STAGE 5. Defining the action plan

What steps should be completed?

STEP 2: Specify the execution process and intervention schedule

Intervention execution process

Specifying the execution process consists of defining the stages, order and sequence in which intervention actions are to be developed. Actions are usually grouped in more general stages (which include several actions) and then ordered according to a logical order of execution. Stages in the development of an intervention include all the actions that must be carried out to implement the intervention: those that are carried out directly with the population and those that are needed to prepare and execute the intervention (designing training materials, training, population recruitment, etc.). An intervention usually includes the following stages:

• Stage 1: Designing and preparing intervention activities and materials.
• Stage 2: Training and motivating implementers (where necessary).
• Stage 3: Disseminating activities (to the target population or intermediary population).
• Stage 4: Selecting, engaging and retaining the target population or intermediary population).
• Stage 5: Developing activities with the population (to change personal and contextual determinants.
• Stage 6: Monitoring and following up the intervention.
• Stage 7: Evaluating the intervention.
• Stage 8: Disseminating intervention progress and/or results.

Intervention schedule

The schedule is a representation, usually visual, of the intervention’s total and partial execution time (by logical stages of execution), which estimates the duration of the various stages of the intervention. For example, one year can be taken as a reference for an intervention’s schedule, and the stages can be expressed according to their duration in weeks or months, depending on the type of intervention.

It is important to make an appropriate and realistic estimate of the time that will be needed to implement each stage, and assess the time in which the proposed changes in the objectives can be achieved, so it is advisable to engage the various people involved in the intervention and calculate the duration of each activity that makes up a stage. The aim is to estimate the duration of each stage by determining the beginning and end of it to create the timetable.