ACTION PLANNING AND THE MULTI-YEAR
BUDGETARY PROCESS
Essien Abel Essien
Director, Strategic Planning
ECOWAS Commission
CONTENT PAGE
1.
What It Is
2.
How Do We Get There
3.
How Did We Get There
4.
Next Steps
5.
Concluding Remarks
WHAT IT IS: STRATEGIC PLANNING
•
Management is often so preoccupied with immediate issues that they lose
sight of their ultimate objectives.
•
The preparation of a strategic plan is a virtual necessity, particularly when an
organization has adopted a vision.
•
It may not be a recipe for success, but without it, an organization is much
more likely to derail/fail.
It should:
• Serve as a framework for decisions or for securing support/approval.
•
Provide a basis for more detailed planning.
•
Explain the business to others in order to inform, motivate & involve.
•
Assist benchmarking & performance monitoring.
•
Stimulate change and become the building block for the next plan.
•
Enhances Visibility
WHAT IT IS: STEPS
Developing a Strategy
•
Explore The critical Issues—Strategic Thinking
•
Identify a range of possible routes to your goals and Investigate ‘stepping
stones’ for each route—Road Mapping
•
Identify and prioritize the goals and objectives – be as specific as
possible—Goal and Objective Setting
•
Identify any gaps or discrepancies in your knowledge and experiences—
Capacity Gap
•
Communicate to the different constituents—Communicate the Plan
WHAT IT IS: ACTION PLANNING
Developing an Action Plan: Breaking down the goals and objectives into tasks
•
The goal(s) that are to be accomplished
•
How each goal contributes to the organization's overall strategic direction
•
What actions will be taken and how
•
Who or what will help and when the action will be taken
•
What specific results (or outputs) much be accomplished
•
How will those results be achieved
•
When will the results be achieved (or timelines for each objective)
HOW DO YOU GET THERE
Vision
Mission
Values
Goals/
Objectives
Strategies
Programs
A pen picture in three or more years time in terms of its likely
physical appearance, size, activities, etc
Purposes of the business—in soft or hard statements (What business
vis. reason for existence
Governing the operation of the business and its conduct or
relationships with society at large, customers, suppliers,
employees, local community and other stakeholders.
Specific interim or ultimate time-based measurements to be
achieved by implementing strategies in pursuit of the organization
objectives. Should be quantifiable, consistent, realistic and
achievable
The rules and guidelines by which the mission, objectives etc.
may be achieved, organic growth, or acquisition plans, or they
can relate to primary matters in key functional areas
Sets out the implementation plans for the key strategies. These
should cover actions, time-scales, deadlines, budgets and
performance targets.
HOW DID THE COMMISSION GET HERE:
STRATEGIC MANDATE
MANDATE 1
MANDATE 2
MANDATE 3
MANDATE 4
MANDATE 5
Formulate a
regional strategy
based on
regional
integration and
aligned with the
development
agenda of the
NEPAD
Framework
Ensure
conversion into
operational,
sectoral,
regional and
national
programs
Develop a
detailed
regional
strategic plan
indicating key
implications and
strategic
options for
implementation
Develop
short/medium
and long term
work plans
Develop a
mechanism for
facilitating
coordination of
the
Commission
strategic plans
in collaboration
with the
Commissioners
and Directors.
ECOWAS VISION 2020
• To create a borderless, peaceful, prosperous and cohesive
region, built on good governance and where people have the
capacity to access and harness its enormous resources
through the creation of opportunities for sustainable
development and environmental preservation
KEYWORDS
ENABLERS
•
Borderless
•
Access
•
Peace
•
Harnessing
•
Prosperity
•
•
Cohesion
Creation of
opportunities
•
Good governance
OBJECTIVES
•
Sustainable
development
•
Environmental
preservation
What we needed to do: Institute a Strategic
Planning and Programming System
We need to be clear
about the objectives of
ECOWAS
region/Commission
How are
we going
to do
this?
• Determine our
main strategic
mandate
• Determine our
strategic vision
& mission
We need to
appreciate the
resources we have
available to meet
these objectives
• Carry out a SWOT
analysis to appreciate
our strengths and
identify our obstacles
• Define our critical
issues
• Decide what resources
are required
Allows us to
consciously be
responsive to
the demands
of the
Community
• Define goals and
intermediate and
short-term objectives
• Develop a strategy
profile for the future
• Draw an action
timetable
Strategy lies in making the tough decisions about
what is most important to achieving success.
Development of the 2010-2014 Strategic Plan
Activities: Phase I
Program and
Plan Synthesis
Established an
Institutional
Framework
Arrangement
Defined a clear
process
strategy
Write the Zero
Draft Version of
the Strategic
Plan
Details
•
•
Analyse the
Planning
Documents
Establish their
Linkages
• Management
Committee
• Participatory
Approach
• ECOWAS Commission
• Strategic Planning
Steering Committee
• Ownership
• Mission
• Acceptability/
• Core Values
• Commitment
• Environmental Scan
• Stakeholders
Confidence
• Strategic Framework
• Strategic Planning
Operational
Committee
Agenda
• Implementation
Strategy
Development of the 2010-2014 Strategic Plan
Activities: Phase II
Develop A
Medium Term
Action Plan
Communicate
Strategic Plan to
internal and
external
customers
Develop Capacity
Building Plan
having identified
capacity gaps
Details
• Identify planning issues
• Develop Performance
Indicators
• Costing and Integrate into a
multi-year budgetary
framework
Institute a planning
and programming
system within a
program planning
cycle
• Monitoring and
Evaluation System
• Set up different
Stakeholder Forums
• Develop a
Communication
Plan
• Develop a capacity
building plan
• Supportive ICT
infrastructure
• Implementation
Review Reports
• Midyear Execution
Report
• President’s Annual
Review Reports
So where are we now?
The region has
adopted the
2020 Strategic
Vision which sets
out a clear
strategic
direction
We are clear about our main
strategic mandate, vision and
mission
The 2010-2014
Strategic Plan
has been
submitted to
Management
We have aligned the strategic plan with
the 2020 Vision
We have
commenced the
preparation of
the medium
term action plan
that will define
the activities
under the
Strategic Plan
We have started
defining the
programs/projects/
activities under the
Strategic Plan
Other plans such as the
Capacity Building Plan,
Communication Plan etc.
to support and announce
the strategies are being
developed
Next Steps: Action Planning and Budgeting
Objective Sheet: A
Activity Sheet: B
Costing Sheet: C
Strategic Objectives
Project
Activity
Strategic Sub-Objectives
Activity
Estimated Costs
Departmental/Directorate
Outcomes
Duration
Financing
(External/Internal)
Output
Programs
Projects
Description
Responsibility
Performance
Indicator
Means of
Verification
Risks/Contingency Factors
Documentation
THE PLANNING CYCLE
Activity Report
Year+1 (March)
Mid-year
Execution Report
Year (September)
Management
Priority/Strategic
Initiatives
Year-1 July
Annual Activity
Plan (Based on
MTP)
Year-1 (October)
Draft Budget
Program
Year-1 August
Annual Budget
Year-1 (November)
Implementation
Plan--Retreat
Year-1 (December)
14
Concluding Remarks
•
•
•
•
The Strategy adopted by Infrastructure and Human Development and
Gender offers the best opportunity to move in the right direction
One of Biggest Problems in Strategic Planning is that the plan is not
implemented
An organization's commitment to strategic planning is commensurate
to the extent that:
• a) the organization completes action plans to reach each strategic
goal
• b) includes numerous methods for verifying and evaluating the
actual extent of implementation of the action plan.
In the next few Days we shall be working together to:
•
Populate the Template in order to engender an activity based
budgeting system
Thank
You
Merci