Evaluation and reporting Baseline review Target setting Political commitment Implementation and Monitoring Integrated management system Organisational setup Involvement and communication
  • Next chapter
  • Last chapter

Introduction to Implementation and Monitoring

With the implementation of the strategic programme and the action plan, the management cycle reaches its very core: all the preceding assessment and planning has the overall objective of improving the way the city functions in terms of sustainable development. The implementation is where it shows. The implementation is a demanding task in terms of organisation and coordination of all the parallel actions that will take place. A crucial condition is a solid communication and involvement approach and the organisational setup. Cooperation with and between various stakeholders assures that the different actors buy in to the implementation process. Therefore, implementation is based on the “foundation” which is a combination of the action plan, the organisational setup and above all – communication and involvement. The approval of the action plan by the city council may be a determining success factor, as it legitimises actions and gives them a required priority.

In parallel, and for the purpose of being able to measure and report the results, the implementation of the strategic programme and its action plan should be monitored in an appropriate way and fed back to the politicians. It allows for being able to see if actions are implemented with good results. If not, it allows for taking corrective measures while implementation is in progress. In order to be able to engage in monitoring, the actions need to rely on targets based on indicators defined in the strategic programme.