It is only possible to give an informed guess of the time each of the stages would take. Much will depend on the scope of the project, the countries selected, the level of project funding, logistics and infrastructure. The estimates below are for duration, not working time. The sections which follow give some foundation for these estimates, which are very general.

For duration, we mean the time span of the project from start to finish. It is unlikely that a single country project could be completed satisfactorily in less than a year, and 15 to 18 months time span could be more appropriate. An absolute minimum period of six months seems necessary for fieldwork (it does not have to be continuous or full time during that period). There is however a strong case for allowing fieldwork, even if its total duration is only eight weeks, to spread over the span of one complete annual agricultural/pastoral cycle, so as to capture the range of activities and challenges faced by people. As will be emphasized at several points, there are many dangers in rushing or truncating the field study aspect, and in overburdening the communities concerned with an external time-table. Therefore, for an entire multi-country project an overall time-frame of two years from start to finish would not be unreasonably high, with the expectation of three to five years follow-up implementation activities as a second phase. It is not recommended that any project undertake more than one major ecosystem type at one time.

Stage 1: Scope project, preparation, concept papers, procedure document
2 months

Stage 2: Select countries, Implementing Agencies (IAs), sites
3-6 months

Stage 3: Workshop: Ensure common conceptual framework, approve work plans
1 week

Stage 4: Conduct site studies, country policy studies; program management visits; produce draft outputs
6-12 months

Stage 5: Produce draft outputs;
1-3 months

Stage 6: Workshop: Preliminary outputs: quality control, comparisons, syntheses
1 week (note need for lead time to circulate and review documents)

Stage 7: Transmit outputs through local and national sharing workshops; Evaluate outcomes
1-3 months; Evaluate after 6 months.

Follow-up projects to support adaptive strategies;
3-5 years.

This suggests that the overall time scale should be of the order of two years from project inception to delivery of outputs. Critical path analysis would allow this time to be reduced, but unanticipated delays would tend to extend it, suggesting that the two influences would cancel each other out.