Initiating the Process/Getting Started

• Overview
• Getting Started
• Visioning
• Understanding your Situation
• Other Resources

Note that the activity of organizing the process can start before the stages illustrated in the diagram above, and also continues throughout each stage.

The outcome of a strategic planning process is a plan intended to guide a range of stakeholder actions. Involving stakeholders in a process that allows for different levels of involvement and commitment will have the flexibility to engage many participants. This results in the development of both formal and informal support for the process over time. It is important to connect the process to existing sources of leadership in the community. Engaging other organizations and volunteers is fundamental. The roles of formal elected leaders, business leaders, education and institutional decision-makers and the non-profit sectors need to be balanced in order to achieve the goals of the strategic planning exercise.

Community capacity is the foundation for each stage in the cycle. A well planned process also strengthens community capacity. One technique used in determining existing community capacity is the asset based approach. An organizing principle of community economic development is community resilience as described by the Centre for Community Enterprise. This approach is based on the idea that community capacity must first be understood and then strengthened in order for the local planning process to be successful.

Other resources which outline ways to include community members in the organization of a strategic planning process include the Community Development Facilitators Guide and the Community Development Handbook by Flo Frank and Anne Smith. Both are available from the HRSDC web site .

A number of other resources are also available from HRSDC in the Community Capacity Building Toolkit.

Go to:

• Overview
• Initiating the Process/Getting Started
• Visioning
• Understanding your situation
• Links to other resources