National Planning Process Research Articles

Advancing equitable value chains for the global hydrogen economy

Hydrogen is a rapidly growing focus for countries seeking to develop green industries, but there are many questions about how the nascent global hydrogen economy will develop, and what this implies for equitable sharing of benefits and burdens between nations. In this perspective we summarize emerging trends in national hydrogen strategies and develop recommendations for researchers and policymakers to center equity in hydrogen development. This will require integrating innovation and development perspectives on international technology transfer, developing more detailed representation of hydrogen trade in systems models, building equity considerations into national and international planning processes, and establishing robust technology transfer efforts. Policymakers will also need to grapple with the difficulties of verifying life cycle emissions of hydrogen if hydrogen trade emerges as a significant trend, potentially requiring new methods of emissions accounting and trade reforms that prioritize international equity.

S10-3 Research on policy audits for promoting physical activity at the local level in Japan

Abstract Purpose Increasing levels of health-enhancing physical activity (HEPA) requires a comprehensive policy framework across all political levels. At the local level, Japan has a two-tier system of government: prefectures and municipalities. We developed specific tools to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the implementation of national HEPA policies by the different local governments. Methods We started by developing and testing the Local Policy Audit Tool (L-PAT) in all 47 Japanese prefectures (Takeda et al. 2019). It comprises 11 items based on WHO’s HEPA Policy Audit Tool (PAT), covering key policy actions such as: the presence of a local action plan; its implementation; and cross-sectoral cooperation. The L-PAT was sent to key government departments (e.g. health, sports, urban planning and transport) in all prefectures. As a second step, we assessed the development and implementation of local action plans for HEPA promotion in municipalities using the City PAT (C-PAT), which employs six questions based on the HEPA PAT. We surveyed a random selection of 272 out of Japan’s 1,700+ municipalities, stratified by administrative division and population. Results The results of the L-PAT indicate that health and sports are the most active departments in promoting HEPA policy at prefecture level. Some prefectures also reported HEPA actions by the urban planning and transport sectors, although these sectors are not covered by the national policy. A major result of the C-PAT survey was that the scale and contents of projects implemented differed depending on the size of the municipality. Both tools revealed that local governments have a low awareness of the “Japanese physical activity guidelines for health promotion 2013” in their policy planning and implementation. Conclusions In 2023, both the Japanese physical activity guidelines and the government's most comprehensive health policy, “Healthy Japan 21”, will undergo major revisions. The next step after the L-PAT and C-PAT would be to revise the content of the C-PAT questionnaire to increase its usefulness; that is, a policy audit tool for continuously monitoring local HEPA policies will be created on this occasion, aimed at supporting future national planning processes for HEPA promotion.

Roles of Public Financing to Address Urban Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Services in Bangladesh: a Study of Dhaka And Faridpur Cities

Prior to adopting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Bangladesh achieved 100% access to sanitation by 2015 mostly by on-site sanitation systems (OSSs). The major drawbacks of the OSSs are the deposition of the Faecal Sludge (FS) underground and environmental pollution due to the indiscriminate disposal of FS. As an overpopulated country, 40% out of 162 million people live in urban areas. However, the national planning process; the Five-Year Planning (FY 2016-20) did not put emphasis on the Faecal Sludge Management (FSM). Major policies also did not address FSM though there are various policies relevant to promote safe sanitation. Against this backdrop, it is difficult to manage the second-generation sanitation challenge like FSM services for the enormously growing urban population. However, to achieve the target of sustainable sanitation (SDG 6.2), the country needs much attention to address the FSM services with a huge public investment to build necessary infrastructures and initiate service delivery by involving stakeholders. This study investigated the role of public finance in addressing urban FSM services in two urban centers: Dhaka and Faridpur. The current public financing addressed FSM service for 39% of inhabitants in Faridpur; while in Dhaka, FSM service is very negligible and Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) is facilitating only the emptying service by engaging the private enterprises and NGOs shows a resource gap for FSM financing. Lack of institutional coordination, role clarity on service delivery, service provisioning, capacity, leadership, and inappropriate resource sharing among the utilities are the key challenges. The study has drawn a set of public financing mechanisms to achieve urban FSM service.

Using ecological infrastructure to comprehensively map ecosystem service demand, flow and capacity for spatial assessment and planning

Ecosystem services provide substantial benefits to people, but the underlying ecosystems are under unprecedented pressure, compromising service delivery. Therefore, ecosystem services need to be integrated into conservation and management processes to secure their benefits for current and future generations. A key first step is a robust method to map ecosystem services for spatial planning. We aimed to develop and apply a broadly applicable, flexible and spatially accurate method for comprehensive ecosystem services mapping using Ecological Infrastructure, abbreviated to PROPSER. We evaluated the demand, flow, and capacity of three ecosystem services (sports events, recreation, and coastal protection) along the South African coast using causal relationships, including ecological condition of the EI, and approximated EI performance as a measure of its importance to society. This resulted in a high-resolution map of EI performance per service and a cumulative map of multiple-service performance created by integrating the three single-service maps. Altogether, there were 5127 EI sites, with EI close to urban nodes being most important. Post-hoc tests confirmed the spatial accuracy of the output maps, and the sensitivity of PROPSER to the variables and components of the indicator models. PROSPER is a comprehensive and innovative method for mapping ecosystem services that is flexible and can be widely applied. The outputs from this study have been taken up in a national spatial planning process, with several other applications discussed. We identify seven ways in which PROSPER can be advanced, and encourage further testing and application of our approach.

Analysis of NATO and EU Approaches to Capability Planning and Potential Alignment of National Planning Processes

The article presents a summary of analytical outcomes aimed at mapping current NATO and EU approaches to capability planning and their impact on national planning processes, which were carried out by security and defence institutions. The outcomes point out the fact that significant number of NATO nations and EU member states are using approaches to capability planning which reflect specifically national strategic objectives. It is of note that no country has implemented procedures that could be considered as standardised in terms of a single planning process within NATO or the EU. On the other side, analyses point out the fact that NATO and EU planning processes can be hardly expected to be unified in the short term. Nevertheless, NATO and EU member countries should pay close attention to the outputs of their national planning processes in order to comply with the single set of capability requirements as implemented in the relevant NATO and EU planning processes.

From research to practice: Adapting agriculture to climate today for tomorrow in Ethiopia

Eighty percent of the world's agriculture is rainfed, making it highly vulnerable to climate fluctuations and stresses, such as those brought about by climate variability and change. Sub-Saharan Africa and Ethiopia in particular have experienced a significant increase in climate variability over the past decade, which has led to more frequent weather extremes such as floods and droughts. Because 85% of Ethiopia depends upon agriculture for its livelihoods, such rainfall shortages or excesses can impede food production, access to financial and natural assets, and the ability to recover in subsequent crop seasons. This means that climate variability in agriculture not only affects the availability of the food Ethiopians consume, but also the income of its smallholder farmers. Variability in rainfall and temperature can also have adverse effects on livestock and the pastoralists whose livelihoods depend upon it. Thus, all development planning and practice in the agriculture and related sectors need to take climate variability and long-term climate change into account. Climate services can contribute to the alleviation of a range of climate-sensitive development challenges, including agricultural production and food security. The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Today for Tomorrow (ACToday) approach of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), Columbia University, USA, aims to develop climate service solutions through enhancement of the availability and effectiveness of climate information in national policy, planning, management, and other decision-making processes in countries that are particularly dependent on agriculture and vulnerable to the effects of climate variability and change. It targets improved food security, nutrition, environmental sustainability and economic outcomes in these countries by promoting the use of climate information and services to manage current climate risks, while laying the foundation for adaptation to future climatic conditions. In this Perspective, we share experiences from the implementation of the ACToday project and approach in Ethiopia, outlining its accomplishments and challenges. In doing so, we characterize best practices and pitfalls to avoid to ensure climate knowledge and information truly meet the needs of climate-informed decision making and climate-smart policy and planning. We also outline pragmatic guidance to ensure activities designed to evolve climate research into services are done so appropriately, responsibly, and sustainably to bridge the gap between those who produce climate information and those who ultimately use it.

REFORMING THE LIQUIDITY PLANNING PROCESS OF THE NATIONAL BUDGET - STUDY CASE IN SLOVENIA

The constant development of new technologies and tools is forcing organisations to change. In the research part of this article, an example of a concrete process that we had to reform due to the outdated information system that no longer performed the support function for the liquidity planning of the national budget planning process under examination is demonstrated. It includes a presentation of the examined reformation process and the effects of the improvements achieved through the implementation of TAD methodology, the consideration of interviews with the participants in the process, and our own experience gained through cooperation in the development and implementation of the process. Through our own research - analysis of the reformed process - we found that organisational, substantive, technical, and mental changes are necessary, for they enable the organization an improved and quality business, and it is through the appropriate approach that the employees feel more motivated to perform their daily tasks because inclusion in the renovation process adds value to them according to the opinion of 59% of the participants in the reformed process. We found that the reformed process is 50% quicker, saving EUR 3 394.80 in costs per year and that the reformed process makes the acquired data and information more accurate, reducing errors by 72%. We found that through the implementation of the examined reformed process, 466 hours of saved time could be used to produce various analyses and reports enabled by the reformed information system of the examined organisation. This also means added value in further forecasting cash flows and carrying out simulations taking into account certain event scenarios that may affect the liquidity of the national budget.

Integration of climate change mitigation and sustainable development planning: Lessons from a national planning process in Nigeria

To limit global temperature increases to ‘well below 2 ºC’, it is necessary that current national commitments to reduce emissions are increased, and these commitments are implemented. The identification of local development benefits from climate change mitigation is a possible motivating factor to achieve this. However, there is a lack of practical examples of how climate change mitigation and development priorities can be integrated in national planning processes, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This work considers two questions i) What are the factors that have to be considered when developing a plan integrating GHG reductions with local development goals?; and ii) How do you structure a process to reach a consensus about the plan itself?. It does this by conceptualising the integration of climate mitigation and development benefits as a policy intervention. As a case study, a national planning process that integrated climate change mitigation with improvements to air quality and human health in Nigeria is conceptualised, ex-post, as an intervention theory model. The key factors identified include the importance of tailoring the planning process to the national context of how development priorities are identified and then used in the allocation of national budgets. In particular, assessments undertaken within the planning process, of emission reductions, and development of implementation pathways provided necessary information on how climate mitigation actions contribute to national development priorities. Additionally, the importance of structuring these assessments within a planning processes that also engaged key stakeholders to allow the information produced by the assessments to be informed, and acted upon, by those responsible for mitigation in each key sector is also highlighted. Finally, approaches for the use of intervention theory as a conceptual framework to design a planning process, ex-ante, are discussed, to further optimise the integration of development priorities into climate change planning.

Overseas Medical Referral: the health system challenges for Pacific Island Countries

The delivery of specialised clinical services in the small Island nations of the Pacific region is an increasing challenge in the context of a rising burden of non-communicable diseases. Resources are limited and case-loads too low to support local specialists. This article focuses on the common practice of Overseas Medical Referral (OMR), which is an increasing challenge in the region. We collected interview and secondary data across 16 Pacific Island Countries. We found that OMR policies are often weak or incomplete, systems inadequate and reforms needed. Integrating OMR fully into national health referral systems and national strategic planning and prioritisation processes is needed. There is an additional need for collection of routine data on OMR service providers in the recipient countries and the outcomes of clinical care. With these reforms, a move towards increased regional cooperation and some form of strategic purchasing is possible.

Quest for development: An examination of more than a half-century of national planning and foreign aid practice in Nepal

Abstract This paper examines the national planning process and the effectiveness of foreign aid for the development of Nepal from 1956 to 2019 using archived planning documents, international publications, and facts gleaned from conversations with planning officials. The existence of the National Planning Commission predates the establishment of the Ministry of Finance in Nepal. However, the lack of coordination between the two agencies has turned the former into a weak organization by preventing it from executing its budget. In each of the national plans, there is recognition of failures, underachievement, and low capacity in administering foreign aid-funded projects. The stated targets of the plans are rarely met while areas without strategic objectives sometimes surpass expectations. Plans have been neither visionary nor realistic and are not implemented effectively. While 90% of peasants were engaged in agriculture contributing 59% of the national economy, they did not receive significant attention for a long time. Foreign aid has increased greatly in Nepal since the 1950s and the country continues to be very dependent on it. But there have been questions about donors’ tardiness in releasing committed funds as well as the country's ability to execute aid-funded projects. There is a lack of capacity and accountability in both the government and the donors. Consequently, aid cannot fulfill its economic mission and meet the conditions tied to its continuance until the country can be administratively strong enough to conduct development projects alone. Recommendations are offered for changes and innovations within the structure of Nepal's government which would modify the role of the National Planning Commission, rationalize the planning process, harness the technical capability of the country, and move responsibility for plan implementation to the ministries most able to perform effectively.

Action research and health system strengthening: the case of the health sector support programme in Mauritania, West Africa

BackgroundAccess to qualitative and equitable healthcare is a major challenge in Mauritania. In order to support the country’s efforts, a health sector strengthening programme was set up with participatory action research at its core. Reinforcing a health system requires a customised and comprehensive approach to face the complexity inherent to health systems. Yet, limited knowledge is available on how policies could enhance the performance of the system and how multi-stakeholder efforts could give rise to changes in health policy. We aimed to analyse the ongoing participatory action research and, more specifically, see in how far action research as an embedded research approach could contribute to strengthening health systems.MethodsWe adopted a single-case study design, based on two subunits of analysis, i.e., two selected districts. Qualitative data were collected by analysing country and programme documents, conducting 12 semi-structured interviews and performing participatory observations. Interviewees were selected based on their current position and participation in the programme. The data analysis was designed to address the objectives of the study, but evolved according to emerging insights and through triangulation and identification of emergent and/or recurrent themes along the process.ResultsAn evaluation of the progress made in the two districts indicates that continuous capacity-building and empowerment efforts through a participative approach have been key elements to enhance dialogue between, and ownership of, the actors at the local health system level. However, the strong hierarchical structure of the Mauritanian health system and its low level of decentralisation constituted substantial barriers to innovation. Other constraints were sociocultural and organisational in nature. Poor work ethics due to a weak environmental support system played an important role. While aiming for an alignment between the flexible iterative approach of action research and the prevailing national linear planning process is quite challenging, effects on policy formulation and implementation were not observed. An adequate time frame, the engagement of proactive leaders, maintenance of a sustained dialogue and a pragmatic, flexible approach could further facilitate the process of change.ConclusionOur study showcases that the action research approach used in Mauritania can usher local and national actors towards change within the health system strengthening programme when certain conditions are met. An inclusive, participatory approach generates dynamics of engagement that can facilitate ownership and strengthen capacity. Continuous evaluation is needed to measure how these processes can further develop and presume a possible effect at policy level.

Probing the hidden depths of climate law: Analysing national climate change legislation

National governments that are committed to a social transition in the pursuit of climate policy face a complex legal challenge in evaluating how their legal and regulatory architectures support climate policy and in introducing new legal measures to implement their Paris Agreement commitments. This article sets out a method for appraising how fragmented national climate‐relevant laws combine to create an aggregated legal and regulatory landscape that frames and governs national responses to climate change. Appraising this kind of landscape is a methodologically fraught exercise, considering that climate change can intersect with many areas of law and regulation, which are all embedded within the histories, legal doctrines and governance frameworks of particular legal systems. We propose a tripartite method for this task – identifying ‘direct’ or explicit climate laws, identifying ‘indirect’ or implicit climate laws, and investigating legal cultures that inform and express both types of climate‐related law. The article focuses on climate‐related legislation in countries with lawmaking assemblies in proposing this approach, arguing that the national scale and legislative processes are both particularly significant in evaluating climate laws. This approach to climate law methodology can support both national climate planning and multilateral processes such as the Paris Agreement's global stocktake.

Understanding the ongoing struggle for land use and transport integration: Institutional incongruence in the Dutch national planning process

Formal and informal institutions help shape processes of planning, as ‘rules of the game’. However, institutions do not always align. As a result of changes in strategy and operation, institutional incongruence can emerge as old and new institutions conflict or as actors perceive and apply institutions in a different manner. In this article, we aim to gain insight in the concept of institutional incongruence and the way it shapes transport planning policy and implementation. To this end, we analyse the role of institutional congruence in the case of land use transport integration (LUTI) in the Netherlands. Although LUTI creates opportunities for beneficial synergies and helps avoid unwanted consequences, such as project time and project cost overruns, examples of successful deployment remain scarce. Through an institutional analysis of the Dutch national Planning, Programming and Budgeting (PPB) System for road infrastructure, we assess the ways in which LUTI is enabled or obstructed by formal and informal institutions. The one-year research project involves a triangulation of literature research, policy analysis, 22 expert interviews, focus groups and workshops. The findings illustrate that strategy and operation each present distinct formal and informal institutional incongruence that negatively influence land-use transport integration. We conclude that institutional incongruence is several instances of institutional incongruence can be found throughout the Dutch national planning process. These are partly inevitable because institutional change occurs gradually to reflect developments in society and manifests itself in both formal and informal rules. Therefore we recommend that, in order to achieve LUTI, the full institutional configuration of formal and informal rules, at strategic and operational level should be analysed, redesigned and aligned.

Making transport planning more collaborative? The case of Strategic Choice of Measures in Swedish transport planning

In 2013, a new preparatory study was established in the Swedish national transport planning process: Strategic Choice of Measures (SCM). It constitutes an arena for early dialogue between main actors and stakeholders at local, regional and national level to jointly assess transport related problems and develop solutions. This paper explores the collaborative elements of this planning method, analysing the extent to which the introduction of SCM implies fundamental steps towards a planning approach based on communicative rationality in Swedish national transport planning. The article departs from the government’s recognition of the need for more and deeper collaboration between actors, new approaches and measures for transport problem, and increasing attention to demand management and modal shift to meet transport policy goals more efficiently, asking whether SCM makes national transport planning in Sweden more collaborative, in the sense of primarily relying on communicative rationality. The focus of the analysis lies on collaborative elements in the official SCM guidelines produced by the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) as an expression of an “ideal” SCM process, and a case study of an SCM process considered by the STA to be a good example of SCM in practice. The article concludes that although traces of communicative rationality are visible in both “ideal” and in practice, a more fundamental shift from instrumental to communicative rationality in Swedish national transport planning through the introduction of SCM has not occurred, since collaborative practices of SCM mainly are framed in a wider institutional framework of instrumental rationality.

How Can Big Data Complement Expert Analysis? A Value Chain Case Study

In the world of big data, there is a need to investigate how data-driven approaches can support expert-based analyses during a technology planning process. To meet this goal, we examined opportunities and challenges for big data analytics in the social sciences, particularly with respect to value chain analysis. To accomplish this, we designed a value chain mapping experiment that aimed to compare the results of expert-based and data-based mappings. In the expert-based approach, we asked an industry expert to visually depict an industry value chain based on insights and collected data. We also reviewed a previously published value chain developed by a panel of industry experts during a national technology planning process. In the data-driven analysis, we used a massive number of business transaction records between companies under the assumption that the data would be useful in identifying relationships between items in a value chain. The case study results demonstrated that data-driven analysis can help researchers understand the current status of industry structures, enabling them to develop more realistic, although less flexible value chain maps. This approach is expected to provide more value when used in combination with other databases. It is important to note that significant effort is required to develop an elaborate analysis algorithm, and data preprocessing is essential for obtaining meaningful results, both of which make this approach challenging. Experts’ insights are still helpful for validating the analytic results in value chain mapping.

National Planning in Mexico: An Historical Perspective

This paper explores the evolution of national planning in Mexico over the last ninety years. Whereas the initial import-substitution industrialization in the country focused too narrowly upon specific sites, later export-led industrialization has attended only to the global market. The former was more attentive to the immediate environment, while the latter is becoming more attentive to the world. However, the conceptualization of national planning processes must simultaneously recognize the dynamics of the economy at community, regional, national, continental, and global scales. After nearly nine full decades of promoting the positivistic search for political order and the dream of economic progress, the institutionalized national planning process of Mexico has evolved. That evolution is summarized here.

Capability Maturity Models as a Meansto Standardize Sustainable DevelopmentGoals Indicators Data Production

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demands effective harnessing of the ensuing data revolution – the integration of new and traditional data to produce high-quality indicators that are detailed, timely, and actionable for multiple purposes and to a variety of users. The quality of these indicators, defined in terms of completeness, uniqueness, timeliness, validity, accuracy, and consistency, is crucial for their use in national level planning, monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) processes, for facilitating global monitoring of progress on the SDGs, and for enabling comparative evaluation between countries. The use of indicators for trans-national analyses and global-level decision making necessitates coordination, integration, and interoperation between the various stakeholders within the global data ecosystem. Various instruments, including protocols, models, frameworks, specifications, and standards are used widely to facilitate the coordination, integration, and interoperation across various global systems, such as telecommunication systems. In this paper, we posit that Capability Maturity Models (CMMs) can be an instrument and a mechanism towards not only ensuring the production of high-quality indicators data, but also for standardizing the key processes around the production of SDG indicators data, and for facilitating interoperation within the data ecosystem. This paper motivates for the adoption and mainstreaming of organizational CMMs within the SDGs activities. It also presents the preliminary formulation of a multidimensional prescriptive CMM to assess and articulate pathways towards the maturity of organizations within national data ecosystems and, therefore, the effective monitoring of the progress on the SDG targets through the production of high-quality indicators data. Furthermore, the paper provides recommendations towards addressing the challenges within the increasingly data-driven domain of social indicators monitoring.

Comparative Analysis of National Approaches to Military Capability Planning

Abstract National defence planning processes are often compared with the NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP). Taking into account that NDPP needs commonly agreed criteria to evaluate military capabilities of the different nations, and given the significant effort invested in performance measurement by several nations, it would be beneficial to examine how respective nations are currently assessing their performance within the capability-based planning process, with a view to establishing potential common measures that would benefit individual nations while addressing the needs of NATO at the same time. The principles which the NDPP is based on are referred to in some of national defence strategic documents, although there is no explicitly statement that the national defence planning process should be tailored in the same way as it is the case of the NDPP. In order to find an answer to the above mentioned issue and identify common practices and lessons to support capability planning within nations and NATO an analysis was carried out with the objective of identifying to which extent national planning processes of respective nations correlate with principles of NDPP as well as with principles of the EU capability development.

Analýza přístupu NATO a EU k procesu plánování schopností

The aim of the article is to bring out results of the comparative analysis of NATO and EU defence planning processes. The comparative analysis was focused on identification of those findings which are identical for both NATO and the EU and which might be also beneficial for optimising the national defence planning process within the Czech Ministry of Defence. From this perspective, the key analysis outcome is identification of similar phases which were found out while comparing respective NATO´s and EU´s planning tools, i.e. J-DARTS and SAEP Process. Even if NATO and the EU are using a different terminology and different approaches to achieve expected results, the substance of respective phases is almost identical. A course of action how to implement the analysis outcomes into the national defence planning process might be the subject of a follow on research.

Responses to the Call for a National Strategic Plan

The Service-Learning and Community Engagement Future Directions Project (SLCE-FDP) was launched in 2015. Since then approximately 40 individuals from a wide range of perspectives have come together as contributors of thought pieces that issue bold calls to guide future of SLCE. In essay accompanying ten thought pieces in Fall 2015, Howard and Stanlick (2015) called for development and implementation of a U.S. national SLCE strategic (p. 128). Their essay provides one answer to question of how all of ideas about future of SLCE being assembled by SLCE-FDP--and also being articulated in other publications over last few years--can become more than individual thoughts, questions, and actions. In this essay we review highlights of call for a national plan and then share some of responses to it as a basis for ongoing engagement with proposal. Howard and Stanlick (2015) have in mind an intentional organizing effort broadly developed by multiple stakeholders...[to] move us beyond current prevalence of independent, individuals efforts ... to a more coherent nationwide collective endeavor (p. 128). Although SLCE movement has made strides in last twenty years, it has primarily occurred at individual level: individual students, individual faculty and staff, individual courses, individual programs and centers, individual institutions, individual community organizations, individual disciplinary associations, individual regional and national organizations. Howard and Stanlick wonder what collaborations might evolve if there were a platform to which many SLCE stakeholders and entities could contribute their voices, and they offer metaphor of a compass that only guides individuals...but also synergizes across all levels of organizations...and all stakeholders...for more lasting civic engagement that has greater impact on social justice (p. 129). Their rationale for a national plan for SLCE includes sheer growth of movement within higher education, recent calls among many thought leaders for new ways to think about and implement SLCE, innovation and synergy that a national conversation can engender, and value of greater clarity regarding our ultimate purposes as a movement and how best to advance them. Their sense is that a national planning process is needed to leverage bold calls for enhancing SLCE being gathered by SLCE-FDP, providing the impetus, structure, and focus to bring each of them into conversation with other visions and strategies within and beyond this project (p. 129). Their essay acknowledges several challenges: that very idea of a national strategic plan is likely to be contested, that inevitably some voices will not be at table, and that reaching consensus on either general directions of or specific elements in a national plan will be difficult (p. 130). It asks: What is critical mass needed to move forward collectively and how do we best maintain open-ended dialogue around contested ideas? (p. 131). And it proposes as a first step identification or creation of a coordinating entity: Could planning process be driven by a national organizational leader or by a group of representatives from several national organizations and a variety of other stakeholders? However it is coordinated, authors note, there will need to be a way to engage stakeholders, identify funding, facilitate conversations, and develop and disseminate a product. Howard and Stanlick summarize their call as follows: Intended to support flourishing of work and its purposes across a wide range of contexts, such a large-scale strategic plan would, of necessity, be grounded in a sense of our ultimate vision(s), emerge from a set of broad goals, be accompanied by illustrative strategies, and point to indicators of positive change--all dynamic and co-created by SLCE community as a whole. …