Management Synthesis for Reef Programs

The Office of the Great Barrier Reef (OGBR) is seeking to engage a supplier to conduct a management synthesis project designed to address a key deliverable of the Reef 2050 Water Quality Improvement Plan; “capture on-ground management knowledge and expertise to provide guidance for program designers and managers”. A considerable number of projects have been implemented with the aim of improving the health of the reef. To date, no review or synthesis of key aspects of these projects, in terms of design, implementation, management and evaluation, has been conducted. To address this gap it is important to capture the considerable amount of on-ground management knowledge and expertise held by GBR practioners. This project can, thereafter, lead to improved documentation and dissemination of organisational management processes that can lead to industry practice change.

Scope
This project will review a range of government funded water quality projects across different industries (i.e., cane and grazing) and catchments to identify and review:

• Examples (with evidence) of on-ground practice-change projects that were managed to a high standard and the factors that contributed to the project’s achievement of successful outcomes;
• Examples (with evidence) of on-ground practice-change projects that were not managed to a high standard and the factors that contributed to the project’s poor outcomes;
• Existing and available grey literature including existing project plans, evaluation/reporting documentation.

As part of the review, the project will investigate/assess:

• a range of project enabling factors/barriers that contribute to positive/negative project outcomes including, project design, partnership arrangements, project delivery/management, monitoring and evaluation, goals and targets.
• a range of project outcomes, taking into consideration different perspectives/definitions of project success.

Deliverables

The project will deliver a final report that synthesises and documents:
• The project methodology;
• A set of good practice principles for the design and delivery of GBR water quality programs, including variations to account for different contexts (e.g., industries, catchments, organisations);
• Evidence and validation for the good practice principles;
• Exemplars and case studies that illustrate excellent practices.

The results will be disseminated in a format that is suitable for GBR practioners to access and understand (e.g., consider web-based database, project atlas, formal report, simple summary document for wider circulation, webinar sessions, regional roadshow etc.).