The increasingly frequent and severe droughts prompted the global community to adopt more proactive and integrated approaches to reduce or neutralize the impacts. The paradigm shift called for an improved planning mechanism that puts emphasis on strengthening preparedness. In support of this process, the Drought Initiative, called by the Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), rolled out its programme on drought planning at national level. Showing the strong interest, 70 countries have already joined the programme to prepare their national drought plan.

The development of a multi-criteria assessment for the review of the plans is a necessary step to enable the implementation. This publication contributes to this overall goal from multiple objectives, including the presentation of a replicable framework to conduct regular reviews, the analysis of the submitted plans to identify the potential for further enhancements, the provision of recommendations on the options of enhancements, and the demonstration of case studies with successful planning methods to facilitate the global knowledge-sharing.