Chapter 1 Introduction to planning
1.4 How to organize a planning meeting
Who should take the initiative to develop a VISION 2020 action plan?
There is no standard procedure. In some cases, the ministry of health has signed the VISION 2020 Declaration of Support and initiates planning workshops. In other cases, one or a few enthusiastic groups or individuals involved in combating blindness begin promoting VISION 2020. It is essential to involve all parties that participate in the delivery of eye care in the preparations and in the actual planning process for the VISION 2020 action plan.
A number of countries already have national prevention of blindness programmes and action plans. In this case, it may not be necessary to write an entirely new plan, but the existing plan should be made VISION 2020-compliant.
Who should be involved?
The initiating group identifies the other parties contributing to eye-care in the country or region - the government, national and international NGOs, and professional groups, as well as the private sector - and attempts to persuade them to join this initiative. The government should have a coordinating role in the planning process.
Experience shows that coordination and cooperation result in better utilization of available eye-care facilities and avoid duplication of efforts, and that the promotion of eye care leads to more work for all parties. The number of people aged 50 years and older (those most at risk for low vision and blindness) will continue to increase rapidly and no eye-care provider should fear unemployment.
What if national and district blindness prevention plans already exist?
Existing plans for the prevention and control of blindness need not be discarded, but rather should be reoriented to include all key VISION 2020 components. Preparation will be less extensive, as most of the baseline information is probably already available. The VISION 2020 committee should follow the same steps of the planning process as outlined above, and update existing plans as and where necessary.
How will the process develop?
Some steps in the planning process can be carried out by small subcommittees. Others must be accomplished in a planning meeting with all partners involved. Each step provides building blocks for the VISION 2020 action plan.
It is advisable to make an action plan for a five-year period, with annual evaluations for minor adjustments and a mid-term review for possible major adjustments. Reliable and valid indicators are needed to describe the situation at the start of the action plan and to measure the impact of the programme. These are further described in the monitoring and evaluation section.
It may be useful to formulate district level VISION 2020 action plans first, as this will provide the national VISION 2020 committee with valuable details about the needs for disease control and resource requirements at the implementation level of eye-care services. As mentioned earlier, district planning should concentrate on the operational aspects to improve the output of eye-care services in the district, and on who should do what, where, and when.
The national VISION 2020 action plan should focus on creating the necessary facilities, infrastructure, and human resources for successful implementation of the district-level plans. The national plan should address constraints common to all districts (e.g. procurement of essential eye medicines and supplies) or those related to policy or structure or the lack thereof, including monitoring and evaluation, publicity, and promotion of VISION 2020 activities.
Two templates have been included to help in writing a VISION 2020 action
plan. The first template is descriptive, with quantitative data in a separate
spreadsheet.
The second template is based on the Logical Framework Approach (LFA),
a systematic approach to analyse the current situation, formulate objectives
in a logical hierarchy, identify potential risks, establish how outputs
and outcomes might best be monitored and evaluated, present a summary
of the project in a standard format, and monitor and review the action
plan during implementation.
In the following frames, each of the steps in the planning process for
a district VISION 2020 action plan is discussed in detail. At the end
of each frame, a checklist indicates activities that should be completed
before the next step is begun.