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The project sets forth several objectives, including empowering members and youth workers by enhancing their strategic planning skills and knowledge, creating five strategic planning documents (one for each partner organization), and strengthening partnerships among the organizations. Ultimately, the project aims to facilitate the development of new projects on a European level, fostering continued support, education, and growth among youth workers and their organisations.
Project: Our first steps in Strategic Planning
Duration: 01-09-2021 – 30-09-2022
Reference Nr. 2021-1-HR01-KA153-YOU-000011244
Grant Amount: 46.514,00 EUR
ERASMUS+
The project aims to address the lack of regular strategic planning skills and knowledge among youth organizations, employees, members, and volunteers. It has been observed that many NGOs in the community either lack a clear strategic plan or possess ones that are lengthy, difficult to comprehend, and rarely utilized.
The need for such planning has been underscored through discussions among partners in previous Erasmus+ projects, highlighting the significance of having a direction that adds meaning to daily activities and impacts the local community positively.
Recognizing that the environment is continuously evolving, there’s an acknowledged need among the project partners to revisit and revise their strategic plans. This necessity stems from the desire to better align their visions, missions, goals, and projects with the aim of optimally serving their communities and beneficiaries.
The collaborative nature of the partner organizations working on this project also emphasizes the importance of undergoing the strategic planning process collectively. This approach is intended to foster mutual support, enhance cooperation, and promote growth and development among the organizations involved.
The project sets forth several objectives, including empowering members and youth workers by enhancing their strategic planning skills and knowledge, creating five strategic planning documents (one for each partner organization), and strengthening partnerships among the organizations.
Ultimately, the project aims to facilitate the development of new projects on a European level, fostering continued support, education, and growth among youth workers and their organizations.
Objectives of the Training course (Activity 1) are:
Objectives of the Evaluation meeting (Activity 2) are:
Training Course: “Strategic Planning – Step by Step”
When & Where: July 4th to July 13th, 2022, at the Youth Hostel in Zadar, Croatia.
Participants: 34 individuals, including staff and trainers from five partner countries, with six participants from each country.
Outcome: Participants will engage in an intensive training course, culminating in the creation of strategic plans for their respective organizations.
Local Planning Workshops
Post-Training Implementation: Participants will conduct workshops within their organizations to adapt and refine the strategic plans developed during the training course.
Evaluation Meeting: “Evaluation of Our Strategic Planning Process”
When & Where: May 5th to May 13th, 2022, in Zadar, Croatia.
Participants: 14 individuals, including representatives from each partner organization, staff, and the trainers involved in the initial training course.
Purpose: To assess the strategic planning process’s effectiveness and make necessary adjustments.
Participant Composition
Diverse Representation: Each partner organization will include a manager, field staff, and a beneficiary to ensure a holistic perspective in the planning process.
Inclusivity: Efforts will be made to include participants with fewer opportunities, ensuring at least one representative per partner organization.
Age & Gender Considerations: Participants will primarily be aged 18 to 35, with a goal towards achieving gender balance, aiming for a mix of approximately 60% female and 40% male participants.
This project had a significant impact on the participants involved, notably enhancing their professional development. Participants were equipped with both the theoretical knowledge and practical tools necessary for strategic planning. They learned not only the foundational aspects of strategic planning but also gained hands-on experience with its tools, understanding their application in various contexts. Furthermore, through topics such as “Stages of group development” and “Communication,” participants enhanced their interpersonal skills and attitudes toward working collaboratively on challenging issues. This improvement transcended professional boundaries, enriching their personal lives as well, and molded them into leaders and motivators within their organizations and communities.
The project also profoundly influenced the target groups of our NGOs. Youth workers, members, and volunteers improved in organizational management and the utilization of human resources. The strategic planning process equipped them to better navigate environmental changes, focusing on more significant issues and projects, thereby enhancing organizational efficiency and capacity. As a result, NGOs could refine their focus, shifting attention away from lesser initiatives towards those with a more substantial impact on their goals.
Moreover, the management of human resources, time, and finances saw considerable improvement, enabling NGOs to better meet the needs of their target groups. Activities, projects, and programs underwent rigorous revisions to ensure they were genuinely beneficial and impactful for the target groups. This ensured that services and activities provided were more closely aligned with the actual needs of beneficiaries. To guarantee this alignment, each organization included at least one beneficiary in the training course to guide the strategic planning process in a direction that favored the target groups.
Youth workers were empowered to support young individuals eager to participate actively in society. The organizations, already facilitators for youth engagement, enhanced their support by providing workshops on strategic planning, a crucial component for achieving their objectives. This project enabled youth workers to offer more comprehensive support, including assistance with local donors, municipalities, and the legal framework for establishing NGOs.
Participating organizations received strategic planning documents that served as valuable resources for their activities with beneficiaries and interactions with stakeholders and donors. These documents and the strategic planning process fostered stronger relationships with a broad spectrum of stakeholders and brought coherence to various organizational segments, uniting them towards common goals. Organizations learned to prioritize efforts and resources effectively, maximizing their potential to fulfill their missions.