Community Planning

Rosamie P. Cabural
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 Community Planning
Development in the community does
not happen by chance. It is the result of
deliberate and concerned efforts by
denizens who see the need for planned
changes. Unless the community
residents are united in this endeavor,
little or no progress can be seen.
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 PLANNING:
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
Planning is a process of determining
what is to be done,
when and where it should be done,
who should do it
and how it should be done.
IN SHORT, IT IS DETERMINING THE
OBJECTIVES AND HOW TO
ACCOMPLISH THEM.
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Obviously, planning is futuristic or
proactive, never retroactive.
Although a planner may look back to
past events as he needs to have a
sound bases for his plan, such action
does not make planning retroactive.
Planning is basically, a looking-ahead
process.
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As a function of the community
worker or any manager/leader for that
matter, planning is continuous.
Even while the plan is being
implemented, the implementer keeps
on planning/strategizing as he seeks
to correct/improve certain aspects of
the projects/activity-implementation.
In effect, is cyclical.
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 A method of doing
Examin PLAN/REPLAN something that is worked
e and out in advance.
judge
the
plan

EVALUATE IMPLEMENT
Planning in effect is cyclical. THE PLAN

To put
the
plan
into
effect
Check the or
progress of the MONITOR action.
plan.
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 The Rationale of Planning
The following lines connote the
necessity/advantage of planning and the
urge to have staunch determination in
undertaking any endeavor.

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 “ The world steps aside
For the one who knows
WHERE HE IS GOING, WHY HE IS GOING
And HOW TO GET THERE.
It is not the number of times
You have fallen in defeat
But the number of times
You have RISEN AFTER EACH FALL.
If defeat won’t get you down
There is but one other way..”

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 People who succeed in their
chosen field of endeavor are, by
and large, those who have a plan
in life.
Be it on paper or simply in the
mind of the individual, such plan
spells out the difference between
failure and success.
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 People should undertake planning for three basic
reasons:

1) Planning provides direction.

2) Planning ensures economy of
time, effort and money.
3) Planning reduces risks.

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 Basically, planning is adhered to because
it gives one a sense of direction.
If a person has a plan, he knows just
where he is heading and rarely gets lost or
confused in the rough-and-tumble of
everyday life.
With a plan, the future is charted and it is
just a matter of coping with unforeseen
circumstances before one is able to realize
what he wants to happen.
“Make things happen is certainly the motto
of one who has gotten used to planning.
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Planning proves to be economical as
it helps save time, effort and financial
resources.
The more effective people are in
planning, the more economical they
become in terms of the three factors –
time, effort and money.

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 STEPS IN PLANNING

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1) Formulation/statement of vision, mission,
philosophy, goals and objectives.
 A VISION is the picture of what we want
to realize…
The primordial task which we “carry upon
our shoulders” is what we call our
MISSION. This serves as the focus of all
our activities in the organization.
PHILOSOPHY serves to unify the
members and in most instances,
rationalizes the actions and decisions they
make for the organization.
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GOALS are broad statements of aims for
the organization. They are long-range
purposes and may not be attained within a
year or so.
OBJECTIVES, on the other hand, are
specific, immediate aims the attainment of
which will redound to the fulfillment of the
organizational goals.

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 2) Scan the environment.

Two kinds of environment to be scanned:

1) Internal environment > existing conditions
within the community/organization.
2) External environment > conditions
outside of the community/organization.

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 Four Important Planning Considerations should be identified:

1) Strengths
2) Weaknesses
3) Opportunities
4) Threats

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 3) Identify needs/problems
 Environmental scanning inevitable results in
the identification of
needs/problems/constraints.
 Identified needs should be prioritized on the
bases of the degree of seriousness of the
problem (or extent of need) availability of
financial resources, and magnitude of
benefits to be derived from the
activity/project.
 It should be borne in the mind that the
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community residents should be actively
 4) Formulate alternative courses of action.
There is, definitely, a need to brainstorm
on the suggested alternatives for certainly,
each proponent would want to have his
suggestion/solution be adopted.
At any rate, discussions on suggested
solutions should focus on how workable
and practical are such alternatives.

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 5) Undertake a contingency planning.

A contingency plan is a substitute

plan just in case the original plan fails.
Basically, it answers the question: “If
this activity or strategy fails, what
shall we do?

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 6) Implement the plan.
It is to be noted that there are key
personnel who are tasked to carry out
activities or projects.
The planners should refer to their
schedule of activities and should, as
much as possible, implement the
strategies formulated earlier.

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 7) Monitor and evaluate the plan implementation.

In this stage, progress or project

status reports should be submitted to
the overall coordinator (manager) of
the development project

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 8) Replan, if necessary.
It is important that the planners go
over the formulated goals/objectives
as well as the identified
needs/problems as they attempt to
revise their plan.

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 ACTION PLANNING
ACTION-ORIENTED
SHORT-RANGE
MEANT TO ADDRESS THE IMMEDIATE
PROBLEMS OF THE LOCALITY.
It highlights very specific activities and
strategies, hence, it is expected that
outputs desired will be accomplished.

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 Parts of Action Plan

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 1) Objectives
• These are the immediate aims which
the organization seeks to attain.
• These purposes should be aligned
with the goals set in the
comprehensive plan.

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 2) Projects/Activities
• Likewise be supportive of the
comprehensive plan for the
barangay.

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 3) Target Outputs
• Very specific aims expressed in
quantitative terms.
• With the targets properly stated, it
is easy to monitor and evaluate
accomplishments.

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 4) Strategies
• It is important that strategies be
spelled out so that success in
plan implementation can be
realized.

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 5) Funding Requirements
and Sources
• Hardly can there be a plan which
does not involve finances.

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 6) Persons
Involved/Responsible
• People involved in the performance of
tasks/activities should be informed
beforehand to ensure that these tasks
are carried out later.
• With this part of the action plan, it is
easy to pinpoint
responsible/accountable people.
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 7) Timetable
• A plan should be time-bounded in order to
avoid waste of time. Time is an
irreplaceable resource: therefore, it should
be effectively managed.
• A Gantt Chart may be used.

“To choose time is to save time.” – Francis

Bacon

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 8) Remarks
• Statements or explanations which
cannot be indicated elsewhere in
the plan will be reflected.

References:
• Cornista, Aleli and Tito Rocaberte. 2003.Civic Welfare Training Service I.
• Dela Cruz Sonia.2005. National Service Training Program (Literacy Training
Service 1)

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 “Chance favors only
the prepared minds.”
Louis Pasteur

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