STEPS IN STRATEGIC PLANNING

Annex 2: STEPS IN STRATEGIC PLANNING

Background

There are many, many ways to undertake strategic planning, and many of the steps described here are called different things, depending on the person who is guiding the process. It is important to remember to link the plan to capacity assessments (capacity assessments are a form of evaluation and will tell the planning team about the institutional strengths and weaknesses), evaluation planning and results-based management.

The following sections illustrate the major steps normally undertaken with a focus on the functional objective of each steps.

Terminology will differ from country to country and expert to expert.

1. Ensure the Proper Expertise and Leadership is in Place

Efforts should be made to work with the UN and with the government to identify expertise in-country or in the region. If there is insufficient expertise, international expertise may be required.

See Annex 1 for sample terms of reference.

Within the NHRI, the senior office holder and a select few staff will provide leadership within the institution itself and should be closely involved in the process.

2. Conduct a SWOT analysis

The objective of this step is to understand the environment within which the NHRI is operating, and to answer basic questions about its capacity and readiness to go through the strategic planning process. A variation of this is sometimes called a readiness assessment. An environmental analysis tends to look primarily at the external environment.

A SWOT refers to strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the NHRI.

3. Examine the international context

Integrate views, recommendations and other conclusions from treaty bodies, special procedures etc. into the planning process.

4. Identify a few high level strategic objectives

Through the internal analysis and consultation with staff and stakeholders, a successful planning process will result in a few high-level strategic goals or objectives that will govern priority-setting over the long term with respect to emerging and important human rights priorities for the country.

5. Identify purposes or outcomes of intervention

Outcomes tell the organization what success will look like – they help to identify the benefit sought and to inform the organization when the goals are achieved.

6. Indicators and Baseline Data

Indicators are variables that will tell us how the organization has performed in relation to the planned outcome. While it is not unusual to se indicators set after the targets are established, if you do not know where you are starting from, you cannot set targets.

Indicators help monitor progress and help to indicate where corrections or improvements are needed. Indicators should be:

• Clear (precise and unambiguous
• Relevant (appropriate)
• Economic (reasonably costed)
• Adequate (provide a sufficient basis to assess performance)
• Monitorable (can be independently validated)

Once indicators are chosen, they can be used to understand and describe the starting point of the NHRI in terms of its current data and its circumstances. To monitor progress in moving towards outcomes, the organization must know where it is starting from, and what the current situation is.

This may be described in numbers (for caseloads, for example) or qualitatively, but in any case is linked to the readiness assessment mentioned earlier. Baseline indicators will tell you where you are starting from.

Other indicators may be more subjective or qualitative (see in particular Chapter 8).

7. Set targets

Targets are simply the result of knowing (1) the current situation and (2) how you would like to improve it.

E.g.
Baseline indicator level + Desired level of Improvement = target performance

(In some situations, a quantitative indicator may not be easily identified for NHRIs, but in most cases, process indicators are possible).

Targets should be SMART

• specific,
• measurable,
• ambitious,
• realistic, and
• time-bound

In some organisations, targets and outcomes are the same thing, depending on how the change model is developed.

Within six years, HRE curriculum will be in 80% of high schools.

8. Articulate the Assumptions made in choosing Targets

Articulating assumptions helps planners identify risks, and may provide flexibility if the underlying assumptions prove invalid.

9. Identify the principal activities that will be needed to achieve the outcomes

This will generally take place in an action plan or operational plan that devolves from the strategic goals.

Costing the activities – the plan budget – is often referred to as inputs, and is normally done in this stage as well

Hold eight workshops over the three-year period to validate curriculum design.

10. Link the plan to an evaluation framework and organizational capacity assessment

While this step is often forgotten in traditional planning, or assumed, without being explicitly integrated, it is important to ensure that resources and time are dedicated to evaluating how the organization is performing against the plan. Links should be made to the assessment of the organization's capacity in future for the purposes of strengthening the organization.

Putting It All Together

In many regions, NHRI staff, development partners and experts take the above elements, or variations of them, and integrate them into a tabular form sometimes called a "logframe" analysis or LFA.

This format is used by several funding agencies, and NHRIs as grant receivers, are in turn required to use the LFA. Again, different organisations set up the LFA differently, and there should be consultation with donors about the format and structure that is required or preferred.

The LFA is an important part of the Strategic Plan: It helps to visualise the various "pieces" of the strategic planning process in a single document and links them conceptually.

Strategic Goal or Objective Example: Introduce human rights education to the formal education system
Outcome or Purpose How will the NHRI show that it has achieved the objective? Example: High schools in the country will have human rights education as part of the curriculum.	Indicators Establish a baseline indicator (where are you starting from?) Example: 0% of schools have HRE at present. And how you quantify what you want to achieve. Example: % of schools with HRE curriculum.	Targets What will be achieved. Baseline indicator + Desired improvement = Target over time period. Example: Within three years, a pilot curriculum will be tested in 5% of high schools. Example: Within six years, the validated HRE curriculum will be in 80% of high schools.	Assumptions What key factors must hold true? Example: The education authorities in government will want to cooperate with the NHRI in creating a human rights curriculum for schools.

A Strategic plan is a high-level plan. It should contain the broad details of what is to be accomplished and a basic road map for getting there. The details of the plan – inputs, activities and budgeting, are normally (but not always) contained in an Action Plan or Operational plan.

An example is set out below.

A final (if modifiable) version of the plan should be written, validated and disseminated. This is a summing up phase, that allows the institution to briefly synthesise the strategic process and state: where it is going (vision), how it will get there (mission) and articulate its main goals as identified through the planning process. This is normally done in a short document that is communicated widely inside and outside the organisation.

Selected References:

Manji, F. Proposals that make a difference, Fahamu, Oxford, 1998.

R. Rist. Ten Steps (World Bank)