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Training on Strategic Development Planning

The country of Timor Leste only recently came into being after its presidential elections in April 2002. Formerly known as East Timor, the country went through troubled times in its struggle for independence. Many physical infrastructures were damaged as a result. Added to this, more than 250,000 people from its labor force left the country for safety. The country must re-establish its services to respond to the needs of its people.

In the education sector, its Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports (MECYS), together with the Institute for Continuing Education (ICE), has taken steps to address this concern. In April 2004, a group of selected officials from these institutions underwent a month-long training to strengthen their visioning and strategic planning competencies. For a whole month, the group of nine education officials went through paradigm shifting to bring out their creativity and innovativeness and prepare them to accept new ideas.

The group conducted several visits to institutions that provide pre-service and in-service training for teachers. At the National Educator’s Academy of the Philippines (NEAP), the Timorese officials had the chance to observe an on-going course on school-based management training for principals of a local province. The NEAP is the Philippine Department of Education’s leading institution in designing and conducting in-service training for middle level education officials, school heads and teachers.

The group also visited the Philippine Normal University (PNU), one of the leading teacher education institutions in the country that provides both pre-service and in-service training for teachers. PNU has been a constant partner of SEAMEO INNOTECH in many of its human resource development projets.

Aside from the visits, they were given orientation on the education systems of several SEAMEO member countries and how these countries provide in-service training to the education sector. There was also a session on strengthening linkages with TEI’s and other training providers while pointers were given on how to keep track of their visions and convert these into actions.

The day-to-day activities for the duration of the training program were designed in a way that allowed the participants to experience strategic planning process with practical applications in every step. They were presented with management and planning models that familiarized them with the steps and processes in strategic planning.

After the institutional visits, the program zeroed in on Timor Leste’s core values and beliefs. The officials were guided in identifying significant forces for change that could create an impact in their institutions in the next five years. They were asked to create a vision of what their institutions would be after achieving its goals.

Analyses of its goals enabled them to formulate relevant critical success factors that should guide them in achieving their visions for the two institutions. In a month’s time, the Timorese officials presented frameworks of strategic development plans for their respective units or offices. They also produced sample tactical plans drawn from the frameworks, which detailed what they can implement in the future.

After these were constructively critiqued and fine-tuned for implementation, copies of the plans were expected to be turned-over to the MECYS for monitoring and, if necessary, for the provision of post-training support. Representatives of the UNICEF and the Worldbank would also come in to monitor and assess the progress of their plans.

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