The Australian Government has launched a new approach for all Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) to better engage with stakeholders, capture insights, identify the most promising projects for investment, and effectively report on research outcomes and impacts.
A number of documents built on delivering transparency and consistency have been developed and rolled out, including a Best Practice Guide to Stakeholder Consultation for all RDCs, as well as an individualised FWPA Consultation Plan, and Benefit Assessment and Reporting Plan.
The new government framework and principles have been designed to ensure ongoing improvements and better decision-making by RDCs when selecting where to channel research investment. The aim is to help identify the projects most likely to provide the best outcomes for the forestry industry, meet the needs of its members, and ensure future productivity and profitability.
For FWPA, this new approach applies to all research projects to which the government contributes financially, including all matched funding industry projects.
It’s a welcome step and means a targeted, consistent and transparent approach to post-activity cost, benefit and impact analysis and reporting. Stakeholders will be able to clearly understand the value of research and the associated return on investment.
Under the new guidelines, FWPA will increase its accountability by looking at how it optimises its systems, monitors projects throughout their life, what the organisation is doing to benefit its members, how outcomes can best be communicated by eliminating jargon and focusing on plain English, and publishing the details via a wide variety of accessible channels.
In the past, the results of individual government-funded research projects have been communicated differently by individual RDCs. For FWPA, this meant there has been no uniform documenting of the overall cost/benefit analysis across its investment programs. This new approach addresses this issue, by aiming to develop a like-for-like methodology for each project and creating a working repository of knowledge for the long term.
This approach will help the organisation and its members better understand the many and varied benefits of investing in forest and wood processing research, and the value it delivers for Australian people, environment and economy.
It will also prove vital to ensuring continuous improvement in FWPA’s research efforts. The ongoing review program enables all RDCs to carefully consider what worked during projects, what didn’t, and what could be improved for future benefits and better outcomes.
With this framework in place, FWPA will be able to better identify the hallmarks of the likely success of a project upon selection, as well projects that may have not quite hit the mark, while providing a more complete and easily accessible picture of the organisation’s successes. It’s a positive development that will deliver better overall outcomes for the forestry sector.
To view the documents, visit: https://fwpa.com.au/about/corporate-documents/current-sfa-and-best-practice-guide/
