1. How is the Development Planning Pathway Strategic?
   1. The Development Planning Pathway is strategic in the way it links the grand vision and the twenty-one (21) Development Agenda Priorities in PILLAR FOUR, to:
      1. The public problems or issues affecting a society, e.g., an increase in crime or the impacts of climate change.
      2. The policy solutions to these problems or issues, e.g., crime and climate change policies.
      3. The legislative protections within which the policy solutions will be implemented, e.g., legislation related to crime and climate change.
      4. The recommendations in development plans or strategies and programs that guide the implementation of policy recommendations.
      5. The development projects that detail the implementation of the specific actions to achieve program targets.
   2. These strategic linkages represent a PLANNING DECISION HIERARCHY or ORDER that helps divisions of the Tobago House of Assembly standardize the preparation and implementation of policies, plans or strategies, programs, and projects (see decision step 3).
   3. The Planning Decision Hierarchy is represented by the following.
      
      PDH/O=P_p, P_S, L_p, P/S, D_Pr, D_P
      Where PDH/O – Planning Decision Hierarchy or Order
      P_p– Public problem
      P_S – Policy solution
      L_p – Legislative protections
      P/S – Plan or strategy
      D_Pr – Development programs
      D_P– Development projects

 
Explanation:  In all planning processes under the SDPP, definitions of public problems must precede considerations for policy solutions, legislative protections, plans or strategies, development programs and development projects in that order.