Planning For the Future

Tools and Techniques

Adapting the Strategic Planning Process to Various Levels in the Organization

Public Sector

Level	Degree of Autonomy	Uses and Adjustments
Director of FP Division	Mid to high	Can usually do full national level strategic planning within a fixed budget allocation.
Department Head in FP Service Division	Mid	Takes part in division's strategic planning process. Sets goals, strategies, objectives, work plans, and budget for departments.
Director of Regional Office	Mid to low	Has input into national planning process. May have objectives set by national plan. Can decide on strategies, work plan, and budget line items. Uses the strategic plan to build consensus.
Department Head in Regional Office	Mid to low	Takes part in regional planning process. Holds planning meetings with department staff to set targets, develop work plans and budget, and build consensus.
Manager of Service Unit (Clinic Director, CBD Supervisor)	Low	May have objectives set by regional plan. Can plan with staff to set strategies for improvement of services and greater efficiency. Creates work plans to clarify division of responsibilities.

General characteristics of public sector organizations:

May not be free to experiment with revenue generation.
Civil service regulations may limit control over staffing.
All levels work within a fixed budget allocation.
Rarely free to integrate family planning services with any activities other than health services. Usually top-down management structure with little autonomy at lower levels.
Less free to experiment with different service strategies or approaches.

Private Sector

Level	Degree of Autonomy	Uses and Adjustments
Director of Agency	High	Can do full organization-wide strategic planning, restricted only by limits set by the board.
Board Member	High	Sometimes included in strategic planning. Often asked to review decisions made in planning process.
Vice Presidents and Department Heads	Mid to high	Should be part of organizational planning. Building on organization-wide plan, can hold planning sessions with departmental staff to set objectives, targets, work plans, and budgets for the department.
Program Directors	Mid to high	Programs with an outside funding source often have a high degree of autonomy in all stages of planning. Plans may be subject to funder's approval. All key staff involved.
Managers of Service Units (Clinic Director, CBD Supervisor)	Mid to low	In large agencies, objectives may be set at higher levels. If not, the planning process includes key staff who can establish objectives, work plans, and budgets for the improvement or expansion of services.

General characteristics of private sector organizations:

Usually free to market a wide variety of family planning-related goods and services
Budget depends on ability to generate revenue from donations or sales
Often more uncertainty than in public sector
Level of management autonomy at each level varies widely among organizations and depends on philosophy of top management.