Planning for the Future

Family planning managers share a common vision of a future in which there are fewer maternal and infant deaths, family size is smaller, and unwanted pregnancies are prevented. In order for this vision to become a reality, the programs that deliver family planning services must be well planned.

The most important components of an effective program are a clear vision of the future and a well-considered plan describing the steps that must be taken today, next month, and in the years to come in order to make the vision a reality. In this chapter and the next, we will describe the planning process which will guide you from your vision of the future, through an analysis of the current situation, to concrete strategies and plans to achieve your goals.

Although the planning process as it is presented here consists of a series of steps, the process should not stop once the plans have been made. An effective manager at any level of the organization will be continually on the watch for changes in the external environment, will be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the program, and will make adjustments so that the program is always as effective as possible. The steps described here are tools to help you and your colleagues to think more systematically about what goals are appropriate and what the best ways are to achieve them.

Planning for the future allows you to take a close look at your organization or program, at your goals, and at what strategies and activities are needed in order to achieve the desired goals. Plans therefore answer the following questions:

What is the organization trying to achieve?
Where is the organization now?
Where does the organization want to be in five years (and beyond)?
How are we going to get there?
How will the organization finance this program?

Planning thus covers a wide range of tasks, from the setting of organization-wide goals for the future to the detailed scheduling of activities to be carried out next year. Both the setting of long-range goals and strategies and the detailed activity-planning for the immediate future are part of the same process. The detailed annual work plans and budgets that you write for the next year are based on the long-range goals and strategies that you decide on now; the main difference when you are planning for the immediate future is the greater level of detail.

For the purpose of discussion, this manual divides the planning process into two chapters. This chapter discusses how to develop both program and financial plans to achieve your goals. The next chapter, Developing and Using Work Plans, discusses how to formulate detailed plans for the next year from the strategies and objectives that you have set.

Some organizations develop only annual work plans and are successful in their work. Over time, however, the working environment and the program itself are likely to evolve and change. The kind of long-range or "strategic" planning discussed in this chapter is especially important and beneficial when an organization or program faces changed conditions in its environment, when the family planning program enters a new stage of maturity, or when program strategies are not bringing about the expected results.

Tools and Techniques - The Planning Vocabulary

Motivating Staff: Thinking about the future can be a process that stimulates and motivates you and your staff. Reaching agreement on goals and on how to achieve them is motivating because everyone involved ends up with a shared vision and with concrete ideas about how to surmount obstacles in order to achieve that vision.

Building a planning team with a common vision: The most successful planners actively involve a team of key staff members in the planning process. Disagreements among the staff about goals or how to achieve them are worked out in the planning process, so that internal conflicts don't pose obstacles to implementation. Plans are more likely to be feasible and realistic when staff are involved in the "how to get there" part of planning. Among the groups that you might want to involve in the planning process are field, volunteer, and international staff, as well as other divisions of your organization or ministry. Which groups you decide to involve depends on the type of planning you're doing. When staff are involved in the planning process, they are motivated to carry out the specific activities that you all believe will lead to successful programs. This often has the positive effect of strengthening relationships among staff members.

Confronting key issues and solving problems: The planning process allows managers to confront the key issues facing their program or organization and to develop strategies to respond to them. Common questions facing family planning programs include:

• How can we expand the range of activities or services we offer, or the number of people or areas covered by our services?



• How can we continue to provide services if the government or donors are decreasing their support?



• How can we reduce the dropout rate for village-level family planning workers and improve the quality of care?



• How can we increase the acceptability of family planning programs to political and religious leaders, as well as to all community members?

Planning defines roles and responsibilities: Most plans set measurable performance objectives for a program or organization. In addition, they define who is responsible for which activities. This clarity in the division of labor and objectives enables the manager to hold staff members accountable for the implementation of activities and the achievement of objectives.

Planning challenges the status quo: No problem is perfect, and planning usually aims for improvement. Significant changes in the program's environment sometimes require radically new strategies. Responding to these needs through change and growth is both necessary and ultimately motivating, but may also put some managers and staff on the defensive if they have invested years of time and energy in designing and maintaining current programs. The planner can anticipate these responses and keep them to a minimum by:

• Creating an open atmosphere for the planning process, stressing the interests of the whole organization over personal interests.



• Taking care to point out the program's success before discussing areas that need improvement, and avoiding overly-general negative statements about program performance.



• If possible, reassuring staff who may fear that any needed reorganization might put their jobs in jeopardy.



• Presenting a positive attitude towards failures or mistakes as part of a learning process: "We learned this lesson from this experience; what strategy would work better?"

Planning takes time: In many programs, the managers and staff are extremely busy and have little time to set aside their daily responsibilities in order to make the concentrated effort that planning requires. Possible solutions to this difficulty include:

• Preparing a schedule for the planning process several months in advance, making sure that all key personnel set aside the required time in their work schedules to gather any necessary data before the planning meetings are held, and preparing a schedule for implementing changes after the meetings.



• Organizing "staff retreats" and moving to a different physical location for the days that planning takes place.

Planning involves different levels of staff: The manager needs to design the planning process so that:

• The size of the core planning and decision-making group is small enough to allow for productive discussions (five to ten is ideal, but there should be no more than twelve). These meetings need to have clear agendas and objectives set well in advance, and a division of roles and responsibilities, so that participants have time to prepare for the function they have been assigned in the meetings.



• The composition of the planning group is representative of all key groupings, activities, or departments within the agency or program. In organizations where volunteer staff are part of the management structure, volunteers should be actively involved in the planning process.



• Staff at all levels are provided with a channel for making their views known to the planning group and are kept informed in a timely way about the issues being discussed by the planners.

Planning requires the consensus of key staff: Within most organizations, different staff have different interests and allegiances, depending on their position in the organization and their personal beliefs. Most key issues relating to organizational strategy will result in conflicts, which need to be managed so that all parties can agree on the final decisions made. The manager can manage these conflicts productively by:

• Asking someone who is perceived by all participants as being neutral and unbiased to conduct meetings (this facilitator could be someone from outside the organization).



• Making it clear to all participants that disagreements can be an essential and productive part of the planning process, since they ensure that issues are considered from all possible viewpoints. The facilitator should give a consistent message to participants that disagreements are constructive as long as they do not degenerate into personal attacks.



• Establishing procedures for the meetings that ensure that participants listen to each other and give due consideration to the ideas of others.

In order to conduct a successful planning exercise, the organization needs to assemble a planning team. The planning team selected for your organization will depend on the size and structure of the organization.

The planning process can take anywhere from one day to a year, depending on:

• The size and complexity of the organization.



• The level of disagreement within the organization about future directions.



• The extent to which change in organizational strategy is necessary to adapt to a changing environment.

In order to develop an effective plan, a small organization with successful programs in a relatively stable environment might spend approximately one week, while a major government ministry in a rapidly changing environment might spend approximately three months of total staff time in collecting extensive background data and holding a number of meetings at different levels of the organization.

Whatever the amount of time your organization requires for planning, it is extremely important to draw up a schedule that includes all the steps in the process and specifies who participates at each step, the time needed, and the dates. With such a schedule, all staff involved:

• Know what is expected of them



• Prepare their inputs in time



• Are available for meetings



• Are familiar with all the steps involved in the process

A sample schedule might look like the one below. Please note that this example for an organization with a departmental structure. While the steps are always the same, the "Participants" and "Time Needed" vary widely among different programs.

Tools and Techniques - Sample Planning Schedule