Background
Planning is a complex process that can take many forms. There are different kinds of planning and different ways of planning, so knowing what kind of planning is needed for what situation is a skill in itself.
This toolkit is aimed specifically at those who have had only limited experience in planning. Perhaps you have not been involved in running an organisation, project or department before. Or perhaps you have not been involved in the planning side of the work before. Now you are faced with the task of planning for your organisation, project or department, and you are not quite sure where to start. If you are in a situation like this, then this toolkit will be useful for you. The other toolkits that deal with strategic planning, action planning and monitoring and evaluation will give you more details on how to carry out the actual processes.
What’s in the tool
This toolkit is an overview of the different aspects involved in planning for an organisation or project. It should enable the user to make a clear distinction between strategic planning and action planning, both of which are dealt with in detail in separate toolkits. It also provides some ideas about techniques to use in planning. It should provide a fairly inexperienced planning team in any organisation with a clear picture of what planning should involve, and of how planning links to monitoring and evaluation.