RESOURCE CENTRE MANUAL
HEALTHLINK WORLDWIDE
1.2 Strategic planning
A resource centre needs a clear purpose and overall plan of activities for the
longer term. This is known as a strategic plan. The strategic plan provides a
framework for making shorter-term plans and decisions. It describes:
• the overall aim or aims of the resource centre during a particular period,
such as the next five years (usually one or two broad statements)
• objectives (usually about four to six statements describing different ways in
which the resource centre will fulfil its overall aim)
• plans for specific activities (action plans) that will enable the resource centre
to meet its objectives.
The strategic plan needs to reflect the resource centre's mission. The mission is
usually expressed as a broad statement describing the resource centre’s values
and what it is setting out to achieve in the long term.
It is important that staff and users are involved in developing the strategic plan,
to ensure that their knowledge feeds into it. It is also important for staff to be
aware of the strategic plan, so that they understand what the resource centre is
aiming to do, whom it is for, what services are available, and why some
services are given higher priority than others.
A strategic plan needs to be reviewed and revised regularly. It needs to allow
some flexibility for the resource centre to change over time, in response to new
needs and circumstances. An annual review helps to incorporate changing
needs and circumstances into the plan.
1.2.1 How to develop a strategic plan
The strategic plan should be developed by the resource centre officer, members
of the resource centre advisory committee and/or other users, and management
staff of the organisation that the resource centre is part of. Overall
responsibility for the strategic plan lies with management.
It is best to set aside a day for a strategic planning meeting. Decide whom to
ask to the meeting (preferably between five and ten people) and explain the
purpose of the meeting to them in advance.
Decide who will facilitate the meeting and who will take notes. Try to hold the
meeting in a room where you will not be disturbed. It is useful to have a
flipchart and marker pens, and adhesive material or pins for putting up large
sheets of paper. It is worth providing refreshments.
Section 1.2.2 lists key questions to consider when planning a resource centre.
You can use these to guide your discussions. Allow as open a discussion as
possible. Write up all the ideas, and note those where there is agreement. You
may find that you come up with 'ideal' objectives that then have to be modified
to make them possible to achieve. Objectives should be ‘SMART’: Specific,
Measurable (so you can tell whether they have been achieved), Achievable,
Relevant and Time-limited (to be achieved by an agreed time).
4 SECTION 1: PLANNING A RESOURCE CENTRE