24 STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT IN POLICY AND SECTOR REFORM
The Pilots and Policy SEA Outcomes Each evaluation assessed the influence that the pilot had on the four identified outcomes. This task was not always easy. All evaluations did address the question of outcomes by focusing on changes in behavior, relationships, and activities or actions on the part of people, groups, organizations, and institutions that came into contact with the SEA pilots. The next four subsections analyze the extent to which the pilots managed to achieve the four outcomes. Raising Attention to Environmental Priorities Evaluators were asked to address four questions to determine whether each pilot had succeeded in raising attention to environmental priorities: 1. Are priorities more clearly defined than previously, and how has this change been documented? 2. Have environmental priorities been placed on the policy agenda and linked to growth, poverty reduction, or other key development issues? 3. To what extent are priorities shared among key stakeholders? 4. How has the pilot helped to raise attention to priorities? This outcome is intimately connected with public participation, as priorities are social choices that ultimately reflect the social preferences of interest groups and communities. Priorities cannot realistically be uncovered without interaction with stakeholders. The process of prioritization involves first identifying key issues through some kind of scoping exercise, and then sorting and possibly ranking the issues in order of importance. In some cases, the sheer act of awareness raising can have a positive impact on prioritization. In the Hubei pilot, for example, the SEA provided an overall, holistic picture of the possible environmental impacts of planned transport projects. This outcome was sufficient to increase the awareness of senior managers at the Hubei Provincial Communication Department (HPCD) about macro-level environmental implications of the proposed development of road transport. The HPCD management now pays more attention to environmental issues, as evidenced in detailed investigations carried out during the design stage of each road project. The SEA also indirectly contributed to a new circular, issued by the HPCD management, which encourages the enforcement of environmental protection requirements during expressway construction. All the evaluations showed evidence that the pilots had contributed to improved dialogue over environmental and social issues, although the extent of this dialogue and its potential to influence policy reform varied significantly across the pilots. In one case, the Malawi Rapid SESA (strategic environmental