9.4 Format Consideration should also be given to the format of the plan as a document. It will be aimed at practitioners – politicians, public officials and civil society organizations – as well as the general public. It should therefore be a document that inspires and encourages users. It should provide practical guidance but should not be too lengthy. Consideration should be given to a layout that is clear and easy to understand. Some of the countries that have adopted plans have found it useful to work on the basis of a set of headings applicable to each area considered, which give a clear indication of the current state of affairs and proposals for change. Such headings may include: • • • • • • International obligations and national legislation; What has been done to date; Present situation (drawing on the baseline study); Proposed action within various time frames – short, medium and long; Institutional responsibility for the proposed action and identification of resources; Monitoring and evaluation. It is important to make clear the commitment of government to the achievement of the plan’s objectives. Directions from the head of State or government should be specifically included. To ensure that it can serve as a working document, it may be useful to include relevant contact details of key organizations in each sector. This will enable civil society organizations and the general public to become engaged more readily in implementation of the plan. It may also serve to foster a better partnership between government and civil society. The document should also include appropriate references to international human rights norms and national legislation. 9.5 Targets and benchmarks To be realistic, targets should be reasonably precise and achievable within reasonable time frames. Judgement will be required to decide in which areas and in what terms targets should be defined. In some areas, for example the administration of justice, establishment of human rights coordination committees, ratification of international standards and human rights education, it is desirable to include detailed targets in the plan itself. In the case of economic, social and cultural rights, the plan may include broad targets, such as reducing rates of illiteracy, mortality, morbidity or homelessness, increasing school retention rates and improving nutrition. However, in line with the view expressed in the previous section, it us probably not desirable to attempt a plan that prescribes detailed activities in all areas of social policy, for example extending into areas such as education and health. A preferable approach will often be for individual implementing agencies to incorporate more general human rights objectives of the national plan into their own separate planning documents as higher-level targets, ensuring consistency with their own objectives. It will be for the specific agency to decide how their normal programmes should be pursued or adjusted in order to implement these human rights objectives. 74