The main purpose of this course is to lead participants into strategic thinking in SEA, using flexible and innovative approaches to strategic design for sustainability. The course builds upon the experience with the application of a strategic thinking model and critical decision factors approach developed by Maria Partidario (2007, 2012), and published in Guidance, available in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The emphasis is on transformative processes from routine, traditional SEA into an SEA that changes practices and enables sustainability driven decision-making. The course will address SEA design for sustainability, stakeholders engagement, use of creative and practical tools, understanding the building blocks that map a sustainability focused SEA. Links to internationally recognized approaches developed by Gibson et al (2005: sustainability assessment), the OECD-DAC (2006: approach to development cooperation), The World Bank (2011: Policy and Sector reform SEA), will be addressed. Expected learning outcomes include 1) the added-value of using strategic thinking in SEA; 2) how to consider the environment in SEA as an integral component of sustainability; 3) why a strategic-based approach if different from an impacts-based approach; and 4) how to apply forms of strategic-based SEA such as the critical decision factors approach.
Learning techniques in this course will be based on dialogues, exchange of experiences and case-application, involve short presentations, case examples from different regions in the world, and group exercises. The course will also work with what participants bring to share on their questions, challenges and experiences. The course aims to encourage discussion and debate as a form of building ideas in a collective way. Participants attending this course are required to have some background on SEA or EIA, and also basic knowledge on policy-making or planning to enable advanced workshop discussion. The course is not aimed at delivering recipes, but in stimulating strategic thinking and creativity, which is a distinctive feature of Maria Partidario's training courses on SEA: strategic nature of the methodological approaches, reflection on international perspectives and approaches, and the encouragement to innovative thinking in SEA.

Level:	Advanced
Prerequisites:	Basic knowledge on policy-making, planning and Strategic Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Assessment.
Language:	English
Duration:	2 days (18-19 April)
Min/Max:	10-35
Instructor:	Maria R Partidario, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Instituto Superior Tecnico (Portugal)
Special Note:	Laptops are not required but welcome.

Course Description
Summary of the purpose: The main purpose of this course is to lead participants into strategic thinking in SEA, using flexible and innovative approaches to strategic design for sustainability. The course builds upon the experience with the application of a strategic thinking model and critical decision factors approach developed by Maria Partidario (2007, 2012), and published in Guidance, available in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The emphasis is on transformative processes from routine, traditional SEA into an SEA that changes practices and enables sustainability driven decision-making. The course will address SEA design for sustainability, stakeholders engagement, use of creative and practical tools, understanding the building blocks that map a sustainability focused SEA. Links to internationally recognized approaches developed by Gibson et al (2005: sustainability assessment), the OECD-DAC (2006: approach to development cooperation), The World Bank (2011: Policy and Sector reform SEA), will be addressed. Expected learning outcomes include 1) the added-value of using strategic thinking in SEA; 2) how to consider the environment in SEA as an integral component of sustainability; 3) why a strategic-based approach if different from an impacts-based approach; and 4) how to apply forms of strategic-based SEA such as the critical decision factors approach.
Learning techniques in this course will be based on dialogues, exchange of experiences and case-application, involve short presentations, case examples from different regions in the world, and group exercises. The course will also work with what participants bring to share on their questions, challenges and experiences. The course aims to encourage discussion and debate as a form of building ideas in a collective way. Participants attending this course are required to have some background on SEA or EIA, and also basic knowledge on policy-making or planning to enable advanced workshop discussion. The course is not aimed at delivering recipes, but in stimulating strategic thinking and creativity, which is a distinctive feature of Maria Partidario’s training courses on SEA: strategic nature of the methodological approaches, reflection on international perspectives and approaches, and the encouragement to innovative thinking in SEA.

Day 1 – Exploring the concepts and tool boxes – old elements in new combinations
9:00 Participants introduction. Overview of course aims and structure.
9:30  What do I want SEA for?

• Perspectives and expectations from participants – dialogue around a strategic problem

10.00 Theories supporting SEA

• Complexity, systems approach, integration, strategic thinking
• SEA and sustainability assessment – what makes it strategic?
• Discussion, Q&A

11:00-11:15 Tea/Coffee
11.15  Elements for a methodological framework

• Analytic, creative and practical approaches
• Engagement for creativity and the governance dimension
• Toolbox for creative SEA
• Discussion, Q&A

13:00-14:00 Lunch
14.00  Case stories – looking at SEA in practice

• Review of leading SEA methodological approaches
• Review of cases that illustrate different approaches (with inputs from trainees)
• Discussion on the distinguished role of SEA in adding value to decision-making
• Q&A

15:15-15:30 Tea/Coffee
15.30  Critical decision factors approach

• Strategic sustainability framework and the critical decision factors
• Illustrations

17:00 Close Day 1

Day 2 –Testing the use of a strategic sustainability approach to SEA
9:00
Case-application in interactive working groups
The day will be structured around one real case adapted for a one day desk-based exercise, the topic to be selected depending on participants enrolled up to registration deadline. The exercise will particularly enable participants to understand how they can adopt a strategic thinking approach to SEA, from the initiation, to engagement of perspectives, setting strategic focus and process links and exploring strategic options.  Various aspects explained earlier will be turned into a practical approach by asking participants to briefly play different roles in an assessment process. The outcomes will be discussed in plenary, and commented upon by the trainer.
9:30 Case: Values, preferences and expectations - understanding the problem and the context

• Setting a strategic framework – problem: drivers and scale, priorities
• Stakeholders dialogue
• The governance dimension

11:00-11:15 Tea/Coffee
11.15  Get strategic focus

• Identification and discussion on critical decision factors
• Optional strategies to reach sustainability aims / targets

13:00-14:00 Lunch
14.00: Assessment

• Assessment of intended strategies
• Learning processes and learning organizations

15:15-15:30 Tea/Coffee
15.30 Outcomes and overall discussion 

• Meaning for strategic decision-making

17:00 Close Day 2
Materials to be Provided

• OECD, 2006, Applying Strategic Environmental Assessment – good practice guidance for development cooperation, OECD.
• Partidário, M.R. 2012. Strategic Environmental Assessment Better Practice Guidance—methodological guidance. Lisboa: Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente and REN.
• Ahmed, K. and Sanchez-Triana, E. (Eds) 2008. Strategic Environmental Assessment for Policies. Washington, DC: World Bank.
• UNEP, 2009, Integrated Assessment: Mainstreaming sustainability into policy-making. A guidance manual. Geneva: UNEP.
• World Bank, University of Gothenburg, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment 2011. Strategic Environmental Assessment in Policy and Sector Reform – conceptual model and operational guidance. Washington, DC: World Bank.

CD-ROM with background documents, powerpoint presentations, case and exercise documents.

Qualification of the trainer
Maria R. Partidario, PhD, Associate Professor at IST (Instituto Superior Técnico), University of Lisbon, Portugal, long-standing trainer on SEA, environment, planning and sustainability consultant; has trained around 1000 professional participants throughout the world in 1 to 5 days training courses on SEA, both in the context of IAIA pre-meeting courses and in national contexts (in Europe, Latin America, Middle East, South East Asia and Africa). Recent courses were offered in Mozambique, Indonesia, Chile, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, Canada.
Maria was co-team leader in the SEA Distance Learning Course for China, led by the World Bank in collaboration with SEPA (China) and IAIA. Over the years several training courses have been designed and conducted by Maria under contract with private, public and governmental institutions in different countries and as pre-meeting courses at IAIA annual conferences since 1998. Maria is co-editor of three internationally published key books on SEA (one with Riki Therivel, 1996, second other with Ray Clark, 2000, third with other Barry Sadler, Ralph Ashmann, Jiri Dusik, Thomas Fischer and Rob Verhem, 2011), and has authored and co-authored several book chapters and journal articles on SEA. In Portuguese she has prepared three guidance for SEA, the latest in 2012, the SEA Better Practices Guide – Methodological Guidance, published by the National Environment Agency and by REN, SA, which support current SEA practice in Portugal and is available in several website, including the European Commission website.
Maria has been an advisor to UNEP and UNDP on SEA and Integrated Assessment initiatives, to ELARD, S.A./ UNDP / the Lebanese Ministry of Environment in developing an SEA model for Lebanon, to the World Bank on the development of guidance for institutional-based SEA, and provided consultancy to the Inter-American Development Bank in developing SEA guidance for application in Latin America. She was a consultant to UNDP in running two capacity-building programmes on SEA, one for the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ministry of the Environment and the second for the Federal government of Brazil, Ministry of Planning and Ministry of Environment. She was also an advisor to the Minister of Environment in El Salvador on the establishment of SEA at national level. She has been appointed to several expert panels within the European Union, UN system and World Bank in matters related to SEA. Maria was President of the International Association for Impact Assessment in 1997-98, and awarded the IAIA Individual Award in 2002 for contributions made to the advancement of SEA internationally.
Background: First graduation on Environmental Engineering, MSc on Regional and Urban Planning and PhD (Aberdeen University, Scotland, 1992) on Strategic Environmental Assessment.