This document discusses three foundations of educational planning: sociological, demographic, and economic. The sociological section explains how education is interconnected with social factors. The demographic section outlines how population size, growth, age composition, and distribution impact educational needs. The economic section describes how a country's economic strength influences the type and content of education, and how wealth distribution relates to individual and national development.

1. FOUNDATION OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
SOCIOLOGICAL
Educational planning cannot succeed without attention to social factors. Basically, all authors
agree that sociology of education deals with three categories of problems. First, it involves
study of relations between educational systems and the rest of society, including the economy.
The second category of problems is related to the educational system or school as a social
system or organization in itself. Third, sociology of education deals with the social aspects of
the learning process. Clearly, sociology of education is related in numerous ways to the various
problems that educational planners have to face. To learn to look for social factors and social
forces and their mutual interdependence and to view education as an integral part of a social
whole is probably the most important component of sociological sensibility and of the
sociological approach to educational planning.
DEMOGRAPHIC
Education is for people and its development is ultimately aimed at maximizing the capacity for
achieving full welfare of the population. The educational planner as well as administrator is
constantly engaged in activities for and with the people. The question arises: What are the
demographic challenges facing educational planning today? It is vital for planners and
decision-makers to know the structure and distribution of the population at a given date, as
well as how it has changed in recent years. In other words, educational planning cannot be
divorced from considerations about dynamics of population (i.e., its growth and change), as it
deals with a ‘target population' which is constantly changing in number, age and sex
composition, and geographic distribution.
Population growth results in significant variations in the age and sex compositions of the
population besides the numerical increase. The rate of population growth has wide implications
on all spheres of human activity. Migration of people determines their geographical distribution
and this too, has a significant impact on the needs of the society. All these affect educational
development in a direct manner. In fact, the findings of demography are one of the foundations
on which educational plans are built and for this reason, planners should have a sufficient
knowledge of demographic methods and concepts, their meanings and limitations. Nearly all
quantitative analyses and estimates of the qualitative aspects of education are related to
population - its size, structure, location, dynamics and prospects. Hence there is need to study
demographic aspects of educational planning.

2. The discipline of the study of human population is known by two terms: (i) population studies
(ii) Demography. Population Studies can easily be understood as studies concerned with
population. Demography has been derived from the latin word 'demos', meaning people and
hence is the science of population. Demographic analysis is confined to a study of the
components of population variation and change. Population studies are concerned not only
with population variables but also with the relationships between population changes and
other variables - social, economic, political, biological, genetic and geographical etc. Whereas
the theoretical demographic analysis tries to explain demographic facts and to seek the causes
behind them, the descriptive approach limits oneself to a ‘statistical description of
populations’. In reality, however, the distinction is not as clear as this; population forecasts, for
instance, cannot be made without a minimum of demographic analysis. Whichever approach is
adopted, demographers have two possible fields of study distinct from each other, both in
objectives and in method. The first one is static demographic analysis which deals with the
current situation of the population, their structure or composition. The second one is the
dynamic aspect of population analysis which aims at the trend of the population – also called
movement of the population which depend on a number of factors, particularly on such
demographic events as births, marriages and deaths.
Section I of this paper deals with the structure of a population and its effects on educational
problems, and Section II deals with population trends or movements and their impact on
educational planning over the longer term.
Population Structure and Its Effects on Education
Studying the structure of a population means studying its composition, i.e., its distribution
according to certain pre-defined criteria. Educational planners may be concerned with the
distribution of the population for various reasons. First, they may be interested in its
distribution by age and sex. This enables them to measure the relative size of the school-age
population, which is the foundation and the point of departure for any educational policy.
Second, they may be concerned with the distribution of the population by sector of economic
activity and, within each of these sectors, by occupation. Without accurate knowledge of the
distribution by sector and occupation, it is impossible to estimate manpower requirements, and
hence to determine targets for technical, vocational and higher education. Third, planners may
be concerned with the geographical distribution of the population, which affects both the cost
of education and the choice of types, sizes and locations of schools. Our examination of
population structure will be confined to the three above-mentioned aspects.
Structure of the Population by Age and Sex
The simplest method of studying the population structure by age and by sex is to construct an
‘age pyramid’. The age structure of the population is very important in demographic analysis
because it provides a sort of summary of the demographic history of the nation, and also
because, as it governs to some extent the future growth of the population. The number of
individuals at each age, or in each age group, depends on (i) the number of births in the

3. generation, or generations, of which they were born; (ii) the effect of mortality on that
generation or those generations; and (iii) the size of migratory flows at various times, and the
ages of the migrants.
Age Composition
The age structure of a population is the consequence of trends in fertility (birth), mortality
(deaths) and migration over past periods with fertility trends having the dominant influence.
The proportion of small children, for instance, reflects the recent birth rate as further affected
by infant mortality. The proportion of old person is a cumulative effect of population trends
ever since the time when they are born. The population of children aged 0-4 years gives an
indication of the burden of child care. The group 5-14 is an indicative of investment needed for
school enrolment and teaching staff. The economically active population is reflected by the 15-
64 group while a rough index of old age dependency is the proportion of the population aged
60 years and over.
ECONOMIC
The type of education largely depends on the economic strength of any country. Also the
economic factor determines the content and method of an education system. It is important to
note that formal education is often possible where production exceeds consumption. In
indigenous traditional education people were trained depending on the economic conditions
and needs of the community. From an economic perspective, expenditure on education refers
to the amount or percentage of national revenue spent on education by both individuals and
the government. If the economic condition is poor, education becomes backward in many
aspects while if the economy of a country is strong, then educational aims and the curriculum
are given a special direction for making the country prosperous. For example, in the USA and
Japan, education system is patterned so as to make the individual graduate, strong and capable
enough to stand on his or her own feet after having received education. While in India, college
and university graduate do not know where to go after completing their education and most of
the students continue to stay on in the university as long as they can so that one can post pone
for a few years the problem of the educated - unemployed.
Another economic influence on education is that, the poorer classes in communities tend to be
content with minimum education for their children, and the richer classes are known to be able
to keep their children longest at school because they can afford to meet the costs. In a
subsistence economy, that is, one is which people are just able to make ends meet, educational
systems tend to be informal occurring on the job. On the contrary, where there are enough
grants in systems of education, minimum requirements are met and thus the quality of
education is often high. For example, Britain, France, Japan and the USA among other strong
economy countries, they provide enough grants that are allocated to their systems of

4. education; actually they have enough funds to support all educational programmes in their
education systems. Unlike the case of developing countries, where funds are very scarce, which
affects even payment of teachers salaries, essential resource materials such as textbooks are
not adequate and in some cases not even available. As such, this greatly affects the nature of
the systems of education in terms of the content and methods in learning institutions and in
essence the whole system of education.
In this regard, the growth of the capacities of individual citizens and national development is of
great importance. In fact, the education system should be such that, it provides opportunities
for the maximum development of each citizen. The aim here is to ensure that the wealth of the
nation is not concentrated in the hands of a few capitalists who manage to attain some level of
education. It is actually by developing individuals that the overall growth of the nation can be
guaranteed. At the same time, there should be no-class distinction in the planning of education
that should be permitted, because this results in neglect of the education of other more
capable citizens. If this happens it often results in social disparities and in the long run weakens
the nation. Proper planning of the education system also calls for the establishment of a proper
national character, which if it lacks, then the necessary leadership and co-operation of the
people will also be lacking. Lack of a proper national character, means that the national
education system will not be able to realize its objectives. Consequently, with good leadership
and people's cooperation, there is much that can be achieved even when adequate economic
resources are wanting. Thus, there is evidence to show that there is a very close relationship
between economic security and the national system of education of any country.
GEOGRAPHIC
The geography of any particular place is often natural, which means that it is undefined by man.
Man in this respect ought to behave in accordance with the geography and nature in particular.
In this regard the education system cum school system is influenced by the geography of the
particular region. By and large the geography of a particular area dictates the type of building
and equipment, means and methods of transporting children to school, school going age of
pupils among others. However, there are three major geographical aspects that influence the
educational system directly. These are, climatic conditions, population distribution and land
configuration. In regard to climatic conditions they influence the system of education in terms
of ,content of education depend on the continental climate, for example, training of doctors in
the tropics is likely to emphasize more on tropical disease like malaria. Extreme low
temperatures in Continental Europe, affects accessibility to school by young children.
Temperatures also affect the time at which schools can reasonably begin in the morning and
when they end. In Norway, for example, the sun does not rise during winter until ten o'clock in
the morning and often temperatures fall to negative 20 degrees. Thus in the Scandinavian
countries there are no infant schools or early childhood education departments in some schools
because of extreme temperatures. Climatic conditions also influence the education system in
relation to time of vacations. In North America and many countries in Europe take school

5. vacations during cold winter and others during hot summer. In hot climatic conditions
especially experienced in arid and semi-arid areas, learning often takes place during morning
hours when it is cool. When it is hot in the afternoon very little learning takes place due to
excessive heat.
In regard to population distribution, which is often as a result of geographical influence also
affects the educational system. Generally worldwide, population is either concentrated in the
urban centers, or scattered in the country side. For example Australia has two systems of
education, that is, one for the urban areas and the other for rural areas. In the urban areas
there are well-equipped schools with adequately qualified teachers and administrative
personnel. While in the rural areas, schools are small with one teacher for ten up to forty
students. This is because farms are far from the nearest schools and daily attendance is
difficult. Therefore the central government is responsible for their administration and financing.
The government also provides the means and organization of correspondence, tuition and
traveling teachers. As such most students receive education through correspondence and
occasional visits by the traveling education inspectors.
In regard to land configuration, this also influences the education system in terms of
architectural structure of farm houses, school buildings, village location and also the whole way
of life and thinking of people because of the rigours of the climate, in some cases, because of
closeness of family ties, boarding schools for children are non-existence, except for the few
who come from far and inaccessible places on daily basis. By and large land configuration
determines settlement and location of schools.
FIVE MAIN STAGES OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
(1) Collection and Analysis of Statistical Information:
At this stage, relevant information about the system of education and concerned socio-
economic factors is collected so as to provide the quantitative basis for projections aimed at the
future development of the educational system.
Along with this, assessment in some allied fields is also necessary as education is an integral
part of the total plan and is closely inter-related with the economic development of the
country.
(2) Evolving Policy Proposals:
The statistical information collected helps in identifying the gaps, weaknesses and shortcoming
and provides the planners with a clear idea of the existing conditions. This helps the planners in
formulating policy proposals aimed at accomplishing pre-determined objectives.

6. The formulation of the policy proposal requires an over-all view of the role of education vis-a-
vis the economic development and the over-all planning. It should also take into account the
complexities of a large country like India, the diversities of cultures within it as well as the
regional aspirations.
These necessitate the introduction of a uniform educational system (e.g., 10+2+3 system) along
with scope for regional diversities in the curricula. It should also aim at evolving policy decisions
concerning rational norms of optimum class-size in terms of enrollment and student-teacher
ratios at different levels and types of education.
Besides, policies concerning admission criteria (except the compulsory primary education level),
promotion of students, fees to be paid on the basis of the principle of social justice, supply of
text-books, equipment, devising curricula, methods of teaching, teachers’ qualifications and in-
service professional development, methods of evaluation, medium of instruction, language
policy and teachers’ salaries must be taken into account.
(3) Projections, Programming and Project Analysis:
An effective plan necessitates projections of all the inputs of the educational system – students,
teachers, administrators, school buildings and classrooms, equipment and financial
requirements.
Projections have to be made of the future nature and size of the demographic composition of
population for a period of fifteen to twenty years. Since student is the focus of the educational
process, projection should begin with the school and the college age-groups drawn on a yearly
basis in terms of enrolments.
There are two commonly employed procedures available for scientific projections:
(i)The enrolment ratio method which is based on the projection of past and present ratios of
school enrolment or school attendance into the future. It requires estimates of population by
age and sex regarding school enrolment and/or attendance data.
(ii)The grade cohort method which is also known as cohort survival method. This method also
makes use of the past and current enrolment data by grade for every school level and for
approximately seven-year and ten-year data for primary and secondary levels respectively.
It also requires data on the number of new students, repeaters and those who pass on to the
next higher class for every standard/class. Projections are calculated from the survival rates of
students after taking into consideration demographic characteristics such as birth rate,
mortality rate and migration rates.
Alongwith this, a minimum social standard of education needs to be postulated such as
compulsory schooling for every child for a certain number of years.

7. Besides, provisions should be made in the estimates for the changes made by students
midstream (e.g., switching from science faculty to commerce faculty) and other forms of
turnover, adult education, literacy programmes, excess supply of products in a particular
stream etc.
An assessment should also be made about the efficiency and effectiveness of the curricula,
pedagogy used and criteria of admissions and evaluation as well as the changes required
therein.
This is followed by programming and operation. For example, if 800 technicians are to be
produced, a programme on the number of institutions, teachers, equipments, space, syllabi,
courses, etc., is to be worked out. Here, one institution is called a project programming and
project analysis involves the application of administrative and economic principles in order to
assess a particular situation and establish an operational programme.
(4) Costing Educational Plans:
Education is an activity wherein the institution and the society bear part of the cost and the
learner bears part of the cost. In order to improve the formulation and implementation of
educational plans, it is necessary to understand the methods of costing education and the
problems associated with it.
The unit costs of different types of educational facilities need to be computed. These costs are
to be studied in terms of the availability of present and future financial resources. It should be
ensured at this stage that the real cost of education is not too high so as to be inconsistent with
the attainment of the overall plan objectives.
(5) Decision, Implementation and Evaluation:
A five year plan needs to be broken up into annual plans. Each annual plan is scrutinized,
discussed and criticized in relation to a review of previous year’s strengths, weaknesses and
achievements. At this stage, the necessary conditions for effective implementation of the
programme need to be created. Thereafter, the actual operations take place.
At the end of the plan, evaluation is done in terms of the extent to which the objectives of the
plan have been accomplished in an effective and efficient manner.

8. TRENDS IN EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
The First Development Decade
After the Second World War, the United States together with other developed countries started
a foreign aid program. The initiative began as a reconstruction and rehabilitation program
because economic and technical assistance in health, education and agriculture soon
broadened to include public administration and management. For more than a decade,
university professors and private business consultants provided socio-economic programs and
technical assistance in public administration and management to governments and universities
in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
It was perceived that recipient countries generally locked the administrative capability for
planning and implementing plans. To solve the problem, administrative tools and technologies
were transferred to improve the machinery of the national government. This intervention
resulted to the adoption of development planning as the basic foundation in the pursuit of
economic development in recipient Third World countries.
Educational Planning in the Third World
Developed countries formally introduced educational planning in the Third World countries in
the late 1950s and early 1960s. The objectives of educational plans, which were integrated in
national development plans, of Third World countries focused on the task of overseeing the
expansion of educational systems. Great hopes were placed in educational planning for it
served as a framework for setting objectives, goals and priorities, directing educational policies,
and optimizing the use of limited resources.
Singh (1990) enumerates the significant impact of educational planning in Third World
countries during the late 1960s as follows: (a) evolution of overall integrated educational
systems; (b) development of educational administration and organization of planning structures
within the educational system; and (c) enhanced perception on the problem of efficiency in the
educational system.
The Paris Conference on Policies for Educational Growth in the early 70s reviewed the nature
and consequences of educational growth, dissected current problems, and came up with
planning guidelines and policies. However, the proposed policies were not implemented
because of the research results that highlighted the inadequacy of inputs in producing the

9. desired educational outputs. Educational planning, therefore, veered toward the adoption of
policies aimed at attaining effective educational outcomes concerning the learner given his
socio-economic background and the traditional inputs of manpower and facilities.
The economic crises in the 1970s and 1980s brought about by uncontrolled rise in the price of
oil drastically changed the setting in which educational institutions in Third World countries
operated. Many developing countries implemented major cuts in public expenditure which
limited resources for education. Educational planning faced a new challenge in the 1990s, that
of developing a conceptual paradigm of harmonizing the problematic linkage between greatly
reduced budget and the goal for quality education (Ross and Mahleh, 1990).
While Third World countries benefited immensely from educational planning from the 1960s to
the 1990s, their educational systems had also encountered some problems, among which were:
(a) excessive quantitative orientation, that is, planning approach had been predominantly
quantitative both in analysis and normative aspects; (b) educational planning had been overly
centralized in the decision-making process; (c) weakness in implementation; and (d) evaluation
dimension of educational planning was very slow to grow (Singh, 1990).
As a field of study, educational planning grew even while it was initially an integral part of
national development planning. Educational planning developed as a separate field of
specialization in educational management and administration.
Evolution of Educational Planning in the Philippines
Educational planning in the Philippines is as old as its educational system. Educational surveys
and studies were made to provide a basis for the restructuring of Philippine education. The
more significant ones were the Monroe Survey in 1925, the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission (UNESCO) Mission in 1949, the joint Congressional Committee of Education Survey
of 1949, the Swanson Survey in 1960, the Presidential Commission to Survey Philippine
Education (PCSPE) in 1970, and the Congressional Committee on Education (EDCOM).
It has been pointed out by the PCSPE that educational planning is not one of the strengths of
Philippine education. This observation is supported by several factors, namely: (a) the lack of a
clear definition of the role of education in national development, (b) the absence of long-range
goal setting performance targets for each operational component of the educational system, (c)
the absence of policy guidelines that define the proper function of each educational level or
sector, (d) the nature of decision making process of both individuals and educational
institutions that is based on forced choice rather than guided selection; and (e) the

10. disproportionate magnitude of educational responsibility relative to the capacity of the
economy to support the corresponding requirements for educational service.
The promulgation of Presidential Decree No. 6-A, popularly known as the Educational
Development Decree of 1992, gave emphasis to educational planning in education. The Decree
provided for “… a broad general education that will assist each individual … to respond
effectively to changing needs and conditions of the nation through a system of educational
planning and evaluation.” The Integrated Reorganization Plan of 1972 put this into action by
providing an office for Planning Service in the reorganized structure of the then Department of
Education and Culture.
The three decades that followed had been problematic for tertiary education in the country.
State-run universities and colleges had mushroomed from 23 in 1972 and 78 in 1984. Today,
there are 108 tax-funded colleges and universities in the Philippines. As a consequence of this
proliferation of SUCs, the budget for education significantly increased from 1978 to 1990
resulting to the ballooning of the budget and external debt. Eventually, the budget of many
SUCs had to be cut due to reduced public budget and increased debt burden.
The issuance of Letter of Instruction No. 1461 on May 23, 1985 provided the necessary impetus
for planning among SUCs. The LOI required SUCs to formulate long-term development plans
including a physical development plan that support the manpower goals of the region where
the SUCs are located and of the entire country. Moreover, each university or college is
mandated to identify a field of specialization that is defined in its charter, its capability to
implement well taking into account its available resources, and the educational opportunities in
other SUCs and private education institutions in the area. Answering the call, the Department
of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), forerunner of the Department of Education (DepEd),
organized two training programs on institutional development planning in collaboration with
the Development Academy of the Philippines and the Philippine Association of State Colleges
and Universities.
The Congressional Commission on Education (EDCOM) study of 1992 found that the quality of
Philippine education was declining continuously. As a result, the EDCOM recommended the
restructuring of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports into three agencies, namely:
the Commission on Higher Education, which oversees tertiary and vocational-technical
education, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, which is responsible for
short-term manpower skills training, and the Department of Education, Culture and Sports,
which was renamed as the Department of Basic Education, which will take charge of
kindergarten, elementary, and secondary education.

11. The Commission on Higher Education came up with its first Long-Term Higher Education
Development Plan (1996-2005). The plan served as the blueprint of change, reform and
innovation in higher education. Subsequently, the Commission required all SUCs and CHED-
supervised higher education institutions in the country to formulate and submit their respective
ten-year development plan. In the private sector, the preparation of a long-term plan is a
requirement for the grant of permit to operate a college or university.
CURRENT ISSUES IN EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
PLANNING FOR QUALITY
1. Learning Environment and Support Services
As the learning environment of a school affects the quality of learning it is necessary to collect
information on availability of pre-schooling facilities, community participation, socio-economic
background of the students, early childhood care facilities, current status of the schools in the
district, teachers’ position, financial and other incentives, facilities available to the teaching
staff from different levels of the education department. All these information help in planning
the activities and intervention strategies for quality improvement.
2. Teachers’ Competency
The teachers’ competency has a positive effect on improvement of quality of education. This is
measured by the knowledge and skill of teachers in the subjects. Besides their level of
motivation, interest and commitment and ability to interact with parents and community
members also contributes to and influences the quality of teaching-learning process. As the
assessment of teachers competency is a sensitive issue and sometimes open assessment may
be counter productive, the information on educational qualifications, years of experience, area
of specialisation, pre-service and in-service training etc. may help in assessing the level of
competency. Also it is necessary to collect data on classroom organisation and management,
methods used for curriculum transaction and the problems faced by the teachers to prepare an
effective plan which would help to improve the overall quality of teaching-learning inputs
provided by the teacher.

12. 3. Opportunity
Opportunity time refers to the extent of time given by the children that is actually used
by the teacher in teaching-learning activities. In order to calculate the opportunity time,
information is needed on number of days the school is functioning in a year, number of
classes handled by each teacher, attendance of teachers in a year etc. As availability
and effective utilisation of time is a basic input in children’s learning, information on this
aspect will facilitate better planning for teachers for proper allocation and effective
utilisation of time by teachers.
4. Curriculum
Development of curriculum is a continuous process to suit the emerging learning needs of the
children within the broad framework of National Policy on Education. NCERT had developed a
“National Curriculum for Elementary and Secondary Education : A Framework” which is
followed in original form in some states or in modified form in other states to respond to state
and local specific contexts and needs. Under SSA, the focus is on making the curriculum for
elementary education more and more contextual, adopting a holistic approach to educational
development by incorporating knowledge, skills, values etc. relevant to the child’s life situation.
Although it has been perceived that educational planning and management may be
decentralised upto the district level but there are some problems in this regard. First to decide
the extent of decentralisation and its methodology and second, to adopt a flexible mode of
curriculum reform. To plan for curriculum reform, the information pertaining to the present
curriculum and related aspects can be obtained from the schools and education offices.
5. Teaching-Learning Material
The use of teaching-learning material play a crucial role in actual curriculum transaction both at
the primary and upper primary stage, and consequently on the quality of education. Hence it is
essential to assess the type, availability, suitability and usability of various teaching-learning
material. Information on availability of teaching-learning material like blackboard, textbooks,
workbooks, teaching-learning aids, teachers’ guides may be collected at the school level to
facilitate the planning at the district level for (i) developing need-based teaching-learning
material; (ii) opening scope for using local-specific material (iii) involving teachers in developing
the material and (iv) providing scope for capacity building of teachers.
6. Classroom Processes
Since the classroom provides the setting for all teaching-learning and an opportunity to the
child for exploration, experimentation and communication, the more effective the classroom

13. process better is the learning outcomes. Hence it is necessary to know how the classroom
transactions are conducted and managed, status of classroom environment, various teaching-
learning strategies used by teachers. The information on all these can be collected from
classroom observations, interviews with teachers, students and headmasters etc. which will
help in (i) improving interventions for all aspects of classroom processes, (ii) identifying training
requirements for teachers/headteachers, and (iii) identifying areas for capacity building of
supervisors.
7. Evaluation-Learning Achievement
To ensure meaningful learning both the outcome and the process of evaluation/assessment are
important and essential. So it is necessary to measure the learner achievement from time to
time in both cognitive and non-cognitive areas. Any plan for increasing learning achievement
should focus on improving the quality of education which requires the knowledge about the
factors affecting the child’s learning. The information on the indicators of achievement can be
collected from school records, teachers’ interviews, pupils assessment and evaluation records
which would help in (a) identifying the gaps in the evaluation strategies to develop new and
improved strategies for enhancing learners’ achievement, and (b) adopting and improving upon
existing assessment and evaluation tools.
In the process of planning for improving the quality of education, a district should have detailed
information about the major indicators and also the issues under different areas, preferably in a
tabular form. While the quantitative informations like enrolment, retention, physical facilities
can be obtained from school records, the qualitative informations may be obtained through
focus group discussion, quick assessment on different aspects of quality for which data is not
available, learner achievement tests etc. The interventions or activities to achieve the quality of
elementary education have to be visualised on the basis of information and be prioritised
accordingly. It is desirable that a perspective plan should address the nature of activities,
strategies etc. within a given time frame. While planning for quality related interventions
needed, phasing of activities should be clearly assessed, visualised and incorporated, and may
finally be shared will all concerned to make it more realistic, contextual and implementable.

14. PARTICIPATING PLANNING
In its simplest terms, a participatory approach is one in which everyone who has a stake in the
intervention has a voice, either in person or by representation. Staff of the organization that
will run it, members of the target population, community officials, interested citizens, and
people from involved agencies, schools, and other institutions all should be invited to the table.
Everyone's participation should be welcomed and respected, and the process shouldn't be
dominated by any individual or group, or by a single point of view.
That's the ideal. The reality may often be quite different. Some people might not want to be
involved - they may feel it takes too much time, or they don't have the skills needed. Particular
individuals or groups may feel left out and disrespected if they're not invited to participate. The
planning process may be a rubber stamp for ideas that have already been developed. Some
people's opinions may be listened to more carefully than those of others. In some of these
situations, a participatory process can cause as many problems as never involving people at all.
The important thing to remember here is the word participatory. The use of that term implies
not just that you'll ask for someone's opinion before you do what you were going to do anyway,
but rather that each participant becomes an important contributor to the planning process.
A true participatory approach is one in which everyone's perspective is considered. That doesn't
mean that people can't challenge others' assumptions, or argue about what the best strategy
might be. It does mean, however, that everyone's thoughts are respected, and it isn't
necessarily assumed that the professionals or the well -educated automatically know what's
best. Everyone actually gets to participate in the planning process, and has some role in
decision-making.
This is an extremely important point. Many low-income or minority individuals and groups feel
that they have no voice in the society, that they are not listened to even when they are asked
for their opinions. True participation means that everyone has a voice which must be
acknowledged.
Acknowledgment also implies having enough respect for another's opinion to argue with it. All
too often, low-income or minority members of a planning team or governing board are treated
with reverse condescension, as if anything they say must be true and profound. A truly
participatory process would include not only everyone being heard, but also everyone thrashing
out ideas and goals, and wrestling with new concepts.
In order for this to happen, those with less education and "status" often need extra support,
both to learn the process and to believe that their opinions and ideas are important and worth
stating. All of this takes time, but the rewards are great.

15. What are the advantages of a participatory planning approach?
 Participation carries with it feelings of ownership, and builds a strong base for the
intervention in the community. If people are integral to the planning of a community
intervention, then that intervention will be theirs. They have a stake in it not only as its
beneficiaries or staff or sponsors, but as its originators. They'll do what they can to see
their work succeed.
 It ensures that the intervention will have more credibility in all segments of the
community because it was planned by a group representing all segments of the
community. If people know that others with the same point of view and experience as
theirs were instrumental in making the intervention happen, they'll assume that their
interests were attended to.
 Bringing a broader range of people to the planning process provides access to a broader
range of perspectives and ideas.
 A participatory planning approach avoids pitfalls caused by ignorance of the realities of
the community or the target population. If, for instance, Muslims are part of the
planning process for an intervention in a community which includes many followers of
Islam, they'll know that lunch meetings during Ramadan, the Islamic month of daytime
fasting, are not likely to work. Long-time community members will know what has failed
in the past, and why, and can keep the group from repeating past mistakes.
In an example from business: Magic Johnson, the Hall-of Fame basketball player, owns a string
of movie theaters in African-American neighborhoods. In talking to theater managers, he found
that drinks - the standard Coke/Sprite/root beer - weren't selling at the concession stands.
Johnson immediately ordered that sweeter drinks - orange soda, fruit punch - be added, and
concession sales shot up. He knew, from his own experience, that sweeter drinks reminded
patrons of the Kool-Aid they had drunk as kids.
 It involves important players from the outset. If the intervention needs the support of a
particular individual, or that of a particular agency or group, and they've been part of
the planning from the beginning, their cooperation is assured.
 It can provide an opportunity for often-disenfranchised groups to be heard, and teach
the community that they have important things to say.
 It teaches skills which last far beyond the planning process, and can help to improve the
community over the long term. People learn to run meetings, to analyze data, to
construct strategic plans - in short, to become community resources and leaders.
 It can bring together and establish ties among community members who might normally
have no contact. Such relationships - between low-income people and business leaders,
for instance - are not only supportive of the intervention, but may help to create long-
term relationships and break down barriers in the community.
 A participatory planning process builds trust, both between your organization and the
community and among the individuals involved. This trust can serve as a foundation for
future community development and community action.

16.  A participatory planning process generally reflects the mission and goals of grass roots
and community-based organizations. With its underpinnings of collaboration,
inclusiveness, and empowerment, a participatory approach embodies the ideals that
form the foundations of most grass roots and community-based organizations.
 It implies respect for everyone in the community, and thus sets a standard for
community participation and empowerment that other organizations - and the
community at large - may feel compelled to follow.
 Logically, a participatory planning approach should be effective. The fact that it includes
the views and perspectives of everyone affected by the intervention should work to
assure that all assets and needs are identified and addressed, and that unintended
consequences are minimized.
 Finally, it does things the way they should be done. It respects everyone's intelligence,
values everyone's ideas and experience, and affords everyone a measure of control. By
empowering the community, and particularly the target population, rather than just
superimposing its own ideas on a social structure that already exists, your organization
can give substance to its ideals. In the final analysis, some level of participatory
approach is almost always the most ethical way to plan a community intervention.
What are the disadvantages of a participatory planning approach?
Along with its advantages, a participatory planning approach brings some serious disadvantages
as well. It's crucial to understand and anticipate these, and to decide when and how a
participatory planning approach can work in your situation.
 A participatory process takes longer. A diverse group always takes longer to make
decisions and come to conclusions than does an individual or small group. It could take
so long that an opportunity is missed, or that valuable time is lost that could be spent
addressing the problem.
 Members of the target population or the community may not agree with the "experts "
about what is needed. This may point out serious flaws in a proposed plan, and
acknowledging and addressing those flaws may be difficult. Disagreement may also
mean that the target population or community members simply don't have access to
the knowledge or expertise to understand why the intervention is in fact a good idea.
Often, the most difficult part of participatory planning is to make sure that the "experts"
actually listen to community people and members of the target population and take their ideas
seriously. The goal isn't automatic acceptance of those ideas, but serious discussion of them,
just as for the ideas of the professionals and policy makers. If the assumption is that only the
professionals have something to offer, it doesn't matter who's sitting at the table - the process
isn't participatory. It can be difficult, even for an outstanding facilitator, to turn this situation
around.
 Lots of education may be needed, both for community members and the organization.
Members of the target population and the community may not have important

17. technical knowledge or experience, and may need to understand some theory or past
practice in order to see what the organization is trying to do. Some may need new skills
in order to participate fully in the planning process. The organization, on the other hand,
may need to learn more about local culture, political issues, and community history in
order to tailor the intervention to the community and avoid past errors. Education of
either or both takes time...and time may not be available.
 One determined individual can wreck the whole process if he's not handled well.
Someone who has a particular axe to grind, or who's convinced that only he knows
what's right for the community can make a participatory process very difficult. Handling
this situation can take both tact and toughness.
A group of parents interested in placing an elective sex education program in the local high
school was opposed by a man whose religious beliefs convinced him that their idea was the
work of Satan. The parents invited him to join them. They hoped that, by including him, they
could defuse some of his objections and end up with a compromise program that everyone
could live with.
The reality was that this man was so determined to undermine the process, and so unwilling to
play by the rules of civility or fairness, that he was able to make it impossible for the group to
function. Ultimately it fell apart, and the curriculum that was eventually implemented - without
a participatory planning process - was so watered down as to be useless.
 It may be difficult to assure that all the right people get to the table. Some key people
may simply not want to participate. Factions in the community, a history of failed
attempts at communication or at dealing with problems, ignorance of which groups or
individuals are important, or just basic mistrust may complicate the task of creating a
participatory planning process. Overcoming this barrier, however, can have profound
positive consequences in the community over the long term.
 A participatory planning process takes patience and commitment on everyone's part.
People have to maintain their commitment over time, remain civil while discussing
issues about which they may have strong feelings, and be willing to compromise. A few
misplaced words, or one or a small number of key people losing interest can upset the
whole process.
While these disadvantages present potential or real challenges to the success of a participatory
planning process, overcoming them may tremendously increase the possibility of designing and
carrying out an effective community intervention.
What are the levels of participatory planning?
There are a number of ways to consider participatory planning. As demonstrated in the
discussion above of advantages and disadvantages, this kind of process always presents, even
at best, a trade-off between efficiency and inclusiveness. Time pressure, the needs of the

18. community, the skills and experience of those participating, and the nature of the intervention,
among other factors, all help to dictate the actual shape of the planning process.
So what are the possibilities? Just how participatory do you want to be? David Wilcox, in his
excellent "Guide to Effective Participation," sets out the following as a model of the different
possible levels of participation:
 Information - The least you can do is tell people what is planned.
 Consultation - You offer a number of options and listen to the feedback you get.
 Deciding together - You encourage others to provide some additional ideas and options,
and join in deciding the best way forward.
 Acting together - Not only do different interests decide together what is best, but they
form a partnership to carry it out.
 Supporting independent community initiatives - You help others do what they want -
perhaps within a framework of grants, advice and support provided by the resource
holder.
Each of these levels may be appropriate in different circumstances, or with different groups,
although only at "deciding together" and above do they really begin to be fully participatory in
the sense that the term is used in this section.
When is participatory planning appropriate?
In addition to whatever feels right for your organization and circumstances, there are some
guidelines for when it might be appropriate to use each level of planning.
Information-only may be appropriate when:
 The course of action has already been decided - by a funder, for instance
 You're simply reporting on something that's already in progress
 You're keeping people informed so that they'll have the information to be part of a
participatory effort later
Consultation-only may be appropriate when:
 You want to evaluate or improve existing services
 There are limited options, and you're trying to choose among them
 There are technical reasons - again, perhaps because of a funder - why only certain
people or groups can be officially involved in the planning process
But remember, if you consult with people in the community, you have to pay attention to what
they tell you. If you're simply going to ignore their ideas and recommendations, you shouldn't
consult at all. Being asked for an opinion and then ignored is much more insulting and

19. infuriating than never being asked in the first place. At the very least, people deserve an
explanation of why their advice isn't being followed.
Deciding together may be appropriate when:
 It's important that everyone feel ownership of the plan
 You want fresh ideas from as many sources as possible
 You can pull in people whom the intervention will directly affect
 There's a commitment to provide support through the process for those who need it
 There's enough time
In reality, as mentioned earlier, a planning process often is time-limited by proposal deadlines,
the severity of the need (if teenagers are dying every day by gunfire, a violence prevention
program needs to get under way quickly), the requirements of other partners or funders, etc.
The trick is to balance participation and time restraints, and to try to use the highest level of
participation possible under the circumstances.
Acting together may be appropriate when:
 The intervention will be more effective than if it were run by a single entity
 There is a funder's requirement for community oversight
 There is commitment to the development of a real partnership
 Everyone benefits from acting together
 One goal of the intervention is the eventual assumption of leadership or the learning of
leadership skills by the target population and/or others in the community
The word "partnership" implies a relationship of equals, where everyone has an equal voice,
and where power and responsibility are equally shared. Forming such a relationship, even in
circumstances where everyone truly desires it, is not a quick or easy task. It takes time,
commitment both to the process and the end product (the partnership), and the willingness to
air and work through disagreements and philosophical differences. If you're not willing to give
yourself to the development of a real partnership, acting together may be only a future goal for
your organization and its community.
Supporting local initiatives may be appropriate when:
 There is a commitment to community empowerment
 The community has the desire and at least some of the tools to start and run a
successful intervention
 There is a commitment to provide training and support where needed
 Your organization can only provide support, or can only run an intervention for a short
time

20. As you try to determine what level of participation is right for your situation, consider this: A
participatory planning process has the potential to become a charade meant only to convince
the community that a participatory process is going on.
An adult educator related a conversation with his father-in-law, who worked in a factory of one
of the big Detroit automakers. The company had initiated Total Quality Management, and had
reorganized the factory workers into teams. Each team included workers from each step in the
car manufacturing process, and was meant to be responsible for the building of a whole car
from start to finish. Furthermore, each team was supposed to be able to change its procedures
to make them more efficient or easier, and thus to improve production through the knowledge
and skill of team members.
Knowing that his father-in-law was a longtime union activist and socialist, the younger man
said, "That must be great. The workers actually have some control over production." The
father-in-law, however, quickly burst the bubble. "No, it's the same as it was before, except
now they make us sit in meetings and tell them what we think before they ignore us. Nothing
has changed. They're just going through the motions, so they can tell the public they're doing
something different."
When is participatory planning not appropriate?
There are also some general guidelines for when a participatory planning process may not be
appropriate at all, including:
 A grant may have to be written immediately, for instance, or a situation - youth
violence, perhaps - may have reached such crisis proportions that it must be addressed
immediately. In such a circumstance, it may be possible to do some participatory
planning after the fact, either to adjust the intervention before it begins, or to plan its
next phase.
 When a community is so brutally divided, it's impossible to get all - or even any - of the
rival factions to the same table.
 When there's no way to provide proper support - facilitation, structure, etc. - for the
process.
 When the target population is simply not interested in participating, and just wants the
organization to take care of it. One goal may be to get them interested, but that may
have to be part of the intervention, rather than part of the planning process.
 When the intervention rests on technical knowledge of a kind that the target population
and community members simply don't have.
 When involving all or most stakeholders simply isn't logistically possible, because of
distance, time, or other issues.
 When funding constraints or funders' regulations don't allow it.
 When there is no trust between your organization and the community. This may be
because the organization is new and unproven, or because of past history. In the latter

21. circumstance, it is important to reestablish trust, but it may not be possible to do this
before the intervention needs to be planned.
Who should be involved in a participatory planning process?
The ideal answer here is everyone who is affected by the proposed intervention, but that's
seldom possible, or even desirable. You may be talking about thousands of people, too many
for an effective planning process. In reality, there should be strong and effective representation
for everyone involved, including:
Targets of Change
Targets of change are the people at whom the intervention is aimed or whom it is intended to
benefit. That could be very specific (e.g. teen mothers, for a job training program aimed at teen
parents) or very general (the community as a whole, for a smoking prevention and cessation
initiative aimed at everyone in the community).
There are really two groups to be considered here:
 Members of the target community, both those on whom the intervention is specifically
focused, and others who share their culture, age, language, or other characteristics.
 People whom the target community sees as significant opinion makers. They may be
members of the target population itself, or outsiders - clergy, advisors, former
community members who now move in circles of power, politicians, etc. - whom people
in the target community trust and rely on.
Agents of Change
Agents of change are the people who make or influence policy or public opinion. These include
actual policy makers, but also encompass people influential in the community at large, who can
help or block an intervention by their support or opposition.
Policy makers
 Local elected or appointed officials
 State or federal elected or appointed officials who have influence in the community or
over the issue at which the intervention is aimed.
If elected officials agree to be involved in your planning, they'll often send aides to represent
them. This can be preferable to the officials themselves attending, since the aides often have a
great deal of influence over their bosses, and are also more likely to have the time to
participate fully.

22.  Local public agency heads (welfare, e.g.) who actually administer policy in the
community. If they're involved from the beginning, they may be able to bend rules or
otherwise alter their procedures to smooth the way for the intervention.
 Local university professors or researchers who are viewed as experts on the issue in
question.
Influential people in the community
 Members of the business community. There are a number of good reasons to try to
involve the business community: They tend to be practical, often a helpful trait. They
also tend to be conservative, so that if they support the effort, their credibility - and, as
a result, that of the intervention itself - may be high among other conservative elements
in the community. They are often directly affected by such issues as illiteracy, employee
health, insurance, the environment, etc., and so may be quick to see the need for an
intervention. Last but not least, they often have access to money, which may be
important to sustaining the intervention over time.
 Clergy and the faith community. In many communities, clergy wield great influence, and
many see involvement in community issues as part of their spiritual mission. Faith-based
groups, because of their cohesiveness, their sense of purpose, and their moral standing,
can be powerful forces in a community.
 Natural leaders, those whom others respect and listen to.
A community coalition had as a founding member a veteran who had been shot down as a
fighter pilot in Vietnam. When he got home, the whole town watched for agonizing months as
he learned, through obvious pain, to walk and function despite crippling injuries that were
supposed to confine him to a wheelchair for life. He was an ordinary guy without wealth or
position, but he had credibility in that town.
 The media, or others who have a public platform.
 Directors or staff of other organizations affected by the problem or issue. Many of these
people may be highly respected or well known in the community.
A community intervention may involve a number of organizations, public agencies and services,
and other groups. A community initiative to offer treatment to substance abusers, for instance,
could involve, among others:
 Schools
 Police
 Local hospitals, clinics, and health maintenance organizations
 Services for youth
 Mental health centers
 Private therapists
 Employers
 United Way

23. Interested members of the community
These might include parents, youth, or school personnel, for instance, for an intervention
dealing with youth. Many seniors have the time, the desire, and the experience to be excellent
community volunteers. People with a personal or professional interest in the issue may also
want to participate - parents whose children have had drug problems, graduate students,
retired teachers or doctors.
Members of the organization itself
Administrators and line staff, volunteers, current participants, board members, and supporters.
What do you need to do to get a participatory planning process up and running?
Recruit stakeholders
The obvious first step toward starting a participatory planning process is finding people to
participate. Some of that relies simply on networking and old-fashioned legwork, but there's a
logical process that accompanies it as well.
Identify the stakeholders
How do you define stakeholders? The list of possible participants earlier in this section is one
place to start. Your intervention may not need all, or even many of these groups or individuals.
To determine who should participate, the best question to ask is "Who will be directly affected
by this intervention?"
Answers here will vary greatly, depending upon the nature of the intervention. If the taxpayers
will be asked to pay for it directly - through property taxes, for instance, as they would be for
many school programs - then both community officials and ordinary taxpayers should have
some voice in it. If the police or other community employees are to be asked to take on extra
duties or to cooperate in specific ways to make the intervention work, they should be included
in the planning.
These should always include, at the very least, members of the organization's staff and Board
and the target population. In general, it also makes sense to include members of the
community, especially if:
 The intervention needs community support or participation in order to succeed
 The intervention will affect the community as a whole
 The community is being asked to change in some way - its attitudes, behavior,
assumptions, bylaws, etc.

24. Even if the community is not a specific stakeholder, it may make sense to involve community
members in a planning process. Every intervention needs some level of community support in
order to succeed. Community participation in planning will help to assure that support.
Get the word out
If your process is meant to be as inclusive as possible, then you should be using as many
avenues as possible to inform the community about it - press releases, newspaper stories,
fliers, posters, and public service announcements (PSA's) on radio and television, as well as
community presentations, personal contact (either face-to-face or by phone), mailings, etc. If
you're trying to inform only specific groups in the community, start with people in those groups
you already know. They'll help to spread the word to their friends and acquaintances, who'll
pass it on further still. They can also help you decide where to place other information so the
target groups will be likely to encounter it.
Be sure that your message is simple and clear, and in the languages that the community speaks.
That means both using plain, understandable English, and using other languages spoken by
people in the community. Your message may need to be in both English and Spanish, for
instance, or in a number of languages, in order to reach everyone.
Be sure also that your message appears in places where it will be seen or heard by those it's
aimed at. Supermarkets, laundromats, cafes, minority-language radio and TV stations,
particular agencies, etc. may be good places to post your message.
Convene the planning process
Choose someone to convene the process
Regardless of what happens afterwards, someone needs to call people together and run a first
meeting. If that person is identified with a particular group, then that group will probably be
seen as in charge of the planning process. Depending upon the community, it could be
important to think carefully about who should be in that position.
Sometimes it is best to find someone from outside the group - often an elected official or other
respected figure - to run a first meeting. This type of choice both lends credibility to the
intervention, and identifies it as a community effort, rather than that of a particular
organization.
In a situation where a diverse core group has initiated the process, it may make sense for that
group to convene a first meeting. The group's chair might then be the convener. In other cases -
particularly where the organization will need a large amount of community support to make it
work - it may make sense to present the intervention as the project of your organization. In
those situations, a Board chair or director would be the logical choice to convene the planning
process.

25. Hold an initial meeting
An initial meeting might be open to a very large number of people (the whole community, or all
of the target population, for instance) or to a smaller group (one representative from each of
several agencies and organizations, a few selected members of the target group, etc.). The
time, place, and tone of this meeting are all important in making sure that people will be willing
to participate in it and in the process that follows. Some things you can do to help make it
successful:
 Before the meeting, try to personally invite as many people as possible. People are much
more likely to come if they know someone cares about their being there.
 Plan meeting times around the convenience of those attending, rather than the
convenience of the organization. Evenings, weekends - even holding two or more
meetings at different times - may make it possible for more people to participate.
 Hold the meeting in a place that's convenient and comfortable for everyone involved. If
the community is divided into factions, choose a neutral place that everyone considers
"safe." If there's no such problem, choose a place that's relatively easy to find and reach
for everyone (on a bus line, plenty of parking, equally convenient to several
neighborhoods, centrally located in a rural area, etc.)
 Provide some food and drink. The presence of food reduces formality and makes things
more comfortable.
 Consider carefully who'll run the meeting. This choice may dictate how many people are
willing to get involved in the process.
 If the community is multilingual, make sure to have translators present, or to present
everything in multiple languages, so that everyone feels included.
 Plan activities so that everyone at the meeting has a chance to be heard, either in the
larger group or in a smaller one. You asked people there to participate in a planning
process: they should see from the very beginning that you were serious about that, and
that their ideas will be taken seriously.
 By the end of the meeting, there should be a clear next step, and everyone should know
what it is. Nothing can sidetrack a participatory planning process more quickly than
generating enthusiasm and leaving it with no place to go.
A large meeting is not always the best way to convene a process. In some communities, or with
some groups, several smaller meetings, or meetings with one or two or three individuals may
be the way to start. A large meeting may be intimidating to particular individuals or groups:
they may not attend, or they may be unwilling to speak if they do attend. As with any process,
it's important to start where the participants feel comfortable, and to work from there.
Maintain the planning process
Once the planning process has started, it has to be maintained. Participants have to continue to
be interested, support has to be provided when it's needed, conflicts have to be resolved,

26. methods have to be devised to keep the process reasonably efficient, goals and deadlines have
to be set, etc.
Choose someone to guide the planning process
Someone - realistically, it's usually the director or another administrator of the organization
that will conduct the intervention, but it could be a Board chair, an outside facilitator, or a
community member - has to monitor what's happening and make sure that nothing derails the
planning. Finding the right person to fill this role is extremely important. He has to be able to
communicate well with everyone involved, to see the big picture as well as the details, and to
deal gracefully with both interpersonal and logistical problems. (That's why an outside
facilitator is sometimes a good investment.)
Do you need an outside facilitator? In a situation where divisions are deep, or where no one
available has the needed skills to keep the planning process on track, there may be a need for a
neutral and experienced facilitator. A facilitator with no personal stake in the process or the
community may be able to see - and defuse - the dynamics among the groups involved in the
process. Her skills may be needed to handle that difficult individual referred to earlier, or to
help different racial groups overcome their mutual suspicion. She may also be able to make
what is by nature a sloppy process more efficient and effective.
Whether your planning will need an outside facilitator or not depends largely on the character
of your community and the character of the relationships among its different elements. A good
facilitator generally doesn't come cheap, so if you need one, you'll have to decide whether you
can afford to hire her. But you'll also have to decide whether you can afford not to hire her, if
you want to plan an intervention that works.
Decide who will issue final approval on a plan
If, as is often the case, the actual planning is done by a relatively small group, there is usually a
mechanism to have the plan approved by some larger or governing body.
This body might take one of several forms:
 A meeting of all stakeholders
 A diverse group chosen to oversee the intervention
 A community meeting
 The Board of the organization
 A very small group - the director and Board chair, for instance, or even just one of them
Determine how long the planning process will go on
The planning you want to do might be for a single initiative or campaign, or might encompass
years of collaboration on working with a large and diverse population. If the planning group is

27. meant to continue, either to furnish oversight of the final plan, or to keep developing and
changing the intervention as circumstances and the community's needs change, an ongoing
participatory approach may be even more important to the intervention's success.
How well you maintain the process once it's begun is just as important to its success as how
well you start it. Remember that the planning process itself is only a beginning.
In Summary
A participatory planning process - one in which all the stakeholders are involved - is often the
most effective and inclusive way to plan a community intervention. A participatory process
provides community ownership and support of the intervention; information about community
history, politics, and past mistakes; and respect and a voice for everyone. It also takes time,
care, mutual respect, and commitment.
In order to conduct such a process well, you have to carefully consider what level of
participation is most appropriate under the circumstances. You also must identify the
stakeholders, and make sure they all get to the table, using communication techniques
designed to reach them.
Care must be taken in getting the process under way. The person and methods chosen to
convene it can both send messages about your intentions, and have a great effect on which and
how many participants you attract.
Finally, the process must be maintained over time, so that momentum will not be lost. If you
can manage a planning process that meets all these requirements, the chances are that you will
come up with a successful community intervention, one that truly works and meets the
community's needs.
INTEGRATED PLANNING
Joint planning exercise that ensures participation of all stakeholders and affected departments.
Its objective is to examine all economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits , in order
to determine most appropriate option and to plan a suitable course of action.
DECENTRALIZED EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
SIMPLY PUT, “Everything that increases the role of subordinates is decentralization and that
decreases the role is centralization.”

28. Centralization is a process where the concentration of decision making is in a few hands. The
important decisions and actions at the lower level are subject to the approval of top
management.
On the other hand, decentralization is a systematic delegation of authority at all levels of
management and in all of the organization. Authority is retained to the top management
concerning major decisions and framing policies that involve the whole organization. Rest of
the authority may be delegated to the middle level and lower level of management.
Concerning whether or not most decisions should be made at the top level of an organization, I
humbly believe that the prime consideration in the allocation of power to decide must be the
nature, and not the quantity, of the decisions to be made. If the issues concern the totality of
the department, then it’s just wise for the top management to have the final say. On the other
hand, if the case involves a particular region, then low-level administrator assigned to that
specific area, being more exposed and attached to the situations in that particular area, is in a
better place to decide the matter.
The creation of Dep.Ed. regional offices, I believe, has improved the administration and
supervision of our school system. These regional offices have helped in rendering better
services, for through them, the Department of Education has been able to address the
problems in rural areas more closely and thoroughly. Having closer contacts with their area of
responsibility, regional offices have better insights on the educational needs of the people in
their region. With these regional offices therfore, Dep.Ed's support and supervision becomes
‘better-tuned’ and more accessible to people. School systems and programs are also better
monitored, not to mention the faster decision making and being less bureaucratic.
Internally, administrators in the lower ranks are better motivated and tend to get higher morale
since they possess more independence to act and decide. Furthermore, decentralization frees
the Chief Executive from many burdens, thereby allowing him to focus on concerns of extensive
and large-scale nature

29. QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS
BASIC STATISTICS NEEDED IN PLANNING
The planning process and its various stages were described. In all stages the planner needs
information on which to base his decisions. He can never decide how many new schools should
be constructed if he does not know how many schools already exist. But he also needs to know
the quality of the existing buildings in order to determine how many school buildings may have
to be replaced.
From this simple example it emerges already that there are two types of information:
1. Quantitative data
2. Qualitative information
Quantitative data are figures of statistics. They relate to the educational system but also to
other systems related to education. There are, however, extremely important items of
information which can not be quantified.
Statistics will include numerical information on number of schools, students, teachers, finance.
Non-quantifiable data or qualitative information to be taken into account by the planner
comprises information on the objectives of education and educational policies, the content of
education, equality of opportunity to education, quality and relevance of education, etc.
2. In this and the following units we will concentrate on quantified data. The reader should,
however, bear in mind that this is only one aspect of the information required by educational
planners.
3. Statistics are needed by the planner in every phase of the planning process.
(i) The planning phase
This phase starts with a diagnosis of the educational system. Diagnosis without statistics is
impossible. A statement like “there is a shortage of teachers” is almost meaningless for a
planner. He needs to know how many teachers are short, at what level, with what type of
specialization? Only if this type of detailed information is available, can the planner make the
proper diagnosis.
From diagnosis the planner goes on to policy formulation teacher training institutions;
determine whether new institutions will have to be created and what the financial implications
will be. Therefore he will need detailed statistics on the existing capacity of teacher training
institutions and on the costs of teacher training.
(ii) The plan-elaboration phase

30. The elaboration of the plan again requires statistical background data. The plan will be split up
in programmes. Under each programme specific projects will be formulated and these projects
have to be regionalized.
One programme could be primary teacher training. To formulate this programme detailed
statistics would be required on primary teacher training capacity existing at the moment, the
number of teacher educators, the costs of primary teacher training, etc. For regionalization of
this programme one would need, for each province or region in the country, data on capacity
for primary teacher training, on demand for new teachers and on the number of students
seeking entrance into primary teacher training.
(iii) The implementation and evaluation phase
Once the plan has been finalized and implementation has started, the educational manager has
to continuously check the progress made. For this he needs a constant flow of – mainly
quantitative – information. Possible shortfalls or excesses should be recognized immediately so
that remedial action – through revision of the plan – can be taken.
As a conclusion can be stated that, for the planning and management of the educational system
a continuous flow of information – quantitative and qualitative – is required. Without this flow
no accurate and timely decision can be taken.
4. It should be emphasized that the need for information not only arises from a central planning
office in the Ministry of Education. Decisions have to be taken at all levels of the educational
administrative hierarchy. School headmasters, inspectors, district Educational officers, as well
as planners at the Ministry of Education are faced daily with problems which ask for decisions.
At all levels quantitative and qualitative information is required and should be available.
5. To serve all these functions well educational statistics should be:
(1) Comprehensive
(2) Rapidly available
(3) Reliable
Comprehensive Information
6. The modern educational manager has to take a systems view. In order to do this he needs
information on the educational system as well as on other system in society related to
education.
A good indication of the data required for the educational system as well as information for
some other sectors of society can be obtained from the article by Mr. K.G. Bolin: Statistics

31. Needed for Educational Planning, which is attached ad background reading material to this
Unit. Of particular interest is statistical information on non-formal or out-of-school education.
In the thinking and writing of the educationists non-formal education. In the thinking and
writing of the educationists’ non-formal education is assigned an increasingly important role in
attacking the basic problems of mass illiteracy and shortages of trained manpower. Planning
non-formal education, however, is extremely difficult because of the lack of a data base.
Establishing this data base presents practical and conceptual problems. Many different agencies
are involved in providing this type of education (a score of government agencies and private
bodies) and non-formal education takes many different forms (sandwich courses, evening
classes, correspondence courses, radio and T.V. courses, literacy courses). Courses differ in
duration and intensity, thus making it difficult to find a common denominator to estimate
enrolment.
Comprehensive data should include “stock” and “flow” statistics. Stock statistics refer to the
situation as it is measured on the pupils on that day. Flow statistics allow an assessment of the
movement of teachers and pupils through the educational system. They include information on
new entrance into grade I, repetition, drop-out of pupils in the system. For proper analysis of
the educational situation and for projection of student flows through the school system
adequate flow statistics should be available.
Recent Information
7. For adequate management recent information is required. If the information is a few years
old, the decisions taken now refer to the situation of a few years ago and not to the present.
The statistical process should therefore be properly organized. There are three ways of data
collection for the educational statistics:
(a) Personal inquiry by the statistician – This can help him to obtain data from other
government offices on the non-educational statistics (demographic, economic, manpower,
etc.). It my also be a way to obtain information from the bigger educational institutions like
universities. Good and frequent contacts with these offices and institutions will enable the
statistician to collect recent data from them.
(b) Postal census of educational institutions – In all countries this is the most important way of
data collection. Annually, a questionnaire is sent to all schools. The processing of the returns of
the questionnaires is different in different countries, but basically there are who alternatives. In
the first case the returns are collected by a central statistical office and checked and processed
there (often through a computer). The second organization is step-wise, the number of steps
varying from country to country, but a representative example of this case is that schools send
their questionnaire returns to the district education office, which compiles the data on district
level and send them on to a provincial office which takes care of provincial compilation and
sends the provincial data to the central statistical office.

32. Both methods have advantages and disadvantages. It is not necessarily so that a centralized and
computerize organization can present the results quicker. It may take a central office longer to
collect in return for computer consumption. The advantages of the computer are that is has
more combinatory powers and can analyze all details that the questionnaires provide. The
advantage of the step-wise organization is that data are collected and processed by those
offices (district) where most educational decisions are taken. The district officers often have
powers to decide on additional budgets and staff for schools and therefore they need urgently
recent information.
Whichever way of organizing statistics a country may chose will depend on the particular ways
of educational administration of that country. In all cases it should be possible that, when a
questionnaire is distributed to the schools at the beginning of the school year, the collecting
and processing of the returns will be finalized towards the end of the same school year.
(c) Sample inquiry – The school census is an expensive and time-consuming operation because
of the vast number of schools involved. For some items of information a small sample of
schools can give us estimates which can be representative for the whole educational system
(e.g. data on repetition, attendance, age-grade distribution, socio-economic background of
pupils). The advantages of a sample are that it can be cheaper, quicker and a better check on its
reliability is possible. If it appears, during the preparation of a plan, that certain important items
of information are not available, a sample may be the only way to immediately obtain the data.
Reliable Information
8. It is obvious that only correct data are useful. No statistical figure can be foolproof but at
least extent and direction of errors should be known.
To improve reliability of data an investigation into causes of unreliability is called for.
(1) The first problem lies in the schools. Their records form the source from which the
questionnaire is answered. In may schools no records are maintained or are very poorly
maintained. Only if headmasters can be made to understand the importance of the statistical
information he may take more care in answering the questions. In some countries the
organization of decision-making is such that the headmaster purposely gives false answers in
the hope of securing more resources for his school. Questionnaire returns should, therefore, be
checked in personal visits by school inspectors.
(2) The district education offices lack adequately qualified personnel and appropriate
equipment for their statistical work. They have to obtain their information from many different
agencies engaged in education, some of which are not under their direct authority (e.g. private
schools). They also have to rely on often inadequate postal services.
It seems that for increasing the reliability of data the schools and the district offices are the
crucial places in most countries.

33. It has been established that the planners and managers of the educational system need
statistical information. Before starting the collection of statistics, the statistician should always
consult the planner and manager on their data needs. The collection of statistics is a time-
consuming and costly process and only useful data should be brought together.
After the collection of the raw statistical data, the statistician first has to check them on correctness and
consistency. Then the phase of analysis and presentation starts. Analysis should bring out the crucial
issues and trends of the educational development. The presentation of the data should be such that
every user will immediately be able to understand and interpreted the data.
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Performance Indicators, also known as, help an organization define and measure progress
toward organizational goals.
Once an organization has analyzed its mission, identified all its stakeholders, and defined its
goals, it needs a way to measure progress toward those goals.
Performance indicator refers to the means by which an objective can be judged to have been
achieved or not achieved. Indicators are therefore tied to goals and objectives and serve simply
as ‘yardsticks’ by which to measure the degree of success in goal achievement. Performance
indicators are quantitative tools and are usually expressed as a rate, ratio or percentage.
Example
Table 3.9
Elementary Education Performance Indicators (Target vs. Actual),

34. CAR: 2004-2009 (In percent)
Source : Department of Education-CAR and CAR RDP 2004-2010
Table 3.10
Secondary Education Performance Indicators (Target vs. Actual),
CAR: 2005-2009 (In percent)
While both HEIs and TVIs performed significantly well the previous years, the basic
education sector needs to improve its performance specifically in increasing the
participation rate. Improving performances in English, Math and Science subjects also
needs to be addressed to ensure total quality education and increased competitiveness.
Between 2004-2009, there was below target accomplishment in all elementary
education performance indicators specifically in the participation rate with a double-digit
underperformance. Also, there was no improvement in all the indicators across years except
for a minimal increase in survival rate.
Secondary education performance also shows below target accomplishments in all
indicators especially for participation rate, completion rate and transition rate. In fact, there
is a decreasing trend in most indicators except for survival rate and retention rate.

35. For CAR to be a prime education center in the Philippines, there is a need to
continually upgrade educational facilities to “world class” standards and improve
performance at all levels. This is in line with President Benigno C. Aquino III’s vision for
education - “to make education the central strategy for investing in our people, reducing
poverty and building national competitiveness.”
B. Goal/Objectives/Targets
The Cordillera as a prime education center of the Philippines where quality,
relevant and responsive basic, tertiary and technical vocational education shall be provided.
This involves: (1) improved access to quality education and manpower development
services; (2) enhanced public-private partnership in the delivery of education and manpower
programs and services; and (3) improved provision of market-driven, development-oriented
tertiary and technical-vocational education, training and research extension services.
Targets for higher education institutions:
o 100 percent compliance of HEIs with minimum standards for every program
offered;
o development of 12 HEIs as COEs and 21 HEIs as CODs;
o increase in accredited programs to 122% from their 2005 level;
o 20 percent increase in the passing rate in all licensure examinations;
o increase in networking with other schools of higher learning, both local and
international, by at least 10 percent annually.
C. Strategic Interventions
1. On improving the provision of market-driven, development-oriented tertiary and
technical-vocational education, training and research extension services:
 promoting private sector-led and market-driven tertiary and technical-vocational
education and trainings;
 pursuing the academic freedom of HEIs in CAR to upgrade their educational system,
facilities and equipment into world class standards to enhance the international
marketability of the university communities;
 enhancing the responsiveness of tertiary education courses and tech-voc training
programs to local and global market demands and sustaining the regular conduct of
proactive job-skill matching;
 pursuing the development/achievement of COEs, CODs, Distinctive Areas of
Competence (DACs) accreditation programs;
 developing the BLISTT (Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay) University
Community as a model university area;

36.  developing and enforcing institutional policies for the promotion, protection and
publication of research outputs and enhancing the role of research and extension
units of the educational institutions to make it more responsive and relevant to the
region by contributing to development policies and knowledge build-up in the region;
 mainstreaming of relevant regional and social concerns to school curricula by
integrating Cordillera history and culture, regional development and autonomy,
disaster risk reduction/climate change adaptation and other emerging concerns;
 expanding scholarships and other incentive support services.
FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
Budgeting is the translation of programs, projects and activities into their
resourcerequirements which are expressed in monetary financial terms. It allocates resources
tospecific actions deemed necessary to achieve predetermined objectives. Additionally, a
timeelement is introduced within which resources are made available and activities are to
becarried out. Additionally, a time element is introduced within which resources are
madeavailable and activities are to be carried out.
STEPS ON BUDGETING PROCESS
1. Identification of programs, projects and activities to be implemented during thebudget
period. These are largely drawn from the planning process wherein specificinterventions
are formulated to respond to problems and issues and/or to attainspecific targets.
2. Identification of resources cal and other resourcesrequired
to carry out the programs, projects, and activities and the quantities foreach resource.
3. Costing of resources which would translate the resource requirements into
theirmonetary values.
4. Preparation of the budget in accordance with the mandated form and contentspelled
out in guidelines issued for this purpose.5.
5. Securing official authorization to allocate and use resources.
Planning and Budgeting Linkage
National Level - The implementation of the sectoral components of the multi-year
developmentplan is the responsibility of the different instrumentalities of government, with
theeducator sector plan being the responsibility of DepEd. In line with the annualbudget

37. preparation process, the DepEd annual agency plan is formulate, guided bythe policies and
strategies embodied in the multi-year plan. It spells out the specificactivities to be implemented
for the coming budget year, aimed at achieving thetargets set for that period. The annual
budget allocated the resources needed forthese specific activities.
Costing of Educational Plan / Resource Analysis
Description of a planning cost model for estimating the comparable replication cost of an
educational program for use in evaluating alternative programs and planning future programs.
The conceptual and methodological basis of cost analysis is explored, and the shortcomings of
present methods for comparison and evaluation of educational programs are described. The
proposed model presents a framework for bringing together resources (facilities, staff,
equipment, materials) required to carry out an educational program and for relating these
resources to program output in the form of activities. These relationships provide information
on the relative merits of selected changes in the activity structure of a total program, and on
the cost consequences of changes in the resource utilization rate or in resource cost.
Comparable replication costs for several different programs are estimated to illustrate the use
of the model.
Methods of cost-effectiveness analysis can assist the planner in evaluating educational
programs. This concept should be broadened to include "resource-effectiveness analysis,"
which can be divided into two study areas: resource analysis and analysis of effectiveness.
Constructing a resource/cost model is suggested to handle the problems of resource allocation
by relating the programs to resources and costs. Defining and measuring the effectiveness of an
educational program must precede the analysis of cost-effectiveness of alternative programs.
The complexity of the learning process requires the production of a set of measures or
indicators. Questions remaining: What level of effectiveness is acceptable? Should the same
criteria be applied to all students? Results of this resource-effectiveness analysis will be
estimated measures of resource requirements, costs, and ranked aspects of effectiveness
projected for each program and for alternative future environments.
IMPLEMENTATION AND EVALUATION
Communication in Educational Planning
Greater public knowledge, understanding and commitment at all levels, from the
individual to the international, are vital to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the
present Programme of Action. In all countries and among all groups, therefore, information,
education and communication activities concerning population and sustainable development
issues must be strengthened. This includes the establishment of gender- and culturally sensitive
information, education and communication plans and strategies related to population and
development. At the national level, more adequate and appropriate information enables
planners and policy makers to make more appropriate plans and decisions in relation to
population and sustainable development. At the most basic level, more adequate and

38. appropriate information is conducive to informed, responsible decision-making concerning
health, sexual and reproductive behaviour, family life, and patterns of production and
consumption. In addition, more and better information about the causes and benefits of
migration can create a more positive environment for societies to address and respond to
migration challenges.
Effective information, education and communication are prerequisites for sustainable
human development and pave the way for attitudinal and behavioural change. Indeed, this
begins with the recognition that decisions must be made freely, responsibly and in an informed
manner, on the number and spacing of children and in all other aspects of daily life, including
sexual and reproductive behaviour. Greater public knowledge and commitment in a democratic
setting create a climate conducive to responsible and informed decisions and behaviour. Most
importantly, they also pave the way for democratic public discussion and thereby make
possible strong political commitment and popular support for needed action at the local,
national and international levels.
Effective information, education and communication activities include a range of
communication channels, from the most intimate levels of interpersonal communication to
formal school curricula, from traditional folk arts to modern mass entertainment, and from
seminars for local community leaders to coverage of global issues by the national and
international news media. Multichannel approaches are usually more effective than any single
communication channel. All these channels of communication have an important role to play in
promoting an understanding of the interrelationships between population and sustainable
development. Schools and religious institutions, taking into account their values and teachings,
may be important vehicles in all countries for instilling gender and racial sensitivity, respect,
tolerance and equity, family responsibility and other important attitudes at all ages. Effective
networks also exist in many countries for non-formal education on population and sustainable
development issues through the workplace, health facilities, trade unions, community centres,
youth groups, religious institutions, women's organizations and other non-governmental
organizations. Such issues may also be included in more structured adult education, vocational
training and literacy programmes, particularly for women. These networks are critical to
reaching the entire population, especially men, adolescents and young couples.
Parliamentarians, teachers, religious and other community leaders, traditional healers, health
professionals, parents and older relatives are influential in forming public opinion and should be
consulted during the preparation of information, education and communication activities. The
media also offer many potentially powerful role models.
Current information, education and communication technologies such as global
interlinked telephone, television and data transmission networks, compact discs and new
multimedia technologies can help bridge the geographical, social and economic gaps that
currently exist in access to information around the world. They can help ensure that the vast
majority of the world's people are involved in debates at the local, national and global levels
about demographic changes and sustainable human development, economic and social
inequities, the importance of empowering women reproductive health and family planning,

39. health promotion, ageing populations, rapid urbanization and migration. Greater public
involvement of national authorities and the community ensure the widespread diffusion of
such technologies and the freer flow of information within and between countries. It is
essential that parliaments have full access to the information necessary for decision-making.
Plan / Program / Project Evaluation Criteria
Project Evaluation
We will evaluate our project to improve its design and assess its effectiveness in reaching our
education objectives. At the start of the grant we will conduct a front-end evaluation (likely via
a survey) of program participants (high-school and college students) to determine their prior
knowledge and attitudes about the topics they will study. At the end of the summer workshop
and twice during the school year, all participants will repeat relevant portions of the front-end
survey so we can track changes in knowledge, attitudes and possibly stewardship actions
immediately after their experiences as well as over time (a time series evaluation design). At
the end of the grant we will report the summative impact of this project on participants.
The broad questions we will attempt to answer with this evaluation are:
 Do participants’ understanding of the local watershed system improve and do they feel
better connected to the local system? Are the topics presented during the workshop
relevant to participants? Do they inspire stewardship interests/actions?
 What impact does the program have on participants’ aspirations toward advanced
schooling, interest in/pursuit of science careers, and stewardship actions?
 What aspects of this program (content, pedagogy, field experiences and/or mentoring)
do participants report as having the greatest impacts of them?
SAMPLE 1
Project Evaluation
The target audience for this evaluation is teachers participating in a weeklong summer
workshop. The main questions for the evaluation are:
 Which aspects of the workshop worked well? Which didn’t work? What changes would
improve the workshop?
 What’s the impact of the workshop on the teachers who attend? Does it change their
knowledge or how to teach the content, and in what ways?
 What impact does the workshop have on classroom practice? Do the teachers use what
they learned in the workshop?
All teacher participants would complete a pre-workshop survey. At the end of each day,
teachers would provide feedback on the day’s events and activities via a feedback form. On the

40. last day of the workshop, teachers would complete a post-workshop survey (one similar to the
pre-workshop survey).
The survey and feedback forms would use a mix of questions to collect qualitative and
quantitative data. Data from the pre-workshop survey would be compared to responses on the
post-workshop survey to track changes in participants over the week. Responses on the
feedback forms will help us improve the delivery of the program.
Approximately 6 months after the workshop, teacher participants will be asked to complete an
online or telephone survey to determine the workshop’s impacts on their teaching and their
use of the materials we provided.
SAMPLE 2
Project Evaluation
Of our project objectives, our evaluation will focus on assessing our success at increasing
participants’ knowledge about the local watershed, engaging them in quality scientific
investigations and increasing their stewardship actions toward the watershed. We will use a
mixed-methods evaluation strategy (surveys and observations) to provide us with formative data
so we can improve our program and summative data to show our program’s impact. The
principal investigators will implement the evaluation with Dr. XYZ serving as our advisor on the
development of assessment instruments, the analysis of data and reporting of results.
We will start on the first day of the program with a pre-program survey of participants’
knowledge of local watersheds and their actions regarding wetland conservation. We will
conduct a nearly identical post-program survey during the final day of the program. During each
field work session, two trained interns will use an observation instrument to assess the quality of
participants’ field investigations. The observers will share their findings with the staff after each
session so we can improve how we conduct the field work with participants. Finally, at the end
of the program, we will ask participants to complete a survey about their intended actions
regarding conservation of the local watershed.
Pre- and post-survey data will be compiled and compared to determine the impact of the program
on participants. All the evaluation data collected will be summarized and included in our final
report.
Non-Examples: Proposal Evaluation Section
These are provided as examples of a poorly planned or articulated evaluation section for a B-
WET grant proposal.
SAMPLE 1
We will evaluate our project by observing the students during the program and discussing our

41. observations at regular staff meetings. Parents will also complete an assessment tool to provide
feedback.
SAMPLE 2
We will hire an outside evaluator to develop online surveys that both teachers and students will
complete. Students will also keep journals and present final projects, which will encompass all
they've learned during the program. Evaluation will be both formative and summative with the
evaluator compiling and reporting on the results.
SAMPLE 3
By documenting the number of people who attend the program each month we will assess its
success. At the end of each program we will ask participants to tell us what they thought about
the program and suggest ways to improve it. We will also ask them to tell us one thing they
learned from that program. This information will help us improve the program so that it better
meets our objectives and participants' needs.
Logic Model: A Planning Tool
Attached is a logic model template to help you plan your project and its evaluation. This is a
good tool to help you think about your project as a whole. The first column includes your
objectives, that is, how you believe your audience will be different after they participate in your
project. The next three columns are where you list what you will provide/do in order to meet
your objectives. The final two columns are your outcomes-how your audience will be different
immediately after participating in your project and in the not-to-distant future.
What is a logic model?
A logic model is a systematic and visual way to present and share your understanding of the
relationships among the resources you have to operate your program, the activities you plan to
do, and the changes or results you hope to achieve. (see Online Resources: W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, 2001, p. 1)
A logic model is a "picture" of how your project will work. Logic models link project outcomes
(short-, intermediate- and long-term) with project activities, outputs and inputs (or resources)
&.Logic models provide a road map of your project, showing how it is expected to work, the
logical order of activities and how the desired outcomes will be achieved. (NOAA Coastal
Services Center, Project Design and Evaluation Workshop Handbook, p. 63)
Why use it?
The purpose of a logic model is to provide stakeholders with a road map describing the sequence
of related events connecting the need for the planned program with the programs' desired results.
Mapping a project helps you visualize and understand how human and financial investments can
contribute to achieving your intended program goals and can lead to program improvements.
(See Online Resources: W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2001, pg. 3)

42. Pros
 Helps you and colleagues/partners link all the components together on the same page
 Helps project/program designers differentiate between objectives and activities, between
outputs and outcomes
 Helps managers/stakeholders see how all the components fit together
 Aids decision making about resources and activities
 Helps managers determine where resources will go to achieve impacts
 Sets up project/program so that it's easier to evaluate
 Helps individuals see how they contribute to the project/program
 Funders are starting to request them.
Cons
 Something else to do
 Something new to learn
 Takes time and thought
 Have to think through project/program before jumping into doing activities
 Could make you more accountable for what you do