About Planning

Why do we plan?

Planning is a key part of any community development project or activity. Good community-based planning creates opportunities for working together and results in activities that benefit the whole community.

To be effective, a community‐based planning process should:

• Involve community people, groups and organizations from the beginning in the design of local activities;
• Make sure that people with different abilities and literacy levels are able to participate in design and decision-making;
• Consider how to make the best use of community strengths and resources
• Respond to local needs and interests;
• Build in ways to review how project activities are going and make changes as needed;
• Include opportunities for local people to develop their skills, knowledge and experience;
• Raise awareness about what is being planned;
• Increase the sense of local ownership;
• Leads to shared responsibility, increased local partnerships and relationships.