PROGRAM PLANNING IN THE CASE OF NSTP COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

“Start With an End in Mind ”

“Those who fail to plan, plan to fail”

Introduction
The National Service Training Program aims to train NSTP students, to become developmental
change agents and leaders of the society. This is attained by encouraging them to implement
community engagement activities and programs that would bring about change, and benefit
the members of the community. The most basic but most important skill that students should
learn is the skill of program/project planning.

Concept of Program Planning

The concept of planning is practiced by everyone. There is always an aspect of planning in the
things we do. In all sciences, professions, and bodies of knowledge; there is always an aspect of
planning. In our personal lives there is also an aspect of planning like: planning for our studies,
career planning, planning how we will spend the day, a week or a month; and when we become
mature, there is such thing as family planning. If we look at all these examples, what is
commonality of the examples. The commonality is that we plan on things that are goal
oriented. Planning is always done on aspects of our life that involves achieving something in the
future. That is why we used the maxim “Begin with an end in mind.” The end means a goal that
we want to achieve.
In the context of NSTP, students have to learn how to plan their projects, programs or activities
in order that they can achieve intended goals. What then is program planning? Program
Planning is the process of clearly defining the different aspects of a program or project, and
systematizing them into an organized whole, which is the project itself. It is like putting
together bits and pieces into an organized whole. These bits and pieces, can refer to people,
things, money, time processes, and strategies among others.
As mentioned, programs and projects are always goal oriented. These goals may be problem
oriented, needs driven, or enhancement driven. We come up with programs or projects
because we want to address a perceived problem, to respond to expressed or identified needs,
or simply because we need to enhance the way certain things are done. When we go out to the
community and perform community engagement activities, we might observe problems, like
malnutrition, lack of peace and order among others. People might express needs like the need
for a mini library, the need for tutorial for their children; or simply we need to do
enhancements like improving their water system, agricultural practices, or making their
entrepreneurial activities more profitable. In the long run, who defines needs, or problems? Are
they defined by the program by the program implementers or by the people in the community?
The answer is, problems and needs are to be defined and expressed by the beneficiaries
themselves, because sometimes what we the implementers perceived as beneficial or good is
not always good or beneficial for the community. There is relativity in our concepts of the
beneficial or good. What perceived as good or beneficial for us is not good or beneficial for the
people. For example, among farmers, we might perceive large family sizes as a problem, but for
them large families are beneficial because they are considered as “extra hands on the plow” or
extra labor in the farm. Our priorities for young people in the community might be that of
education or public health, but for them their priority might be that of recreation and
socialization.
In which case, program planning should not be “top to bottom” nor “bottom to top” rather it
should be interactive or that of the community and the program implementers working
together, with inputs coming from the community and the expertise of implementers

The Different Types of Programs

What are the different types of programs or projects?
Short Term VS Long Term
Programs or projects may vary in terms of time frame, thus we have what we call the long term
and short term projects. This distinction may vary depending on the setting and implementers.
In the government, there is such thing as the short term, medium term, and long term. Short
term might be that which is implemented in a span of months to a year, medium term from two
to three years, and long term from three years to six or more years.
In the school setting, a short term project might be that which is accomplishable in a week to 6
weeks, medium term from 6 months to one academic year, long term for programs that
extends numbers of academic years.
In the case of NSTP, a short term project may consist of project that may be implemented in a
day to a month, medium term program from a month to a semester, and long term project as
something that runs from a semester to a year or is even carried over to several academic years
Program VS Project
Another consideration, in terms of the distinction of different projects or programs is the
distinctions of the terms, projects activities and programs.
We generally use the term project to refer to any endeavor or initiative that requires working
towards the attainment of an output. It involves an initiator, process, output and beneficiaries,
arrangement. An initiator is an implementer, planner, organizer, of a project. Process refers to
the tasks that are to be done as well as the strategies involved in doing them, output as that
which we want to achieve, this can consist of materials things or non-material things like
knowledge, or the way things are organized or systematize. For example, the delivery of 27
waste cans to the community is material output, to be able to teach 30 students about the
basics of Mathematics is an output which is knowledge in form, while to organize a children’s
theatre group is an output which is systematization or organizing.
Another way of looking at a project is in relation to a program; that is a project is usually an
initiative with a single focused objective. It may be short or long term. For example, we refer to
tree planting project, as simply the initiative of planting trees in a specified area, bloodletting
project, as the initiative of convincing people to donate blood, pig dispersal project which is the
initiative to distribute swine to the community for families to take care of.
On the other hand, a program refers to an initiative which is composed of different projects
which are organized into a single unified program. They are in most cases long term: for
example, The Pasig River Rehabilitation Program is a single unified program with several
component projects like; education and information to convince people not throw waste
materials into the Pasig river, relocating informal settlers living along the banks of the Pasig
River, convincing factories not to dispose commercial waste into the river, setting up parks and
planting trees along the banks of the Pasig river. These initiatives or projects are geared toward
achieving a single unified goal that of reviving the Pasig River.
A Barangay Health Program is directed towards the single goal that of maintaining the health of
the members of the community; however, it is comprised of the multiple projects like the anti-
polio vaccination, the nutrition project, disease prevention project, pre-natal care project,
among others.

Writing a Program Plan

A program plan is a technical paper just like a business proposal, feasibility studies or even a
thesis. It is written down in order to define the different aspects of a program. As a technical
paper, its language is formal, specific and direct to the point as compared non formal writing
like that of essays and short stories, which are literary or emotive in language or tone language.
What are the different parts of a program plan?
1. Program Title
2. Program Implementers/ Program Proponents
3. Program Background and Rationale
4. Program Objectives
- General
- Specific
5. Target Area and Beneficiaries
- Location and Mappings
 - Target Beneficiaries
- Categories and Manner of Selection

6. Implementation Plan
- Component Tasks/Activities
- Timetable
- Staffing and Tasking
- Lines of Coordination
- Logistics
- Budget
- Timetables
- Implementing Rules and Guidelines
7. Monitoring and Evaluation

These parts can be better explained by saying that they answer specific questions about the of
the program.

Program Title- How do you call your project?

The program title is the label or the name of the program. A program title should simple yet
comprehensive and direct to the point. It is comprehensive in the sense that once you read or
hear it, you already have an idea as to what the program is all about. It shows what the
program is all about, where is it to be implemented or who are its participants or beneficiaries.
A program title is not a slogan or as we say in the language of social media a hashtag. A hashtag
or slogan does not state the exact nature of a program rather they are glitterati’s and play of
words used to catch the attention of people. Examples of Program Titles would be,
Establishment of Day Care Center in Barangay Gumamela, Quezon City, Anti-Rabies Vaccination
of Dogs in the Parish of Christ the King, Blood Donation Activity Among Students of San Beda
University, CAS. These titles show what the program is all about as compared to slogans like,
“Dugong Alay, Dugtong Buhay” which is a slogan or hashtag for a blood donation activity,
“Dunong para sa Kabataan”, a hashtag for education related programs; Iwas Rabis Para sa Ligtas
na Pamayan”, a slogan for an anti- rabies protection program

Program Proponents- Who are implementing the program?

Program proponents can consist of individuals, groups, institutions, organizations or offices who
are spearheading the program. In the case of NSTP, it can be NSTP Office or Department of a
particular school; it can also be specific classes or NSTP Groups.
In a more formal sense organizations or offices may write or submit program proposals to
agencies for the purpose of requesting for support in terms of logistics or finances. There are
government agencies, non-government or foundations giving technical support or financial
assistance to projects or programs on the condition that the proponents should first submit a
program proposal. In cases like these, the proponents which are usually government or non-
government agencies, organizations or business groups should establish their “credibility” and
“capacity” of implementing the program by writing about the background, goals,
organizational/leadership structure, office address, and tract record or experience of
implementing programs related to the program that is being proposed.

Program Background and Rationale- Why do we need to implement the project? or What
situations or conditions in the community warranted or calls for the implementation of the
project/program?
Program background and rationale requires that one should write about the reasons why the
program should be implemented. It should establish that the program is important, feasible,
necessary or even urgent. The program background can consist of descriptions of conditions in
the community which impels the implementation of the program. These conditions may
describe the extent of community problems. Data to establish the rationale of a project may be
qualitative or quantitative. Qualitative refers to descriptions while quantitative refer to figures,
or numbers.
For example, if one has to propose the establishment of a day care center in a barangay, one
has to present the conditions of children ages 3 to 6 years old in terms of access to alternative
education, that is other than that of the mother, where do these children get intellectual
training and physical care. Do they have an existing day care centers, are these day care centers
publicly or privately owned? If there are no existing day care centers, where do they go for
alternative care. These are a descriptive information which would warrant the establishment of
a daycare center in a barangay.
Quantitative data as background or rationale on the hand, may be the number of children in
the within the barangay who are within the age of three to six. The number or percentage of
these children who do not have access to day care centers, the number of mothers in the
community who are employed or working; thus, they have less time to take care of their
children, or one might consider their income as way of claiming that do not have the income to
send their children to commercial day care centers
These data may be gathered through research or community diagnosis which is usually done
before the planning of a project
Programs Objectives- What are the goals of the program? What do the proponents want to
achieve through the implementation of the program?
Programs are established with an end in view. They are established with goals or objectives that
the program intends to achieve. There are two types of objectives, these are the general and
specific objectives. General Objectives are also called the developmental objectives of the
program. These are the broad objectives which a program hopes to achieve, on the other hand,
specific objectives are immediate effects of a program. Other writers call the specific the
immediate objectives or the immediate outputs usually expressed in numbers or figures with
specifications. For example, in a tree planting project, the general or broad objectives would be:
To contribute to having clean air or to avoid soil erosion in a certain area. It might also be to
beautify a community or to raise bearing trees. The specific objectives could be: To plant 450
fruit bearing trees in the community park of Barangay Tendrano. It is specific because it defines
the immediate output of the program in terms of figures and numbers, the location or area
where trees are to be planted. It also specifies the type of trees to be planted. The objective is
also numerical or measurable

Target Area and Beneficiaries- Where will the program be implemented? Who are the
beneficiaries of the program, and how will they be selected?
The target area of a program is in most cases geographical. These may be a barangay, town,
barrio, or any geographical space like a compound, a compound of non- formal settlers, or
residents of the Manila North Cemetery, or the Manila North Harbor, in some cases they may
be institutions like schools or parishes. Program proponents may write something about the
location and socio-economic conditions of the community and what makes the place a viable
area for implementing the program. The writers may also come up site and location maps of
the area. A location map shows directions going to the area. It answers the question, “How do I
go to the area?,” while a site map is a closed up or focused map which shows the
topographical setting of the area. It shows landmarks within the area, the number of and
locations of houses and buildings, boundaries as well as natural topography (i. e. rivers or
creeks, mountains)
The beneficiaries of the program refer to the intended participants or beneficiaries of the
program. The beneficiaries are dependent on the nature of the program. There are two ways of
specifying beneficiaries. One way of specifying beneficiaries is in terms of numbers. This is what
we call target number of beneficiaries or how many individuals or groups are to be served. The
target number of beneficiaries is dependent on several factors like available resources for the
implementation of the program. Time is also a consideration, like in a medical mission; how
many patients can our physicians serve given that the medical mission will only be held in a day
or two. Size of venue can also be taken into consideration. The simple question that
implementers should answer is: “ How many can we realistically serve?”
The other way of specifying beneficiaries is by categorizing or declaring specifications. For
example, if the project is intended for children from urban poor communities, you might need
specify the age brackets, gender, or even socio- economic profile of the beneficiaries. If an NGO
will offer a scholarship, they will need to consider the grade level of beneficiaries, socio
economic status, and academic performance of the beneficiaries. Will the program prioritize
those who belong to the lower socio-economic status, or those who are performing very
satisfactorily as seen in their school average. For scholarships for Senior High School or college,
will the scholarship be intended for specific strands or courses.
In relation to the target beneficiaries, one would also need to define the manner of recruitment
or selection of beneficiaries Will the beneficiaries be recommended by the parish priest,
barangay or social workers, will interviews and house visits be done, will certain exams be
administered, or certain documents be submitted by the applicants

Implementation Plan- How will the program be implemented?

The implementation plan is in a way the bulk or the body of the program plan. It has several
components:
Component Tasks/Activities- What are the different tasks that need to be done in the process of
implementing the project?
Some program plan writers use the term Critical Tasks/ Activities to refer to Component Tasks/
Activities. One can come up with the critical tasks by analyzing the tasks that need to be done in
the preparing for, and implementing the project. One way of doing this is by stating the Critical
Tasks chronologically or by reference to time. One can classify the critical task into tasks that
need to be done before, during and after the activity itself. The before or pre- activities are
usually activities related to preparations, securing logistics and human resources, resource
mobilization among others. The during tasks are those that are for the implementation of the
project. These are task done to ensure the efficient and orderly implementation of the project.
The post or the tasks done after the activity are usually related to acknowledgements,
evaluation and settling accountabilities.
Taking the example of a sports fest as an NSTP Project, listed below are examples of Before,
During and After Critical Task
Before:
Planning
Fund Raising/ Resource Mobilization
Information Dissemination/Announcements
Recruitment of Teams
Securing Venues/Courts
Securing Services of Referees
Securing Materials (Chairs/ Table Sound Systems)
Inviting Guests
Securing Materials and Supplies (Trophies, Balls Whistles)
Preparing Sequence and Schedule of Games
Preparing Snacks

During
Securing the Venue /Peace and Order
Physical Arrangements
Officiating
Emceeing
Reception/Welcoming of Guest
Score Board and Tally Sheets Recording
Documentations

After
Awarding Ceremonies
Program Evaluation and Writing Program Evaluations /Documentations (Written, Video,
Pictures}
Sending Out Acknowledgements
Preparing and Posting Financial Reports
Returning Borrowed Materials

Staffing/ Tasking and Lines of Coordination- Who will do which tasks? Who will supervise people
doing the task? How will one group or individual relate with others?

This part presents the tasks of individuals or groups in the process of implementation. In simple
projects, tasks are simply distributed among members of the groups. In large scale programs,
the organizers might come up with groups of individuals performing related tasks. This groups
are what we call as committees or task groups. For example, in organizing the celebration of a
town fiesta, you might have groups of people performing related tasks like: the Ways and
Means or Finance Committee, Security Committee, Liturgical Celebrations Committee,
Procession Committee, Reception Committee, among others. Lines of control and supervision
are also defined in order to delineate who supervises the task of one committee or person and
another. Lines of cooperation are also defined in order to delineate which person or committee
coordinates with another, and in what manner. This is done by drawing or organizing an
organizational or work structure, as well as by clearly defining roles and functions through the
creation of tasks or job description. A clear example would be how the government addressed
the pandemic. The long term goal is to mitigate cases and address the needs of the community
during periods of the pandemic. Thus the government established the IATF or Interagency Task
Force Against Covid. It is a body created to supervise and coordinate the initiatives of the
government in addressing the pandemic. Under the Task Force, there are different agencies or
task forces to perform related functions; for example the Law Enforcement composed of the
Police and Military and DILG, the Social Amelioration Committee composed of DSWD, Local
Governments, Dept. of Labor and Department of Trade and Industry; the Disease Prevention
Committee spearheaded by DOH and composed of different groups like those in charge of mass
testing, establishment of quarantine sites and those in charge of providing medical care for
those inflicted with the disease. These are different groups which coordinate or work together
in addressing the pandemic

Logistics- What are the material things needed in implementing the program? “ How are these
materials to be procured?”
In implementing a project or a program, material things are definitely needed. This can consist
of machine, materials which are either consumable or non-consumable, as well as the use of
space like land, buildings, basketball court among others. In defining logistics, one has to define
the number of certain things needed as well as the descriptions or specifications. In relation to
logistics, the organizers need to define how will they secure the needed provisions. Will they be
bought, donated, borrowed, solicited? These is where resource mobilization as a skill will be
necessary.

Budget- What are the financial requirements of the program and how will they be secured?
Budget refers to the money or finances needed to implement the program. This does not only
concern the question of how much. It is also concerned with allocation of financial resources.
This is concerned with defining priorities. Given limited financial resources, what will the
implementers prioritize, and what types of expenses will they lessen? This is where values will
come into practice. The problem sometimes is that there are program planners or
implementers prioritize spending on the trivial and unnecessary instead of prioritizing the
essentials of the program.
Just like logistics, the skill of resources mobilization will come into play. The question of how the
organizers will raise money for the project will be a primary concern. The more common means
are that of donation, securing money from existing funds like the Barangay Calamity Fund, SK
Funds, organizing fund raising events, and solicitations. Other than these, there are other
means of securing financial resources like requesting for loans or grants. For example, for large
scale livelihood programs, the program proponents like jeepney drivers association, farmers
cooperatives, may secure loans from banks, local government agencies, as well as local funding
agencies, or grants from organizations. What is the difference between a loan and a grant?
Loans are amount of money borrowed which has to be repaid by the borrowers later on, either
in full or through installments. Loans may be with or without interests. Grants on the other
hand, are donations. They do not need to be repaid.
Another way of securing financial resources for programs can be that of savings and pooling
together of resources. For example, in cooperatives, members are required to save with the
organization by depositing certain amounts of money either on a daily, weekly or monthly
basis. Their amount of savings will determine how much money they can borrow from the
cooperative for livelihood purposes. Resources pooling on the other hand is related to the
concept of “ambagan” in Filipino. “Ambagan” simply pooling or putting together financial
contributions from members to be used for specific purposes that can benefit everyone. For
example, among members of senior citizens organizations, they may put together their
personal contributions to established their burial fund. The burial fund is used for the purpose
of providing financial assistance to the families of members when they pass away. For others,
their pooled resources may be used for emergency purposes like assistance for accidents or
providing medical needs.
The concept of “counterparts” or “counterpart measures” is also practiced by some
organizations in order to raise funds for a program. Counterpart measures is based on the
principle of sharing. Counterpart measures requires that the beneficiaries or participants of a
program should have a share in the implementation of the program. For example, the practice
of colleting participation or registration fees from teams registering in basketball league is a
counterpart measure. The registration or participation fee serves as the contribution or
counterpart of the teams to the funds of running the basketball league. Parents enrolling their
children in a public day care centers are ask to contribute monthly participation fees. This
serves as the counterpart or contribution of the parents to the finances of running the day care
center. The amount gathered may be used for cleaning the daycare center, buying supplies,
purchasing equipment (electric fan / tv) or may be used to subsidize the day care teacher’s
stipend. NGO’s running livelihood or credit programs may request for the grants or donation
from funding agencies. In the process, funding agencies may require counterparts in the form
bank deposits from the NGO. For example if an NGO requests for 1 million loan from the
funding agency, the funding agency might require the borrowing NGO to have at least 20%
counterpart or 200,000 deposited in the account of the beneficiary agency as counterpart, for
them to approve the loan.
Counterparts are not only financial, they can be material or labor. For example in building a day
care center, the City Social Welfare Office might ask for counterparts from the community in
the form of labor to construct the day care center. Gawad Kalinga in implementing its program
of building houses for the poor, requires the rendering of sweat equity from the beneficiaries in
the form of rendering labor in constructing the houses of other beneficiaries. In simple activities
in NSTP like excursion for children, the NSTP students may sponsor the entrance fees, and
transportation, but they ask the mothers to take care of the food as their counterpart. In a
sportsfest, the students may shoulder the expenses for trophies and stipend of referees, but
would ask for participation fees from the teams participating, and ask the local SK to prepare
the material needs of the venue (sound system, tables, chairs, score boards), and repaint the
basketball court in order to have a better venue.
Timetables- When will the critical tasks be conducted? How are they sequenced? How long will
certain tasks needs to be done?
Timetables refer to the schedule of performing certain tasks, how long or how often will they
done, and how are they sequenced. Time tables can be expressed in actual dates, the duration
of performing certain tasks and frequency or how often are they to be performed. Examples of
time table express in actual dates, are the following: organizational meeting will be on June 5,
2020, solicitation will be done from May 5 to June 30, 2020, construction of the stage will be
from April 15 to 18.
Duration presents how long certain tasks are to be done. For example, in a relief drive, the
organizers may state that the collection of relief goods will be done in two weeks during the 1 st
and 2nd week of June, while repacking will be one in a week’s time on the 3 rd week of June on
time for delivery on June 25.
Frequency defines how many times will a certain task be done. This is applicable to tasks that
are to be repeated. For example, in maintaining cleanliness of the city, the Mayor will have to
decide how often will garbage trucks be required to visit the barangays to pick up the trash. Will
it be twice a week, three times a week, daily or once a week. The one’s in charge of maintaining
parks and plants in the plant boxes in the middle of major roads will have to decide how often
will they send out the water tank trucks to water the plants in the park and along the streets.

Implementing Rules and Guidelines – What are the rules to be observed in implementing the
program?
Any program or project requires certain rules to be observed in order to facilitate the
implementation of a program, and make it operate smoothly. Rules provide stability and
consistency of implementation, and avoid conflicts. Rules may be written or unwritten, but
should be formalized or written into documents like constitutions and by laws, codes of
behavior, and operations manuals for them to be institutionalized and handed down to the
next generation. For example, programs like the establishment of credit cooperatives, may
require the writing of operations manual to define the duties and obligations of members, how
may members borrow many from the cooperative, what are the compelling reasons in order for
someone to get borrow, how much is the limit of loans, and what is the manner of repayment.
Scholarship programs have implementing rules or guidelines to define who are qualified to
apply scholarships, how will the beneficiaries be screened, how will current beneficiaries, be
screened, and how can old beneficiaries maintain their scholarships or what are the grounds for
losing one’s scholarship.
In NSTP, even simple projects require rules. For example, the holding of sports fest requires
that certain rules of the game be observed. When conducting tutorial activities for children, you
might agree with the participants on certain ground rules like being on time at the start of class,
no to bullying co participants, dress well when attending sessions, don’t embarrass your co
participants when they commit mistake. Sanctions or punishments may also be defined as part
of the implanting rules.
Exercises and assignments.

1. Preparing for a Focus Group Discussion

- Simulate the process of preparing a for a focus group discussion. Imagine that you are to call
for a focus group discussion to monitor or evaluate an NSTP Program. Consider the following
a) Title of the Program
b) Who will be invited to join the focus group discussion? How will you invite the
participants?
c) The venue of the focus group discussion
d) Time and Date of Focus Group Discussion
e) Agenda of the Focus Group Discussion (Consider whether the focus group discussion in
intended to monitor an on-going or evaluate an accomplished program)
f) Guide questions for Project Monitoring or Evaluation.

2. Preparing a Program SWOT Analysis

-Think of any program or project whether a small scale NSTP project, or a macro scale on-going
government.
a) Prepare a SWOT Analysis Grid
b) Fill in the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the Program
c) List down the Strategic Decisions to be made by the group in view of the results of the
analysis

3. Preparing a Program Evaluation Plan

Simulate that you are preparing a program plan for your NSTP class project. Part of your
program plan is a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. Construct an evaluation and monitoring plan
for your project.
A. Summarize it into a table with two columns.
B. The column on the left side for monitoring, and evaluation on the right.
C. Lay down in the form questions the aspects of the program that you wish to monitor as well
as the aspects of the program that you will evaluate. (You may use the table on page 3 on
what will be specifically monitored or evaluated, as your guide in identifying what are to be
monitored and evaluated)
D. State what method will you use to gather data or information to answer each of your
questions (Refer to methods of monitoring an evaluation)
E. State your time tables for monitoring and evaluation. How often or when will you monitor
and evaluate ( once a week, once every two weeks etc.)