A variety of methods can help structure your planning process. Essentially,
strategic planning involves considering what “success” would look like
for you, and collecting the information you need—from the start of the
program—in order to determine whether you succeed. There is no right
way to do strategic planning. Often the tools described here are used
together, to help structure planning conversations that are more tailored
to fit the organization you are working in. If your program will be short—
perhaps because of limited funding—strategic planning is still useful.
Define one or more aims, and consider how you will measure success.
Programs that may last a year or two should be flexible in their planning
so that initial experiences can guide future operations, to adjust to
changes in the environment, and to be able to support communities in
new ways when opportunities arise. Some organizations write strategic
plans with logical frameworks (“log frames”) that tie big-picture goals,
SMART objectives (which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant,
and Time-bound), and activities to measurements of success.
RELATED RESOURCE
• Global Action Plan to End
Statelessness: 2014—2024
(UNHCR)
• The Sustainable Development
Goals and Addressing
Statelessness (UNHCR)
Others find it helpful to design a “theory of change,” which is less linear.
This allows you to use different ideas and identify assumptions in your
program planning.
The following are all real-world examples of goals, mission and vision
statements, objectives, and indicators paralegal programs have used.
Excerpts from paralegal programs’ mission and vision statements:
•C
ontributing with others to access to justice, to consolidate the
concept of rule of law.
• Development of the community and strengthening of democracy.
RELATED RESOURCE
• Logical Framework template,
tools4dev
• Theory of Change vs. Logical
Framework: What’s the
difference?, tools4dev
• Methodological Brief:
Theory of Change, UNICEF
•T
o legally empower vulnerable persons by advocating with a
professional and solidarity-based approach, educating and raising
awareness of rights and obligations.
• Fulfillment of people’s legal and social needs.
•W
e would like to see a legal system that has been refined to the point
that it does not discriminate either in intention or practice.
•W
e believe … that as an organization we have a duty to constantly
ensure that we are providing the services and help our clients ask for
and need, and that we have a duty to evolve as necessary to fulfill
that function.
The point of writing a mission or vision statement is to clarify the
problem your program will address and what you wish to see as a result
of your—and others’—efforts. These statements are often solicited
in funding applications and are generally useful for fundraising and
networking efforts to support your work. The statement should be
designed for your own context.
A C O M M U N I T Y- B A S E D P R A C T I T I O N E R ’ S G U I D E : D O C U M E N T I N G C I T I Z E N S H I P A N D OT H E R F O R M S O F L E G A L I D E N T I T Y
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