1. © GEO Secretariat Work Plan Guidance document 2 nd Capacity Building Committee Meeting, Brussels 14-15 September 2006

2. © GEO Secretariat Contents Task Leads Roles of Task Leads Contributing Organisations Contributing Users Secretariat and Committees Process for work plan implementation

3. © GEO Secretariat Tasks and Task Leads When a Member or Participating Organization agrees to lead a GEO Task, it is taking on responsibility for ensuring, that Task milestones are reached and deliverables are met. Ideally, more than one Member or Participating Organization will agree to co-lead a Task and share the work of implementation. In some cases, the Secretariat or a Committee may invite a relevant external organization to co-lead a Task. Commitments to lead or contribute to GEO Tasks are not legally binding, but are entered in the spirit of advancing GEOSS under the terms of the GEOSS 10-Year Implementation Plan.

4. © GEO Secretariat Responsible for organizing the work of the Task in cooperation with other Task Leads and Contributors, and taking steps to ensure that the work is carried out. Coordinate internally to ensure that the appropriate competencies of other agencies, divisions, or units are brought into the Task as necessary. Provide financial and in-kind resources necessary for Task implementation, drawing on sources internal to their agency, institution or organization. Encourage other organizations and entities to participate on a best efforts basis as contributing organizations in the Task, particularly from developing countries whenever possible. Roles of Task Leads

5. © GEO Secretariat Support the implementation of certain elements of the Task by providing financial or in-kind resources in coordination with the Task leads. Assist in recruiting additional contributing organizations to the Task, particularly within their country, region, or discipline, and provide other support to the Task leads where possible. Contributing Organisation

6. © GEO Secretariat Provide advice and information to the Task leads on user requirements and best practices, Engage user communities within their organization, country, or discipline. For many Tasks, the process of user engagement will benefit from the presence of a related Community of Practice, a community organized around a specific domain or application of Earth observation, recognized by the User Interface Committee to facilitate the identification, consolidation, and communication of user requirements. For Tasks relating to a given GEO Community of Practice their representatives will coordinate with Task leads to provide informed input on user requirements. NOTE: The above paragraph will be reviewed by the User Interface and Capacity Building Committees Contributing users

7. © GEO Secretariat The Secretariat & the Committees The Secretariat will –communicate regularly with Task Leads and Points of Contact, –facilitate and support their work, providing necessary reporting tools and structures as well as advice and recommendations as necessary. –will provide coordination across Tasks. The Committees, and Committee Co-Chairs will –monitor progress of the Tasks under their purview, provide advice to Task Leads, encourage coordination among Tasks and identify areas for strengthening Task implementation, working with the Secretariat to ensure all Tasks are appropriately addressed, consolidated, or in some cases, postponed or eliminated. –The Committees will also endeavour to ensure broad participation in the Tasks, and will continue to identify additional contributors throughout Task implementation. –The Committees Co-Chairs will coordinate issues across committees as appropriate.

8. © GEO Secretariat Task Point of Contact: individual volunteer identified by the Committees in coordination with the Secretariat, from among the Task leads to serve a single point of communication for all those involved in the Task, and provide liaison with other Tasks, the Secretariat and the relevant Committee GEO Work Plan implementation the basic tools Task Sheet:the tool to report on status and progress, the detailed description of the task. Roster:the contact details of all Leads and Contributors. Matrix:the overview of all Tasks Discussion Lists: means to facilitate discussion between those involved in a task

9. © GEO Secretariat GEO 2006 Work Plan implementation Reporting 1.The Task Point of Contact gathers the contributions made by the Leads and Contributors, and updates the Task Sheet according to the Guidance document. 2.On a monthly basis, the Task Point of Contact may submit an updated Task Sheets to secretariat@geosec.org. (Quarterly updates are required)secretariat@geosec.org 3.The Task Point of Contact will also update the Task Roster with all appropriate contact information. The Secretariat will maintain master copies of the Task Sheets and Task Roster for the record. 4.Once a month, the Secretariat posts an updated Matrix, Roster, and set of Task Sheets on ftp://ftp.wmo.int/Projects/GEO/TaskSheets/ and notifies the GEO Community. 5.Based on the third quarter update of all Task sheets,the Secretariat will produce an annual report to the Plenary Task Point of Contact Task Leads & Contributors Committees Secretariat Community

10. © GEO Secretariat Provide advice and information to the Task leads on user requirements and best practices, Engage user communities within their organization, country, or discipline. For many Tasks, the process of user engagement will benefit from the presence of a related Community of Practice, a community organized around a specific domain or application of Earth observation, recognized by the User Interface Committee to facilitate the identification, consolidation, and communication of user requirements. For Tasks relating to a given GEO Community of Practice their representatives will coordinate with Task leads to provide informed input on user requirements. NOTE: The above paragraph will be reviewed by the User Interface and Capacity Building Committees Contributing users (for discussion)