Essien Abel Essien Director, Strategic Planning ECOWAS Commission

1. ACTION PLANNING AND THE MULTI-YEAR BUDGETARY PROCESS Essien Abel Essien Director, Strategic Planning ECOWAS Commission

2. Content Page • What It Is • How Do We Get There • How Did We Get There • Next Steps • Concluding Remarks

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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)

6. HOW DO YOU GET THERE Vision Mission 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. Values Goals/ Objectives 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 Strategies 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.

7. HOW DID THE COMMISSION GET HERE: Strategic Mandate MANDATE 1 MANDATE 2 MANDATE 3 MANDATE 4 MANDATE 5 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. Formulate a regional strategy based on regional integration and aligned with the development agenda of the NEPAD Framework

8. KEYWORDS ENABLERS • Borderless • Peace • Prosperity • Cohesion • Good governance • Access • Harnessing • Creation of opportunities OBJECTIVES • Sustainable development • Environmental preservation 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 creationof opportunities for sustainabledevelopment and environmental preservation

9. What we needed to do: Institute a Strategic Planning and Programming System Allows us to consciously be responsive to the demands of the Community We need to appreciate the resources we have available to meet these objectives We need to be clear about the objectives of ECOWAS region/Commission • Carry out a SWOT analysis to appreciate our strengths and identify our obstacles • Define our critical issues • Decide what resources are required • Define goals and intermediate and short-term objectives • Develop a strategy profile for the future • Draw an action timetable • Determine our main strategic mandate • Determine our strategic vision & mission How are we going to do this? Strategy lies in making the tough decisions about what is most important to achieving success.

10. Defined a clear process strategy Established an Institutional Framework Arrangement Development of the 2010-2014 Strategic Plan Activities: Phase I Program and Plan Synthesis Write the Zero Draft Version of the Strategic Plan Details • Management Committee • Strategic Planning Steering Committee • Strategic Planning Operational Committee • Participatory Approach • Ownership • Acceptability/ • Commitment • Stakeholders Confidence • ECOWAS Commission Agenda • Mission • Core Values • Environmental Scan • Strategic Framework • Implementation Strategy • Analyse the Planning Documents • Establish their Linkages

11. Institute a planning and programming system within a program planning cycle Develop A Medium Term Action Plan Communicate Strategic Plan to internal and external customers Development of the 2010-2014 Strategic Plan Activities: Phase II Develop Capacity Building Plan having identified capacity gaps Details • Monitoring and Evaluation System • Supportive ICT infrastructure • Implementation Review Reports • Midyear Execution Report • President’s Annual Review Reports • Identify planning issues • Develop Performance Indicators • Costing and Integrate into a multi-year budgetary framework • Set up different Stakeholder Forums • Develop a Communication Plan • Develop a capacity building plan

12. The 2010-2014 Strategic Plan has been submitted to Management We have commenced the preparation of the medium term action plan that will define the 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 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 We have aligned the strategic plan with the 2020 Vision We have started defining the programs/projects/ activities under the Strategic Plan

13. Next Steps: Action Planning and Budgeting Objective Sheet: A Activity Sheet: B Costing Sheet: C Strategic Objectives Strategic Sub-Objectives Departmental/Directorate Outcomes Programs Projects Description Responsibility Project Activity Duration Output Performance Indicator Means of Verification Activity Estimated Costs Financing (External/Internal) Risks/Contingency Factors Documentation

14. THE PLANNING CYCLE Management Priority/Strategic Initiatives Year-1 July Activity Report Year+1 (March) Draft Budget Program Year-1 August Annual Activity Plan (Based on MTP) Year-1 (October) • Mid-year Execution Report • Year (September) Annual Budget Year-1 (November) Implementation Plan--Retreat Year-1 (December)

15. 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

16. Thank You Merci