Program Planning and Evaluation
Priority Setting
The Basics
- While clientele groups have many needs, resources are often quite limited. Priority Setting is the process of involving clients and stakeholders in determining which needs are most important.
- Documentation of Stakeholder-determined priorities is often a requirement of grant applications, to ensure that funded projects address important community needs.
- There are many processes, formal and informal, for documenting clientele / stakeholder priorities. Methods include surveys, group exercises, and focus groups.
Examples & Applications
Priority-Setting Activity An adaptable group exercise for brain-storming and then voting to determine stakeholder priorities, used at the 2006 Arizona Pest Management Summit. (PDF, 113KB)
Documented Stakeholder IPM Priorities Stakeholder priorities can be documented in meeting proceedings, such as these from the 2006 APMC Summit, then cited in grant proposals.
Program Priorities and Planning (presentation) Kai Umeda presents examples in needs assessment, priority-setting and program planning from the turf program. (PDF, 976KB)
School IPM Program Survey A survey used to determine clientele use of various program outputs. (PDF, 81KB)
Learn More
Priority Setting Resource from University of Wisconsin Extension. This site includes helpful handouts and videos on the topic of priority setting.
A Handbook of Priority Setting in Extension Forest & Mulcahy, 1976. University of Wisconsin Extension. (PDF, 838KB)
Finding and Developing Stakeholder Priorities Guidelines from the Northeast IPM Center on documentation of stateholder priorities, with an emphasis on IPM priorities.