based on an article by Louise King
Whether you are organising a small program, such as two hour photography workshop, or a large program such as setting up a youth centre, the following approach to planning can be useful in helping to make your program a success.
1. Why are we doing this? (needs)
Presumably once you have decided to run a program it's because you have already determined what the need is. If not, how do you find a need? Look at the research, talk to other workers in your area, do a survey, but make sure you ask your target group - young people!!
As an example, the need might be:
lack of local entertainment for young people
2. What do we want to achieve? (aims and objectives)
The aim should be a general statement about what you want to achieve. The objectives are more specific.
In this example the aims and objectives could be:
Aim:
To provide a safe, affordable, drug and alcohol free venue for young people in the local area.
Objectives:
- To run fortnightly new performer nights.
- To provide opportunities for all young people to perform.
- To develop young people's skills in organising and operating events.
It is important to set objectives that are measurable. So it is also a good idea to list what you expect to be the outcomes of each objective. For example:
Outcomes for Objective 2:
- At least 50 young performers perform during the year.
- Young performers come from a variety of genres, including drama, acoustic, hip hop, heavy metal, punk.
- At least 50% of performers are young women.
3. How do we want to achieve it? (strategies?)
After you have listed your objectives and corresponding outcomes you are ready to decide how you want to do it. It is a good idea to brainstorm all the strategies you can think of and then order them from most realistic to most unrealistic and obviously start with the most realistic.
It is also useful to list the names of the people responsible for undertaking each strategy, so everyone is clear from the start what they are responsible for.
Strategies:
- Raise funds to purchase sound equipment.
- Establish a committee for the project.
- Design a poster to advertise events.
4. What are we going to achieve it with? (resources?)
Here you need to list all the resources you are going to require. For this example, this may include:
worker time, funding, sound equipment, venue, young people to volunteer, etc.
Decide what you have and what you need to carry out your strategies. If you do not have the resources it may be better to think of another idea and try something less ambitious or gather additional support. It's not worth attempting something that is not manageable as it only leads to frustration and disappointment.
5. How to decide if it was successful? (evaluation)
Before you embark on your program you need to decide how you are going to evaluate your activities. Evaluation has to measure what you expect to be the outcomes and then that determines whether you are going to meet your objectives. For example:
Outcome: 50 young performers perform during the year.
Evaluation method: Keep statistics on numbers of performers.
This is a fairly easy example. Other methods of evaluation can include informally asking young people, written surveys and focus groups.
Tips on program planning
- Always include young people in all aspects of program planning and running.
- Remain flexible and be prepared for the unexpected. If a huge problem occurs make changes to your plan.
- Be realistic - do not set yourself up for disaster.
- Always evaluate, even if you know you are not going to like the results. There is always a good explanation as to why things may not have worked out and you need to know these reasons so you can improve on it next time.
- Gather as much support as possible for your program.
- Enjoy what you are doing!
