Part V. Action Plans (2 pages): Develop action plans for each year of the attached strategic plan. Your strategic plan should cover 3–5 years.

The United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) has core values that guide its strategic planning and decisions. They are; respect for diversity, professionalism, and integrity. They should be practiced and upheld by every individual working for or allied to the organization as means of fostering the organization’s culture. Respect for diversity means that the organization is committed to upholding diversity in all areas including human diversity such as treating men and women equally. Integrity means that the organization’s decisions and acts are carried out in a manner which is for the common good and not for personal gain (Ivanova, 2010). Professionalism entails demonstrating professional competence as well as mastery of subject matter when implementing strategic decisions.

The core values are aligned with advocacy, leadership, and social change. UNEP professionally advocates for various methods that ensure the environment is not exposed to harm by humans. For instance, it recommends ways through which carbon emissions by automobiles can be reduced. More so, it researches and presents findings on climate change and global warming. For instance, its 2017 report indicated that the emission gap could not be closed by 2030 as predicted (The Emissions Gap Report 2017, 2017). Essentially, the organization has been advocating for most effective strategies that can be implemented in curbing climate change and global warming while also evaluating whether laid measures are giving promising results.

The core values are aligned with leadership as the organization serves as the role model that other organizations and people want to follow. More so, UNEP has been leading the way while showing courage through taking the unpopular stands in order to realize change and improvement. Further, UNEP has been proactive in developing leadership strategies that help translate vision into results through partnering with other bodies and agencies. Essentially, the organization has shown leadership in the way it relates with other internal and external parties.

UNEP has also aligned its core values with social change. It is a major organization that has promoted measures against climate change. For instance, the organization has been offering civic education on bioenergy sources which have been proven more effective and less harmful on the environment. Social change is being attained through putting in place measures that protect the environment from harm hence upholding diversity which is part of the societies. Providing civic education has been impactful in changing lives as the organization enables individuals to utilize resources more effectively in a manner which is less harmful to the environment.

UNEP’s mission entails providing leadership and encouraging partnership in caring for the environment by informing, inspiring, and enabling individuals and countries to impact their lives without compromising that of the future generations (About Us, 2017). It is aligned with core values as strategies are undertaken in a manner that upholds them. More so, the mission encompasses advocacy, leadership, and social change as it involves various aspects such as encouraging, inspiring, and informing countries and individuals so as to improve their quality of life. In doing so, UNEP highly contributes to the well-being of societies and communities.

UNEP’s vision entails creating a world where decision makers in all sectors recognize and willingly take full account of biodiversity as the foundation of a global green economy (About Us, 2017). The vision has been driving decisions and actions while aligning them with core values. The organization collaborates with individuals and agencies across the world in order to achieve more respect for diversity and professionalism. More so, actions taken such as collaborating with government and local organizations are done based on integrity hence focused on the common good as opposed to personal gains or giving in to political pressures. On the other hand, the vision aligns with leadership, advocacy and social change as it focuses on creating a greener world through leading the way while impacting the society positively through upholding diversity and teaching about biodiversity.

UNEP engages Major Groups and Stakeholders (MGS) which encompasses numerous parties such as local environmental agencies, researchers, governments, workers, communities, funders, and partners among others (Ivanova, 2010). Workers are internal stakeholders whose responsibilities entail facilitating internal mechanisms such as strategic planning. They are also required to facilitate transformational leadership and management of relations with other parties. On the other hand, researchers who are part of internal stakeholders carry out research on behalf of the organization and presents actionable information by UNEP as well as partners and local organizations. External stakeholders refers to parties such as partners, governments, funders, local authorities, communities, and partners. Mainly, the organization collaborates with external stakeholders in attaining certain goals. For instance, in implementing strategies in a particular country, UNEP needs to collaborate with the government as well as local agencies in realizing the final goal. Essentially, working with external stakeholders mainly aim at attaining better performance and easier attainment of goals, providing actionable information to various parties such as communities and taking the leadership roles in various efforts that aim at improving the environment and curbing climate change and global warming.

Capstone Project Part II: Needs Assessment

Steps involved in Need Assessment

The first step involves identifying and engaging stakeholders in the need assessment. One has to establish trusting relationships during the early stages of engagement in environmental activities undertaken by the United Nations Environmental Protection. The second step comprises of defining the targeted stakeholders. The stakeholders may exist in the form of a community found in the operations of the organization. It brings the advocates, activists, and community members together in protecting the environment. The third step revolves around the process of collecting and analyzing data. It aggregates quantitative, qualitative, secondary, and primary data to prioritize the different environmental needs that exist in the environment. Stakeholders have to share information with each other to enable effective data collection process.

The fourth step focuses on the aspect of prioritizing environmental issue in the society. The data collected in the third step may occur in terms of prioritizing the environmental needs of the stakeholders involved. The fifth step includes general communication and documentation in the United Nations Environmental Protection. Stakeholders comment on the data provided to them through the feedback they give the organization (Snow). The fourth step may comprise of improving strategies to keep different stakeholders involved in the environmental advocacy through the process of ensuring improved planning. The situation may motivate acceptability and feasibility in the applied strategies and interventions.

Stakeholders involved in the Need Assessment

The need assessment may comprise of many stakeholders. They include church associations, community councils, country advisory boards, school boards, and the government among other individuals. Organizations that focus on goal achievement and implementation of strategies may also have their participation in the need assessment. Regional, state and country boards have a significant role in undertaking projects implemented by the United Nations Environmental Protection. Environmental institutions and programs may have their management teams participating in the activities of the organization at all levels (Snow). The United Nations Environmental Protection may also focus on appointing new stakeholders from different governmental and private departments to motivate the development of positive initiatives that may successfully affect their goals and activities in different parts of the world.

Survey Development for Professional Issues

Questions on the Survey

i. What environmental factors create hazards in the human environment?

ii. Who are the individuals involved in establishing the right approaches for dealing with environmental issues?

iii. Is there a way through which the government and the private sector may use to eliminate any negative factors relating to negative environmental factors?

iv. Are the public and private institutions providing the best education to serve environmental needs?

v. Given the chance to work in the environmental sector, what would change as a professional?

vi. What areas serve as a key concern in your professional background?

vii. What policies exist when it comes to matters concerning environmental well-being and cohesiveness in the aspect of environmental development?

viii. Are there any existing collaborative frameworks that may be attached to the work of the United Nations Environmental Protection?

ix. What is the mandate of the United Nations Environmental Protection and its affiliated agencies in relation to environmental development?

x. Lastly, name any strategy that the organization has undertaken in the last decade that has made you see improvement in the environmental sector?

Justification for the Questions, Stakeholders Roles, and the Format of Questions

The questions focus on the environmental organization (the United Nations Environmental Protection) and the various stakeholders involved in its operations. The questions also show the areas of significant involvement in supporting the work of the organization. The format of the questions is rhetoric in their nature as they seek to acquire straight answers for effective analysis. When it comes to varying the items found on the survey, the questions may change to serve the roles of the stakeholders. The questions may focus on the areas of practice and expertise for the stakeholders and their impacts in managing the development of the organization. It may also look into the experience and the collaborative work undertaken by the stakeholders.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis focuses on the internal and external environments of a company or organization. It has been in the contemporary community to determine an organization’s internal and external business factors. It will determine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the UNEPP (United Nations Environmental Protection Program).

Conducting and Environmental Scan

Internal conditions which might impact strategic development of change includes the lack of coherence in policy development and poor leadership in the centralization of the organization’s programs and policies (Wronka, 2017). The role and major ways to minimize is to improve the retention between the local and international communities. This will offer an opportunity for change and introduction of change in the community’s development and processes.

External conditions which might impact change includes the countries which participate in the programs’ projects and financial stakeholders who finance the non-governmental organizations. The mitigation is through developing a logical memorandum of association for helping in the diversity of the program. There is also the nature, means and ways for supporting the organization’s performance, resources and working with the major competitors (Wronka, 2017). This is through developing policies which will improve the retention of the company’s resources. It is also a process for encouraging the potential for growth and performance. As a result, encouraging cooperation through coherence in policing will help to achieve the company’s ultimate objectives.

Strengths of the Agency

Utilizing the single entity policy, local entities, and structures established for improving and increasing change will help in the support, development, and encouragement of an organization. This aims to improve, develop, and support the logical organization which will help in the coordination, planning, and settling on the international strengths of the company (Wronka, 2017). The strengths of the UNEP can be implemented for the operational development of the organization’s objectives in the community. The aim is to fully integrate its structures, leaders, and local resources for an operational survey focused on processes and plans to meet organizational performance.

Weaknesses of the Agency

There is the lack of a systematic integration and coherence of its policies in the community and international boundaries. The documentation is also only in the English language. It is also important to focus on the weaknesses such as spreading the nature of equal balance between tapping into the local resources and entities of the UN in promoting change (Wronka, 2017). It is also a process for meeting and increasing operational performance for the support, development of the organization’s foreign nations. Documentation in the English language can be used sparingly for the support on the production, performance and coordination to support the local and international communities.

Opportunities of the Agency

There is the opportunity of tapping into the local mainstreams resources for supporting grassroots projects. Poverty eradication is also possible through the development, support, and overall presentation of its processes and finally, there is also the nature of adopting and improving policy coherence. As opportunities, these can be used effectively to align the organization’s functions for meeting eradication and protection of the environment (Wronka, 2017). It is also a process for meeting and increasing operational performance in the form of encouraging and driving change in the community. Therefore, the opportunities can be used effectively to align the organization’s mission and values into the development of its grassroots projects.

Threats of the Agency

There is a poor representation of local communities due to poor language specification, lack of a stable funding sources and inequality due to high-level mainstream of the necessary entities between the local and international communities. The minimization of inequality is by improving and increasing equality through organizational support (Wronka, 2017). This is an opportunity for improving and increasing operational effectiveness in the accordance to planning and increasing opportunities for organizational performance. It is a logical solution focusing on change and driving support for improving changes, planning, and supporting the overall language constraints in the community. The structural changes in its leadership will also help in the production, performance, and support of the organizational development.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the SWOT analysis for the United Nations Environmental Protection Program (UNEPP), helps to improve the strategic change as devised by organizational mission and value. To align its objectives such as meeting its mission and vision in the protection of the environment, there is the need for meeting and improving organizational development. It is also important to focus on the growth of the organizational by focusing on structural change, services, and implementing change for meeting organization competition and objectives.

United Nations Environmental Protection Program

Strategic Goals of an Agency

When it comes to the various goals involved in the operations of an organization, one has to look at the nature of the organization and its interaction with the external and internal environment of its operations. Globalization involves an organization opening to the changes taking place in the global world. The internet has become a major factor in the world. The situation means that an agency should focus on digitalizing its operations to establish an effective platform for interactions and sharing its operations. The United Nations Environmental Protection Program may meet its objectives by having a digital forum and a physical office that takes advantage of globalization in its operations. The United Nations Environmental Protection program may identify the different cultures relating to its culture. It may use them to establish an environment whereby everyone works collaboratively to achieve its goals and vision.

When it comes to establishing alliances, the organization should focus on the strengths associated with the alliances it formulates at any given point. The situation means that an organization should identify that alliances establish connections that are unending in their nature and outcome. The United Nations Environmental Protection Program acquires the needed resources in a collaborative framework to achieve its goals (Compton, Bahora, Watson, & Oliva, 2008). The existence of alliances ensures that the organization eliminates any logistical and financial hardships associated with its operations. The importance of alliance may revolve around the aspect of the availability of stakeholders to deal with the projects undertaken by the United Nations Environmental Protection Program. The organization may save huge amounts of financial and logistical resources associated with its programs and projects.

Strategies in Goal Implementation

The first strategy involved in goal implementation may focus on achieving the desired results. The United Nations Environmental Protection Program and any other organization may focus on elimination of carbon in the next decade. The strategy may include bringing together different stakeholders such as governments and private sectors in the program. The second strategy may focus on setting social media and digital platforms to create capacity among different members found in the international community. The social media as a platform ensures that many people are involved in the process of establishing the program. It also saves cost when it comes to the process of protecting the environment against any harm through building a communication platform in the social media platforms (Compton, Bahora, Watson, & Oliva, 2008).

The third strategy may focus on establishing the right team to undertake roles relating to environmental protection. The team may have the needed capacity to establish an environment for implementation of the needed projects and elements of the program. When it comes to environmental development, it is important to know the different roles played by the team members. The team members should have unique responsibilities associated with their position in the organization.

Accountability Issues

When it comes to monitoring the execution of the plan, it becomes important to establish physical and virtual systems to do so. A system such as SPSS serves as a statistical data analysis technique that measures the risk and impacts analysis factors associated with a project. It becomes easy for the management and the employees to know the gaps found in a program and work to mitigate their existence. The other strategy may include employing officers to monitor the operations of the program and account for each activity-taking place in the organization (Daelmans, et al., 2013). The management may employ a project manager, an assistant, a researcher, and an evaluator to focus on the development of the project.

Capstone Project Part IV: The Technical: Measuring and Evaluating Performance

The United Nations Environmental Program will receive a number of benefits from its strategic plan. However, the management has to focus on several indicators of success to make the above process to become effective. The indicators to be measured and with the association to the success should have a quantifiable, measurable, and observable method. In relation to the strategic plan, the paper looks into four main indicators that revolve around the concept of success. It defines the approaches involved in measuring the success. The paper uses performance targets as a way to understand the representation of the level at which performance takes place.

Four Indicators signifying Success and Measuring Approaches

When it comes to the successful implementation of the strategic plan and its positive impact, we have to consider the following indicators:

Communication Effectiveness

Does the management of the United Nations Environmental Protection comprehend communication message? Does the organization have an effective outcome in the implementation of the strategies associated with its development? The United Nations Environmental Protection should have the right web page, newsletter, memo, and emailing systems among other communication gadgets. The main question may revolve around the aspect of the management focusing on knowing the implementation status of the strategic plan (Parker, Wasserman, Kram, & Hall, 2015). It involves setting tests and quiz to identify the effective communication.

Customer Relationships

Customer relationship does not focus on customer satisfaction. The customers may have satisfaction from an organization, but the organization may lack an effective way of establishing good relationships. An organization should look into its relationships with the customers. The customers should also pay their dues on the right time as it enables an organization to generate enough funding for development. The aspect of having a measure of customer relationships includes focusing on the impact of the customers on the operations of the organization.

Satisfaction of Employees and Brand Image of the Organization

Satisfied employees may perform well and influence an organization to have happier customers. An organization should have different measures, which act as an index for employees’ satisfaction. Among them, include the aspect of checking absenteeism and complaints launched by employees in the professional environment. The management should have consistent surveys that focus on the issues raised above relating to the wellbeing of patients (Muthuri, Matten, & Moon, 2009). The employees may also protect and preserve brand recognition. The employees and the customers should have a positive image towards the organization and its impact on them. Surveys and market research may act as the right frameworks to determine positive brand images.

Distraction

Every individual in an organization such as the United Nations Environmental Protection has a job to do. The organization requires them to spend the right amount of time in the workplace. The management should consider employing quality improvement measurements, analysis of administrative tasks, and evaluation of time and impact on the tasks allocated to employees. The above act as an indicator for success since it eliminates any waste of time and resources in implementing strategies in an organization.

Conclusion-Performance Targets for the Indicators

The paper has described four main indicators, which comprise of communication effectiveness; Customer Relationships; Satisfaction of Employees and Brand Image of the Organization; and distraction. However, for each of the above indicators knowing the performance targets may influence the United Nations Environmental Protection to achieve its organizational goals. When it comes to developing good customer relationships, it becomes easy for the organization to set good products relating to the protection of the environment.

The organization should listen to the customers and ensure that it meets their needs (Smith, Case, Smith, Harwell, & summers, 2013). The same applies to the employees. Provision of satisfactory allowances and remuneration influences the employees to work well and enables an effective brand image. Communication should ensure that the organization has an organized and professional structure influencing the development and strengthening relationships among the employees. Distraction may include having an employee monitoring system to look into the performance of employees and their relationship with their professional environments.

References

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Wronka, J. (2017). Human rights and social justice: Social action and service for the helping and health professions (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 

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Muthuri, J., Matten, D., & Moon, J. (2009). Employee volunteering and social capital: Contributions to corporate social responsibility. British Journal of Management, 20(1), 75-89.

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