Conducting a National Inquiry into Systemic Patterns of Human Rights Violation 9.2. CONTENTS OF THE PLAN The plan should set out all the key information about the inquiry so that that information is available in a single place. It should include information about decisions already taken: the objectives, the terms of reference, the Inquiry Commissioners, the key inquiry staff and the budget. Its three additional principal components should be the inquiry’s methodology, its timetable and its products. 9.3. METHODOLOGY The plan should describe the whole methodology for the inquiry on an item-by-item basis. It should include briefing sessions, background information, research papers, the receipt of written submissions, the public hearings, consultations and reporting. It should also describe, in brief, the follow-up that the NHRI will undertake when the inquiry is complete and the report has been released. Follow-up should be the subject of a later specific strategy but it should be foreshadowed in the plan. 9.4. TIMETABLE The timetable for a national inquiry should be carefully developed. The plan should provide a very detailed timetable on a month-by-month basis. A good starting point would be to plan for a national inquiry taking not less than 12 months but not more than 18 months. The plan should then map out how the inquiry would be conducted, from the completion of the background paper to the release of its final report, within that period. It should specify which activities will be undertaken at what times to ensure that the inquiry’s momentum and public interest in it are maintained throughout that period. The timetable should be realistic for the methodology of the inquiry and for the inquiry to be able to complete the activities in the plan. It is better to reduce the number of activities or extend the timetable a little than to plan a schedule that the inquiry cannot implement. 9.5. REPORTS AND RESULTS The plan should also indicate what the results of the inquiry will be. At the very least, a national inquiry will produce a report of its findings and recommendations. It may report, however, in a number of documents, not only one, and in a number of formats, not only a printed text. These options are discussed in Chapter 13. The plan should indicate what the inquiry will produce – whether there will be one report or several, whether alternative reporting formats will be used in addition to the publication. This assists the inquiry staff to start preparing for the reporting process. It also enables those outside the inquiry to know what to expect from the inquiry and to consider their own means of following up on the inquiry’s findings and recommendations. 9.6. MONITORING AND EVALUATION PLAN The initial planning process should consider how the progress and results of the inquiry will be monitored and evaluated. The national inquiry plan should include monitoring and evaluation or monitoring and evaluation should be the subject of a separate plan. The plan will include identifying the milestones throughout the inquiry when the team monitors how the inquiry is going. At these times the team will: • review progress against the objectives • identify any changes that may be required to the design, implementation and practice of the inquiry • review whether the original inquiry objectives are the correct ones or whether they need adjusting. 40