Mar 26, 2014 10:03
10 yrs ago
1 viewer *
English term

stagger

English Other Government / Politics
Hello everyone,

Following the on-going extension of the projects falling under the Regional Progamme to the end of 2015, the mid-term evaluation of the Regional Programme will take place in April 2014. In the meantime, efforts have been made ***to stagger*** the ongoing Country Office Iran/Pakistan and Afghanistan Mid-Term Evaluations in such a way that they all feed into the Regional Programme Mid-Term Evaluation. This allows for increased synergies and learning processes as part of UNODC’s broader regional approach and should be emulated elsewhere in UNODC operations globally

What does "stagger" mean in this context.

Thank you.
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Non-PRO (1): Sheila Wilson

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Responses

5 mins
Selected

schedule (in this case)

"Stagger" really means to hold them at different times: not to hold them simultaneously. Here, however, the context indicates that the point is to hold them at times that ensure that they "feed into the Regional Programme Mid-Term Evaluation": in other words, that they are held before that evaluation. So really it is being used here just to mean "schedule".

I think the writer has probably used "stagger" with the idea in mind that they should be moved forward in time, if necessary, so as not to coincide with the Mid-Term Evaluation.

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Note added at 1 hr (2014-03-26 11:20:50 GMT)
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As I say, "stagger" is not really being used in its proper sense here, as far as I can see. Literally, "stagger the ongoing Country Office Iran/Pakistan and Afghanistan Mid-Term Evaluations" means not holding these two evaluations at the same time as each other. But since the object is simply that their results will feed into the Regional Evaluation, it wouldn't actually matter if they were held at the same time as each other, and in any case they are ongoing (i.e. continuous), so they are really bound to coincide with each other. But more importantly, it is no use at all holding the country evaluations at different times if one or both take place after the regional evaluation. The crucial point is that the country evaluations should be "staggered" in relation to the regional evaluation, and specifically that they are completed before, not after, that regional evaluation. Therefore the strict sense of "stagger", hold at different times (from each other), is not the intended meaning here; what the writer means is "schedule" or "programme" or "time".
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Many thanks to everyone. Thank you, Charles."
+6
8 mins

organise at different times, arrange the timing of

To stagger things mean to arrange them so that they do not coincide - in other words, the evaluations will not all take place at the same time, but also their timing will be such that they will all be done in time to feed into the Regional Mid-Term Evaluation (so this may in part be about making sure that they are all completed by a particular date, whenever they start).
Peer comment(s):

agree acetran : spread.
12 mins
agree Jack Doughty
1 hr
agree Ashutosh Mitra
1 hr
agree Noni Gilbert Riley : A combination of your two answers (and Charles' schedule). Yes
1 hr
agree jccantrell
4 hrs
agree Charlesp
11 hrs
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