ALIGNMENT OF DEPED S STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING & BUDGETING PROCESSES

Transcription

1 ALIGNMENT OF DEPED S STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL PLANNING & BUDGETING PROCESSES The intervention directly assisted DepEd in developing a single strategic planning process for all levels of the organisation. BACKGROUND Department of Education (DepEd) embarked on major organisation transformation programmes to strengthen its capacities and competencies for strategic planning at all levels. Planning structures and processes existed in DepEd prior to these programmes, but they were not responsive to the organisation s requirements. Planning was done mostly at the operational level and used primarily for budgeting development purposes. The planning process needed to be reengineered to improve the interface between central and regional offices, to instill a strategic orientation on the planning process, and to establish a stronger monitoring and evaluation system. Duplication of projects, programs and activities also needed to be resolved while the value orientation of the planning process needed to be disseminated to everyone in DepEd. Internal DepEd structures also needed to be strengthened and relevant staff had to be trained, to ensure that continuous improvements in planning and policy is sustained at all levels of the organisation.

2 INTERVENTION OVERVIEW PAHRODF implemented Alignment of DepEd s Strategic and Operational Planning & Budgeting Processes in 2012 to help DepEd strengthen its capacity for evidence-based policy development and planning. The intervention involved two main components: 1) Technical Assistance for Process Fine-tuning and Documentation and 2) Capacity Building for Planning Facilitation and Coaching Competencies. The first component was meant to help DepEd fine-tune and document its business processes, and design and produce userfriendly Standard Operating Procedure packages on the documented business processes. The second component meant to help improve DepEd s competencies on the following: group process management, facilitation of planning processes (especially for strategic and operation planning and budgeting), trainers training, group process observation and analysis. Selected participants would also undertake short courses related to systemsthinking and organisation development. COMMITTED RESULTS TARGET COMPETENCIES Strategic and systems thinking Work process analysis and improvement Strategic planning for development institutions Budgeting Change management Group process management Process documentation and technical writing ORGANISATIONAL OUTCOME DepEd has a formal, responsive, transparent and aligned system for strategic and operational planning, and budgeting at the central and all regional offices. DepEd central and regional teams have competencies to provide technical assistance to division/district offices and schools to develop and implement their respective strategic and operational plans and budgets using the new strategic planning and budgeting processes and competencies DepEd s key internal stakeholders are highly engaged in the participatory review and redesign of the strategic planning and budgeting process. DEVELOPMENT IMPACT The aligned strategic and operational planning and budgeting processes at DepEd s central and regional offices lead to effective implementation of plans, programs and, projects to strengthen school-based management.

3 IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS The intervention is already complete and DepEd now has a single strategic planning process for all levels. The intervention conducted nationwide training for 585 officers and technical staff on the use of the strategic planning process and participants received a manual on the strategic planning framework. A pool of potential leaders emerged from the training program. As a result, participants developed competencies in planning facilitation and are independently designing and conducting process-oriented workshops and meetings in DepEd. They are also assisting as process facilitators for other planning and DepEd management events, especially in school-based management (SBM) activities. The intervention also imporved the capacity of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines (NEAP) to implement its mandate as the training center of DepEd. NEAP, as a result of the intevention, aligned its programs with DepEd s organisational directions, strategic priorities and roadmap, and is now capacitated to further develop its own strategic training interventions in DepEd. ASSESSMENT Relevance The intervention is relevant. DepEd saw the need for the intervention as it strives to have a culture of excellence in the organisation. It was needed to streamline DepEd s planning process, which used to be different for each region. The intervention is also relevant to the success of other interventions such as the RBPMS. Effectiveness The intervention is effective. The DepEd culture is slowly becoming a learning organisation, thanks partly to the intervention. The intervention exposed superintendents and regional directors to strategic planning making them anchor on the strategic plan, other plans such as the academic plan and Human Resources (HR) plan. They also saw the importance of having a strategic plan before coming up with different initiatives and these learnings were cascaded down to regional, division and school levels. Sustainability The intervention is sustainable. It was able to obtain buy in from DepEd management and staff who now have a better appreciation of how the strategic planning process could give direction to the organisation. DepEd also adopted the strategic planning guidebook, which was a major output of the intervention. The guidebook captured the Vision-Mission- Values and strategic planning process of DepEd, which further supports susainabiltiy of intervention results. Moving forward, DepEd s planning facilitators can replicate the process using the Facilitators guidebook from the intervention.

4 The interventions helped DepEd deliver its services better. The Facility helped in the critical functions of the DEPED, and enabled it to deliver its mandate better. Undersecretary Lino Rivera DEPED FACTS AND FIGURES PAHRODF INVESTMENT aud764,905 NUMBER OF CORE PARTICIPANTS 585 Duration October Present # of REAPs 220 Produced Output Strategic Planning Process Documentation Facilitators Resource Book LESSONS 1 Interventions with greater buy-in, understanding and commitment from internal and external stakeholders are more successful, effective and sustainable. 2 Implementing a successful communications and change management plan, makes interventions more effective and sustainable. In the case of DepEd, using an electronic newsletter and a Facilitators Circle was effective in engaging and obtaining commitment of DepEd facilitators and their superiors to the facilitation skills and strategic planning competency building interventions. 3 Raising a critical mass of change agents such as strategic planning facilitators, help institutionalise and sustain reforms.

5 RECOMMENDATIONS 1 DepEd may want to replicate and sustain the gains of the intervention. It may want to further improve participants strategic thinking by conducting learning programs using more applied and practical examples. 2 DepEd should secure executive support for NEAP s strategic planning framework to empower it to implement more strategic programs. NEAP, on the other hand, should monitor and evaluate the success of these programs in terms of implementation and results delivery. 3 DepEd, to ensure the sustainability of the intervention, should already deploy the competent and capable intervention participants as lead facilitator in DepEd s forthcoming planning sessions.

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