Federal Sustainable Development Strategy 2016 to 2019 management framework: chapter 4

Performance measurement

Measuring performance is a good management practice, and both the private and public sectors do it to determine program and process effectiveness. Performance measurement provides fact-based information on which to measure progress that is an integral part of the collective management of the strategy. It is the means to track and monitor the achievement of outcomes as expected. It also serves as an early warning that planned results are not being attained and, therefore, may require further investigation and remedial action.   

As described by the TBS Results-based Management Lexicon, performance measurement is the process and system of selection, development and ongoing use of performance measures to guide decision-making and assess whether or not the government is meeting its requirements.   

In the case of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, performance measurement underpins the “Check” part of the “Plan, Do, Check and Improve” system, and it is used to track progress towards making environmental decision-making more transparent and accountable and achieving strategy goals and targets. Results of performance measurement will be included in progress reports.

4.1 Logic model

The outcomes the strategy is intended to achieve are presented in the form of a logic model that was produced using TBS’s guidelines for developing logic models. The logic model provides the foundation for tracking and reporting on strategy performance by providing the logical linkages among strategy activities, outputs and outcomes (see Figure 4).  

Building on the “Plan, Do, Check and Improve” system, the logic model is the basis for identifying results, progress and performance on meeting the requirements of the act.

Figure 4: Logic model on the 2016 to 2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy

Logic model on the 2016 to 2019 Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (see long description below)
Long description

The figure shows a chart with 6 columns: Activities; Outputs (Products and Services); Target Audiences; Direct Outcomes; Intermediate Outcomes; Final Program Outcomes.

The Activities column contains three boxes:

1. Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) development and reporting, which includes:

  • Develop knowledge of best SD practices and emerging trends
  • Coordinate implementation of the FSDS
  • Draft the FSDS
  • Consult and engage Canadians and Stakeholders on the FSDS
  • Promote SD internally and with the public
  • Provide expertise to government to achieve FSDS objectives

2. Environmental Indicators, which includes:

  • Develop indicators and associated analyses
  • Disseminate and update indicators, data and analyses

3. SD Advice and Guidance, which includes:

  • Provide advice and develop materials for annual SD planning and reporting
  • Increase socio-economic considerations in FSDS

Each box in the Activities column is linked to a box in the Outputs columns – each activity results in an output.

The associated output of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy (FSDS) development and reporting activity is:

1. FSDS development and reporting, which includes:

  • FSDS
  • FSDS Updates
  • FSDS Progress Reports
  • Stakeholder consultation and engagement products, tools and reports
  • Fora for information exchange on advancing sustainable development

The associated output of the Environmental Indicators activity is:

2. Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI), which includes:

  • CESI web portal
  • Environmental indicators reports, with associated data sources and methods documents

The associated output of the SD Advice and Guidance Activity is:

3. SD Guidance and Tools, which includes:

  • Guidance on annual SD planning and reporting
  • Tools to identify socio-economic initiatives with positive environmental sustainability outcomes

The third column, Target Audiences, contains two boxes:

  1. Canadians, internal and external stakeholders, parliamentarians. This is the target audience for output FSDS development and reporting and output Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI)
  2. Interdepartmental community. This is the target audience for the output SD Guidance and Tools

The Direct Outcomes column has five boxes. The first three are direct outcomes for the Target audience Canadians, internal and external stakeholders, parliamentarians; the last two are direct outcomes for the Target audience Interdepartmental community.

  1. Increased engagement of indepartmental community
  2. Increased engagement of sustainability stakeholders
  3. Timely environmental indicators are available
  4. Departmental sustainable development strategies directly support achieving FSDS goals
  5. Increased integration of social and economic considerations in the FSDS

The Intermediate Outcomes column has three boxes

  1. Increased use of the FSDS, which is an intermediate outcome for the first two direct outcomes: Increased engagement of interdepartmental community and Increased engagement of sustainability stakeholders
  2. Increased use of environmental indicators, which is an intermediate outcome for the third direct outcome: Timely environmental indicators are available
  3. FSDS is taken into consideration when federal policies, programs, and proposals are developed, which is an intermediate outcome for the last two direct outcomes: Departmental sustainable development strategies directly support achieving FSDS goals and Increased integration of social and economic considerations in the FSDS

The last column, Final Program Outcomes, has one box to which all intermediate outcomes link:

  1. Sustainable development and the state of the environment are considered when decisions that impact the environment are made

Activities and outputs in the logic model are divided into three main streams: strategy development and reporting, environmental indicators, and sustainable development advice and guidance.

Strategy development and reporting

  • Activities include:
    • developing knowledge of best sustainable development practices and emerging trends
    • coordinating the implementation of the strategy
    • drafting the strategy
    • consulting and engaging Canadians and stakeholders on the strategy
    • promoting sustainable development internally, with stakeholders and with the public
    • providing expertise to government to achieve strategy objectives
  • Outputs from these activities include:
    • the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy and its updates and progress reports
    • stakeholder consultation and engagement products, tools, and reports
    • fora for information exchange on advancing sustainable development

Environmental indicators

  • Activities include:
    • developing indicators and associated analyses
    • disseminating and updating indicators, data, and analyses
    • promoting Canadian Envrionmental Sustainability Indicators (CESI) indicators among sustainability stakeholders
  • Outputs from these activities include:
    • the CESI web portal
    • environmental indicators reports with associated data sources and methods

Sustainable development advice and guidance

  • Activities include:
    • providing advice and developing materials for annual sustainable development planning and reporting
    • increasing socio-economic considerations in the strategy
  • Outputs from these activities include:
    • guidance on annual sustainable development planning and reporting
    • tools to identify socio-economic initiatives with positive environmental sustainability outcomes

Activities and outputs that support the strategy development and reporting stream and the environmental indicators stream target Canadians, internal and external stakeholders, and parliamentarians. Activities and outputs that support the sustainable development advice and guidance stream target the interdepartmental community.

Direct outcomes are short-term changes that are directly attributable to strategy activities and outputs. Intermediate outcomes are the behaviour changes of target audiences that are expected to occur over the medium-term once one or more immediate outcomes have been achieved.

Direct outcomes linked to strategy development and reporting include increased engagement of the interdepartmental community and of sustainability stakeholders. This feeds into the intermediate outcome of increased use of the strategy.

In the case of the environmental indicators stream, the direct outcome is that timely environmental indicators are available. This leads to the intermediate outcome of increased use of environmental indicators.

In the third stream, sustainable development advice and guidance, the direct outcomes include DSDSs directly supporting the achievement of strategy goals and increased integration of social and economic considerations in the strategy. These lead to the intermediate outcome that the strategy is taken into consideration when federal policies, programs, and proposals are developed.

The final program outcome represents a change of state of a target population and has a long-term orientation. The three intermediate outcomes feed into the final outcome: sustainable development and the state of the environment are considered when decisions that impact the environment are made.

Ultimately the logic model identifies linkages between the activities and outputs of the strategy and its direct, intermediate and final program outcomes.Footnote 1 It develops a chain of results connecting activities to the final outcome while at the same time identifying the linkages demonstrating progress toward achieving them.

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