market and how it could most usefully contribute to enhanced information exchanges for sustainable development.

5. Potential Long-term sources of Funding

  • To identify possible partners in the private sector, and including NGOs, as well as public sector or other non-profit actors, to carry forward an eventual SDNP with a view to making it self sustaining. This applies especially to the provision of computer networking services, and especially the Internet, for the benefit of actors for sustainable development in the country or jurisdiction in question;

  • The elements of a business plan need to be elaborated to justify the project. A description of the market outlook for the SDNP given the existing level of telecommunications services needs to be documented. The SDNP must quickly become self sustaining. The study will determine the opportunity for cost recovery of an eventual SDNP operation. Where possible, this should include quantifying these opportunities through a preliminary market survey or rapid assessment.

6. Draft Work Programme for the 1st Year of the SDNP

The consultant will develop a draft programme of work for the first year of operation for the SDNP. The following points will also have to be discussed:

Institutional Issues:

    Who will be the host organization? Who will form the steering committee, that will manage and direct the SDNP?

Substantive issues:

  • What are the key objectives for the specific activities of the SDNP? (e.g., Public information, sustainable development education, capacity building, information for policy makers, etc...)

  • What will be the key modes of operation of the SDNP? (e.g., meetings, journals, public hearings, e-mail, on-line data bases, electronic conferencing, etc..) What inputs are need to ensure that these can take place?

  • How can one develop the relationship between the existing governmental and non-governmental networks, both from a substantive, and from technical (e.g., for electronic networks) points of view?

Outputs of the feasibility study

  • A project document or Prodoc with a draft programme of work for the SDNP over the first year of operation, and including a budget. This Prodoc will be submitted to the UNDP Resident Representative and to the Director of the SDNP in New York.

  • A survey of potential beneficiaries / users of the SDNP;

  • Options for hosting the SDNP, along with a recommendation and the rationale for this choice;

  • A list of potential candidates to be invited to compete for the position of SDNP Coordinator and for other staff position. A draft job advertisement is to be proposed by the feasibility study team;

  • An interim Steering Committee will be struck early in the study. Terms of reference for the Steering Committee are available.

Supportive commentary for consultants and others involved in preparing SDNP feasibility studies

The feasibility study is really an effort to do the following and to document the results. From these results, and with a good measure of discussion and brain storming, options for the SDNP are distilled. The importance of identifying and of involving key participants early on cannot be overemphasized. The need for extensive discussion is also important. The quality of the result depends on the extent and openness of these discussions. In some cases, UNDP New York can help this process by involving an experienced staff person, SDNP operator and/or SDNP consultant.

During the feasibility study, the consultants will:

  • Explain the benefits of enhancing collaboration and information exchange using computer mediated communications (CMC), and especially the Internet, and related knowledge management technologies such as computer networking in general (local area networks - LANs) and of other information and communications technologies, as tools for development in general and of sustainable development in particular;

  • Explain the role of the SDNP initiative in helping to realize these benefits;

    • To document the reaction of national interlocutors; and

    • To document opportunities and constraints to the realization of these benefits through an SDNP.

      This information will help to determine the extent of (including approximate level of funding) an initial SDNP operation (initial project design, level of services and funding) in this country or jurisdiction;

  • Explain the benefits of:

    • An open information culture; and

    • Of an open market for the provision of information and communication products and services such as telecommunications products and services as tools for sustainable development; and

      To document the reaction of national interlocutors in order to determine the extent of the SDNP operation and the level of services possible for an eventual SDNP.

Acronyms used

BBS         bulletin board systems
CMC         computer mediated communications
e-mail      electronic mail
ENRIN       Environment and Natural Resources Information
            Networks
GIS         geographic information systems
ISP         Internet service provider
 
Prodoc      Project Document according to the UNDP pro forma
            (latest version available from the office of the UNDP
            Resident Representative)
SDNP        Sustainable Development Networking Programme
SME         small and medium sized enterprises
TCP/IP      
UNCED       United Nations Conference on Environment and
            Development
UNDP        United Nations Development Programme
UNEP        United Nations Environment Programme


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