Community Safety: Strategic Planning

Alyona Horova,
facilitator and mediator with international experience,
expert in organizational development,
board member of the NGO "Institute of Peace and Understanding" (IMiP)

Strategic planning for community safety – is the process of defining a shared vision of a safe community and the ways to achieve it.

It is important to emphasize that strategic planning is a team process, meaning it involves the active engagement and inclusion of authorized representatives of all key community-level structures that are in some way connected to community safety. Recognizing the importance of each participant's contribution ensures voluntary and motivated involvement in the strategic planning process, which in turn lays the groundwork for cultivating responsibility and appropriately allocating authority among the relevant structures during strategy implementation.

A team process also means buildinga dialogueat the community level on safety issues, which involves not only establishing two-way communication between different participants but also creating a community dialogue platform — a philosophy of a space that includes all groups without exception, accepts different viewpoints, and recognizes each person's importance and capacity. Based on this dialogic process it is possible to develop and implement viable initiatives that lead to systemic changes and transformations at the community level.

Strategic planning is not possible without a priorunderstanding of risks, that exist in the area of community safety. For example, in one community safety issues are closely linked to an oil pipeline that crosses its territory. For another, seasonal tourism is more relevant, particularly ensuring the safety of visitors and the local population. Clearly, both the vision of community safety and the ways to achieve it will differ for these communities. Therefore, the existing risks to community safety and understanding them are important prerequisites for quality strategic planning and subsequent strategy implementation. Developing a risk prevention plan for community safety is a substantive component of the strategy.

A community that has sufficiently trained specialists, technical equipment and experience with hazard-prevention initiatives obviously differs significantly from a community that lacks such resources (or potential). This means the strategic planning process for safety must take into account not only the security situation but also the community’s capacity to develop and implement such a strategy. Thus, strategic planning should be preceded not only by a risk analysis but alsoan analysis of the community’s safety capacity. Considering the community’s strengths and weaknesses during strategic planning will allow the development of a realistic and viable plan for building safety in the community.

Thus, a quality strategic planning process for community safety requires creating a dialogue platform that ensures motivated participation of relevant stakeholders to develop a strategy for building safety in the community, taking into account existing risks and the community’s potential.

We suggest using the toolStrategic Planning for Community Safetyto develop a safety strategy for your community.

Start by preparing the title page of your strategic plan.

Background

Instructions: This section may be the longest in your plan. It should contain information that outlines all the main facts related to safety in your community. Below are questions to complete this section:

1. Socio-demographic data and structure.
2. Structures and agencies related to safety that exist in the community.
3. Key safety risks (based on the risk assessment).
4. Key characteristics of the community’s safety capacity (based on the community capacity analysis).

Vision

Instructions: This section is about truly big dreams! Imagine your community is very successful, with unlimited resources and no barriers. What would your community look like in terms of safety?

A strong vision inspires, focuses on serving the world, and is highly ambitious. Often it describes an ideal outcome far larger than what you or your team could achieve alone. Try to imagine your team could meet the needs of every member of your community. Take a snapshot of what the world would look like if you could do this (in 3–5 sentences).

Vision formulation checklist:

Is it about what you can give? (not about what you will receive)

• Does it inspire you?
• Does the statement tell the world about the good you want to do?
• Is it bigger than you? (In other words, is it more than you can achieve alone?)
• Is it simple?
• Is it clear?

Uniqueness

Instructions: This section describes the features and characteristics of the community that enable it to compete effectively and find its own niche. To define your uniqueness, answer three questions:

• What are we number one at? (What do we do better than others?)
• What is our economic driver? (Which activities, products, services, sectors bring resources into the community?)
• What brings us satisfaction? (What motivates the team to work?)

For each question, create a list of 5–7 items, then agree on a list of 3–5 items that will describe the organization's uniqueness—what benefit it brings to the community and the world. Uniqueness is not self-promotion; it’s the community’s advantages that allow you to choose a focus and move from vision to mission.

Mission

Instructions: People often confuse vision and mission, but they serve different functions. Vision captures how you want to change the world. Mission is about the community’s purpose.

For example:

Vision – a world where every person lives and works to their full potential. (The result of your good work, and possibly the work of other similar organizations.)

Mission – to help people discover their career potential and support their development so they can bring that potential into the world. (Your role in delivering the vision. What will you do to help achieve this change in the world?)

In the mission, describe "how you serve people" and what your role is in achieving the vision.

Checklist for formulating a mission:

• Does the wording communicate the community’s safety-related purpose?
• Is it clear and simple?
• Will it help you focus on the right things?
• Is the mission wording well linked to the vision and does it explain your role in achieving it?

Values

Instructions: Values matter! They will guide decisions and show the world how you will interact with those you serve. Below is a list of common values. Choose up to ten or add your own, and write one or two sentences for each value to explain how you will apply it in your work.

Areas of work

Instruction: This section describes the main areas of activity in community safety and further sharpens the vision. Defining these directions is also important so each team member understands their "contribution" to achieving the mission.

When formulating directions, 'functional' types of work are often confused with 'substantive' ones.

FunctionalFunctional types of work are required for the normal functioning of any system; they keep it running: administration, marketing, financial management, project management, etc. Functional types of work are NOT strategic directions; they exist solely to guarantee the proper functioning of the overall strategy. Functional directions are linked to the community's capacity to implement a given safety initiative.

SubstantiveSubstantive types of work arise from the community's uniqueness, its mission and security risks; they more precisely describe how your team will "bring benefit to the community." Substantive types of work vary in each community and should therefore be agreed within the team and included in the overall strategy.

Checklist of questions:

• What primary safety services or products does your team "produce" or intend to "produce"?
• What does your team specialize in, or aim to specialize in?
• Which target groups?

Champion's Cause

Instructions: You now have an important message for the world and your community (your vision, mission, and areas of work), so it’s important to plan how to share it. Instead of ‘advertising’ your services, think of it as a ‘champion’s cause’.

This section of the plan explains the best way to tell your users what you will do to help them and the role you will play in the community. Use the template below to structure your thinking and develop a plan to craft your message to the world.

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS PLAN

Tasks and priorities for the year  

Instructions: Now that you have some clarity about the overall picture, it's time to break your team's activities into achievable steps. In this section, develop 3–5 tasks or priorities you can focus on this year to move a few steps closer to your vision. To formulate the tasks, use theSMART criteria:

S – Specific

M – Measurable

A – Achievable

R – Realistic

T – Time-bound

For example, a SMART objective:

Develop two service packages to support single mothers in obtaining well‑paid employment; launch the services online by August 2012.

This is specific because it states what you want to do and for whom. It specifies the quantity and the deadline for completing the task.

Only you can know whether a particular task is realistic and achievable—there are too many variables to guess. Use your own judgment and compare tasks against each other to determine whether they are realistic and achievable. For example, is it feasible to finish during the summer if your key staff are on vacation? Don't be overly ambitious, but don't oversimplify either.

Checklist for formulating tasks and priorities:

• Have you formulated no more than 3–5 tasks for the year?
• Do your objectives meet the SMART criteria?
• Do they support your vision and align with your mission?
• Do you clearly understand how your value will support you in achieving these objectives?
• Are the tasks balanced throughout the year? Does this planning allow you to fulfill all other commitments?
• Are all tasks accounted for in the communication plan?
• Do you feel motivated to see the results of all tasks completed over the year?

Team development plan

Instructions: In any endeavor, it's important to consider the team. Use the template below to plan the team's development process.

Next (and this is important!),Analyze how professional development for team members will help them perform their roles better. How will investments of time, energy, and resources help you and your team achieve this year’s goals and mission?

Risks and opportunities

Instruction: During planning, identify what "could go wrong" (risks) over the year; determine how risks will be monitored and which corrective actions are appropriate. This process is called risk management.

Also consider opportunities for the community in safety areas that were previously overlooked.

Use the tool below to think through everything that could go wrong and plan how to deal with it —SWOT analysisThink also about new opportunities for the community and how to respond to them. A SWOT analysis is a good tool for developing strategy.

SWOT analysis

Risk register

Use the table below to record risks identified during the SWOT analysis, as well as any potential risks that may occur next year.

Success indicators

Instructions: All actions and activities will be futile if you don’t know how to measure the benefits they produce. In this section, describe how you will manage the program and track your success. Which indicators will demonstrate that your actions are helping to achieve the vision and mission? Focus on the indicators you will monitor this year. You may need up to 10 indicators for the overall strategy, or 1–2 for each objective.

For example:

Objective –Develop two service packages to support single mothers in obtaining well-paid employment; launch the services online by August 2012.

Indicators:

4 focus groups with single mothers to develop the service packages, started by 1 August 2012.

10 participants (single mothers) trained each month from August to December.

Positive feedback from participants about how the training helped them prepare for job interviews.

Number of participants who obtain employment by 1 January 2013.

Strategy management

Instruction: Record how often the strategic plan will be reviewed and how decisions about priorities and changes will be made. It's important that, after the team's efforts, the strategy doesn't just gather dust on a shelf. Your strategy will remain living if it is consulted regularly, success indicators are tracked, and it is reviewed and updated quarterly.

Work plan

Instruction: This is the most flexible part of your strategic plan. The work plan helps focus attention, avoid overload, and ensure you are moving toward completing tasks. Use the template below to detail annual tasks and schedule their timing so you can start right away.

Some issues may arise that require clarification—record in the plan when they will be resolved and what you will do to clarify them. Plan for “replanning.” As you learn more, you can plan more. Revisit this work plan at least every few months to check progress.

To make the process easier, we recommend creating the work plan online:

For convenience, you can download a general strategic plan template,
which you can fill in yourself to suit your community’s needs: