• As noted in section 5.6, core staff of the secretariat may be provided by the focal agency on a secondment basis, while ancillary staff may be provided by other organizations. We suggest that, to avoid adding to the cost of the secretariat, the additional staff should also be seconded from their organizations. In some cases, however, this may not be possible owing to a lack of resources. The government may therefore consider the desirability of funding the attachment to the secretariat of a small number of appropriate staff. • No specific number is suggested for the staff of the secretariat. However, there is usually no need for a large secretariat, regardless of the national situation,. One factor that will influence its size is the extent of its involvement in media work and information dissemination. • As noted in section 5.6, the intensity of secretariat activity - and hence resource requirements - will vary over the life of the plan. Developmental phase • The period of consultations with the community will probably require some travel within the country by committee members and the secretariat, entailing corresponding costs. Consultative forums and public meetings may require additional funds for venue hire, advertising and other related costs. Provision will have to be made for appropriate funding. • The drafting, production and dissemination of information material will also require some additional funding. The secretariat can probably undertake most of this work, but there may be a need for professional involvement in presentation and formatting of materials and the design and development of a web site. If relevant skills are not available within the secretariat, the work will need to be subcontracted to consultants. Printing and dissemination of materials will also require resources. • It may also be necessary to fund research, including public opinion surveys to assist in developing baseline data for use in subsequent monitoring of the effectiveness of the plan. • If possible, additional costs may be minimized by using the facilities of the focal agency. While there are still unavoidable real costs in the use of in-house resources, such an approach promotes economies of scale and relieves the secretariat of the task of establishing an independent public affairs unit. • Similarly, it may be possible to draw on the focal agency’s media relations capacities. There will probably still be a need for a person with media skills in the secretariat, but the opportunity to access an established unit’s expertise and equipment will greatly facilitate the secretariat’s work and promote economies. • Production and dissemination of information materials and media relations work will continue, on a reduced scale, during the implementation and monitoring/evaluation phases. Implementation phase • The cost of implementing the various activities provided for in the plan should largely be borne by the implementing agencies, on the grounds that the plan’s activities constitute part of the core business of the agency concerned. The role of the national committee and the secretariat at this stage should be confined to 102