ICT Plan

At this point, you will have read the Standard Operating Procedures, filled out the
Technology Assessment, the Information Dissemination Needs Assessment and the
Enviroscan. Now is the part where you put everything together into an ICT Plan.

Purpose: The purpose of an ICT Plan is to compile in one place what you want to do to and how
you are going to do it. The goal is to have an organized list of tasks that your organization needs to
do to make working with ICT tools as problem free as possible. The Standard Operating Procedures
and the assessments that you filled out are key to this process as each one helps you lay the
groundwork for using ICT tools to improve your advocacy work.

• The Standard Operating Procedures laid out best practices for working with ICT in
order to help you see which ones you are not currently following.
• The Technology Assessment helped you figure out how you can strengthen your
technology so that you have a strong foundation capable of supporting ICT tools.
• The Information Dissemination Needs Assessment helped you figure out what you
need to improve upon in regard to dissemination and how ICT tools can help you do
that.
• The Enviroscan helped you scan your environment for local obstacles that you will
need to consider when incorporating ICT into your work. It also helped you look for
local support in your area.

Steps: Go back to the three assessments and the Standard Operating Procedures and pull everything
you learned together so that you can fill in the following ICT Plan. This will strengthen your
foundation and see how you are going to use ICT tools to improve your advocacy work. Fill out
what you want to do, how you are going to do it, who is going to do it, how much it will cost and
when it will be completed by.

Note on costs: The costs column is the most difficult to calculate. In the sample charts below, there are
example costs (including staff time, equipment costs, training costs, etc.) but note that there are
additional costs such as electricity, Internet connection costs, and more. Also, your costs column will
include numerical costs such as $500 worth of staff time and $200 of equipment. For detailed
information about calculating costs for ICT work, see the excellent resource “How to Cost and
Fund ICT” as well as an Excel spreadsheet made by the ICT Hub that helps you figure out the costs
of working with technology. Remember the general rule that actual hardware and software usually
accounts for only 30 percent of your technology costs. The other 70 percent of costs are human
costs, so don’t forget the costs of your staff’s time and training.

Also note that ideally, you should create a line item in your budget for ICT-related costs. Without a
line item for ICT costs, you will have to take money out of your general budget. Therefore, ICT
costs will be competing with other costs for funding. With a line item, you protect ICT aspects of
projects when other costs arise as there is a pool of money specifically for ICT. This is not necessary
but is strongly recommended so that you can strive for the integration of ICT tools into your work.

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Step 1: Look at your responses to the Technology Assessment. Look at the Action Needed
column and make a list of all the actions that you need to do to improve your technology in
order of priority. Then make another column on how you are going to achieve these
improvements, who is going to do it, how much it will cost and by when it will be done. For
instance:

GOAL: Improve technology so that using ICT to disseminate information

is possible and problem free

Action needed How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

Upgrade operating Look online for discounted or free Employee X 10 hours staff September
systems. operating system software and install it time (depends 3
on all computers. on number of
computers)
Set up a peer-to- Use the Computer Networks tutorial. Employee Y 5 hours staff May 31
peer network. time plus cost
of Ethernet
cables

Step 2: From the Information Dissemination Needs Assessment, look for your responses to
questions about improving communications and disseminating information. For instance,
look to see if any of your answers are disappointing, for instance, do you reach the people
you want to? With this information, make a document that details what you want to improve
upon and how you plan on doing it. Use the brainstorming section of the Assessment to
extract ideas on how you can use ICT tools to help.

For instance, the beginning of your document could look like this:

GOAL: Improve information dissemination

What we want to How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline
do
Communicate Start a blog. Employee Z 8 hours/week Set up by
better with staff time November
diaspora groups. 1 and then
ongoing
Start a diaspora-focused newsletter. Employee Y 8 hours/week Set up by
staff time October 1
plus cost of and then
email list tool ongoing
Send our press We will publish press releases on our News 30 minutes Ongoing
releases to major website to make them more visible to department staff time per
newspapers. news outlets. press release
to post online
We will also make a contact database of Employee X 20 hours staff June 1
media contacts. time (varies
depending on
number of
contacts)

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Promote our Build a simple website. ICT 2 weeks staff December
message online. Department time (much 1
longer for
advanced
websites) plus
domain name
cost, and web
host costs
Create videos and post them online. Hire Employee X 15 hours per Hire video
a volunteer to focus on video to hire a video volunteer
production. volunteer volunteer by May 31
time plus
video camera
costs

Step 3: Third, look at your responses to the Enviroscan. Look at the Action Needed column and
make a list of all the actions that you need to do to improve your work in order of priority.
For instance:

GOAL: Overcome obstacles in your area that affect work with ICT tools
and tap local groups for technological support

Action needed How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

Learn to be Will consult Standard Operating Employee X 10 hours staff September
anonymous online Procedures and seek help from a time 3
to work around consultant to ensure we cannot be
government tracked.
censorship.
Get the best price Research Internet service providers to Employee Z 6 hours staff November
for an Internet get the best price and change service if time 1
connection. necessary.
Tap eco-network Contact local ICT-focused NGOs for Employee Y 3 hours staff October
for help building help building our website. time 20
our website.

Step 4: Finally, go back to the Standard Operating Procedures. Even though the assessments
measured whether you were following a lot of the Standard Operating Procedures, they did
not address all of them. This is because the assessments only addressed the technical issues.
They did not cover procedural issues such as working better on a slow Internet connection
or using email etiquette.

Therefore, look back at the Standard Operating Procedures to find advice on improving HOW you
use technology, not advice on improving the technology itself. Is there any advice that your
organization does not currently follow? Make a chart with what you need to improve and how you
are going to do it. For example:

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 GOAL: Effectively and efficiently use ICT

Standard Operating How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

Procedure to include
in our work
Train staff on how to Hold one training to review Internet Employee X 5 hours June 30
be secure online. risks and how to be secure online. hours staff
time for
preparation,
1 hour for
training
Create an email address Register the domain name and set Employee Y 10 hours June 20
domain for all staff. up email accounts for all staff. Train staff time
staff on how to forward the email to plus domain
the email provider they prefer. costs

It is now your turn to create an ICT Plan. See the next page for a blank chart to use to create your
Plan. Note that you can create your own chart in a separate document or in a spreadsheet like Excel.

Once you fill in the chart, your ICT Plan is complete! You know:

• How to improve your technology to enable you to work with ICT tools (from the
Technology Assessment).
• What you want to do and how you are going to do it with ICT tools (from the
Information Dissemination Needs Assessment).
• What problems you face in your local environment and how to overcome them, as
well as how to build your eco-network of local support (from the Enviroscan).
• How you are going to incorporate all the Standard Operating Procedures into your
work.

Now it is time to actually do it! Remember, while this seems like extra work, everything listed above
helps you do the work you are already doing better. You will be able to disseminate information
more widely and thereby become a more effective advocate!

See the subsequent sections for useful information on how to do all the things you laid out. There
are:

• Tips on how to raise money and get the hardware and software you need to
undertake your new ICT goals.
• Tutorials on how to use various ICT tools, including advice on building a website,
starting a blog and more!
• Troubleshooting guidance in case you run in to problems.

Your Peace Fellow is meant to work shoulder-to-shoulder with you on this, so work together with
him or her to get your projects underway.

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Blank Chart for an ICT Plan
GOAL: Improve technology so that using ICT to disseminate information
is possible and problem free

Action needed How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

GOAL: Improve information dissemination

What we want to do How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

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 GOAL: Overcome obstacles in your area that affect work with ICT tools
and tap local groups for technological support

Action needed How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

GOAL: Effectively and efficiently use ICT

SOP to include in our work How we are going to do it Who Costs Deadline

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