Program Development and Planning

Program development is an ongoing systematic process that entails planning, implementing and evaluating program activities to reach certain goals. Regardless of the nature or the scope of a particular program, the basic principles of program development remain the same. However, the success of any community-based, volunteer-driven program in low-income communities depends on building effective partnerships with community leaders and residents and, in essence, incorporating neighboring principles into the entire program development process.

Successful community-based programs build community ownership to ensure sustainability of effort and local relevance. They build on ongoing efforts and leverage local resources and assets for real impact. Most importantly, these programs:

• Engage leaders in the planning process
• Provide meaningful opportunity for residents' needs and desires to be heard
• Ensure that residents play an important role in every stage

Some Questions to Consider

What are the issues you are seeking to address through your program? Every community is unique and developing successful programs means responding to and building on the particular local situation. Begin your program development process by first seeking to fully understand the local situation. This may include conducting a community assessment, developing a community asset map, examining local census data, and relevant research, seeking local knowledge and experiences of local practitioner and residents. Conducting a thorough analysis of the local situation can best be done in partnership with the community members and other local stakeholders. See below on "who needs to be involved."

What are your goals and priorities? Set priorities for your program based on the local situation, existing local efforts, relevant local assets, and internal considerations such as organizational mission and vision, resources, etc. By determining what accomplishments you would like to see as a result of the program, you will arrive at the program goals. Goals should be informed by the priorities established. Establishing short, medium and long-range goals will help you track progress of your activities, measure outcomes, and ultimately assess the impact of your program.

Who needs to be involved? Get to know the community and its members. Understand the demographics; identify stakeholders - from local neighborhood leaders and residents, to service providers and government agencies, from businesses to faith groups. Determine how your program may affect various stakeholder groups. Explore the potential roles of stakeholders and engage them in further defining these roles and how they will participate in your program. Invest in building relationships . Successful partnerships are built on mutual vision, goals, and outcomes, as clear understanding of the role of each partner and an appreciation for the contributions and assets each bring to the table.

What are the program activities? Understanding the local situation, setting program priorities, developing and clarifying goals are necessary precursors to developing effective strategies and related program activities. Determine program activities by identifying what needs to be done to meet goals, when it will be done, who will do it, as well as what resources will be needed to do these activities and how you will track them. Successful programs engage stakeholders, including residents, in meaningful ways in ongoing planning, monitoring, and execution of program activities. Depending on your organization and its particular focus, the role that residents and volunteers will differ in execution of activities; however, community engagement builds local ownership and commitment to program success.

What resources are needed and how can they be mobilized? The availability of adequate resources is often a major factor in program outcomes and sustainability of efforts. R esources include money, time, people, materials, partners, etc. Program priorities and goals need to be informed by a sound understanding of resources available and new resources needed. Work with the community in determining existing resources that can be leveraged and what additional resources are needed. Determine how residents are presently engaged in the community and identify community members' talents, skills, and interests that can be mobilized.

How will you evaluate your progress? Effective program evaluation is based on establishing having a clear understanding of the program's goals and intended outcomes, and integrating indicators of success into the program's design well before the program even starts operating. Remember to set a timeline with each activity and a measurement process for the expected outcome. Have a clear role for stakeholders in your evaluation process. The feedback from community members – as volunteers and beneficiaries - can be invaluable in determining the efficacy and success of you program. Learn more about evaluating your program.