Strategic Plan Preparation
The word strategy comes from Greek word, “στρατηγία” (—stratēgia) The word strategy comes from Greek word, “στρατηγία” (—stratēgia). It means “Art of the General”. Yet another word passed onto Turkish from Greek is, “τακτική” (-taktikos) ), which means the maneuvers conducted by the soldiers during war.
Within this context, the word strategy refers to long-term and continuous work done prior to war rather than tactical decisions taken instantaneously to achieve the goal.
In this respect, strategic planning should also be considered as an ongoing process rather than a beginning and an end point.
Government executives should also carry out long-term studies and serve with the perspective of strategical planning in order to contribute successfully to the struggle for development. As a necessity of this understanding, important legal changes have been made in the field of public administration in recent years. In particular, the working procedures and duties of municipalities have been redefined. The most important pillars of this legal restructuring are the Public Financial Management and Control Law No. 5018, the Metropolitan Municipality Law No. 5216 and the Municipal Law No. 5393. One of the innovations brought by these laws is the obligation to prepare a strategic plan for municipalities with a population of 50,000 and more.
Law No. 5393 on Municipalities and Law No. 5302 on Special Provincial Administration regulate provisions on strategic planning. Article 41 of Law No. 5393 specifies that “The mayor shall prepare and submit to the municipal council a strategic plan in accordance with the development plan and program and, if any, the regional plan, and an annual performance program before the beginning of the relevant year, all within six months after the general elections for local administrations.”
Strategic plans are prepared by taking the opinions of universities, professional chambers and relevant non-governmental organizations and take effect after being approved by the municipal council. The relevant law also specifies that “The strategic plan and performance program constitute the basis for the preparation of the budget and shall be discussed and adopted by the municipal council before the budget.”. With this legal obligation, the obligation to prepare a strategic plan arises in order to put forward projects for the future and to carry out budget studies successfully.
Strategic Plan Preparation
Preparing Successful Plans with Strategic Planning Approach
A good plan can only be successful if it is implemented well. There are 3 important issues, as stated below, that stand out at the basis of unsuccessful strategic plans prepared by administrations.
- One of the most common mistakes made by municipalities is to see the plan only as a mandatory work required by legislation. Therefore, most of the plans are prepared by making small changes on the plans of other municipalities, without taking into account the characteristics of the local administration. Plans should not be seen as documents that are shelved away after they are prepared; on the contrary, they should be continuously monitored and evaluated and, when necessary, updated to meet new requirements.
- Strategic plans should be in line with national and regional plans and policies. There are binding regional plans prepared by Development Agencies for the years 2010-2014, 2013-2017 and 2013-2023, as well as upper-scale sectoral master plans, particularly the 10th Development Plan. Unfortunately, some of the current plans are still based on the 9th Development Plan and even many plans are being prepared without taking into account the regional plans prepared by Development Agencies. All strategic plans should be prepared in line with both the regional plans prepared by Development Agencies and Turkey’s 2023 vision. Strategic plans that are not in line with regional and upper-scale plans, policies and programs will cause more harm than good, like a gear trying to turn in the opposite direction of the system.
- Some of the plans prepared by municipalities are prepared only to meet the administrative format requirements. In the planning process, along with administrative processes, economic, social and environmental aspects should also be taken into account and the plan should be prepared in a way to include all relevant stakeholders on the basis of principle of participation.
Services
Proked Akademi, with its team of experts, provides Strategic Planning Approach Training and Strategic Plan Preparation Consultancy Services in order to eliminate the problems mentioned above. Services provided consist of;
- Conducting preliminary preparation activities with our superior service quality and our own high standards,
- Organizing training activities for administrative personnel to encourage their active role in strategic planning activities,
- Conducting all stakeholder relations and management organizations, including external stakeholders,
- Stakeholder, Target, Problem Analyses and preparation of Risk and Solution Trees,
- Analyzing the current situation by presenting statistical and qualitative data,
- Contributing to the determination of the current situation by conducting SWOT (SWOT) Analysis,
- Determination of Vision and Mission,
- Identification of objectives and strategies, and formulation of the necessary action sets to achieve these objectives,
- Establishing a performance set and identifying performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of the plan,
- Measuring and reporting the success of the plan by determining the monitoring and evaluation management.
Why Proked Akademi?
- The Strategic Plan is prepared based on principle of participation and with the aim of ensuring ownership of the plan by all stakeholders, especially local stakeholders.
- It is prepared with the consultancy of Ministry of Internal Affairs officials responsible for the supervision of municipalities and experienced experts who have worked in the preparation and execution of large-scale national and regional plans and programs in Development Agencies.
- Consultancy services are provided not only during the preparation process, but also during the approval, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and, if necessary, renewal processes of the plan.
- The plan is prepared specifically for your municipality by conducting the necessary studies with the support of experts who can evaluate the economic, social and environmental impacts along with administrative compliance.
- We commit to our high-quality service not by “promises” but by signing a solid contract.
