In ancient Greece - where the word strategy (‘stratigos’) originated - army generals employed 'strategies' to defeat their enemies. This included guiding, moving and leading their forces, while factoring in the best way to achieve their desired outcomes with the resources and skills they had. 

The meaning of the word has since evolved, and now describes a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. And today - much like the Greek army generals of the old - leaders of organizations have to come up with the best way to drive their institutions to success. They have to think of how to combat threats and build on successes while optimizing new opportunities. They have to consider their financial and human resources, and what their organization is uniquely positioned to accomplish. With that information, they make hard decisions to design a path to lead them to success (aka achieving their ‘mission’).

While it may sound easy, the strategic planning process is one of the most daunting for the leadership of any institution, including conservation organizations. Maliasili has helped develop over 20 strategic plans with African conservation organizations over the past several years - and during this time, we've learned a lot. 

On 31 March, we held our first webinar on Strategic Planning, which was open to everyone, to provide an opportunity to share our lessons with the wider conservation community. The speakers were our CEO Fred Nelson, joined by Sam Shaba of Honeyguide and Belinda Mackay of Grevy's Zebra Trust, two organizations that Maliasili has supported in developing effective strategic plans.

WATCH THE CONVERSATION

More than 400 people signed up from all over the world - from leaders of grassroots institutions to teams from larger funding organizations. 

Burning Questions

Throughout the session, we received important questions about the strategic planning process. Here are a few highlights:

Q: Donors pretty much dictate terms of engagement and small NGOs typically follow the funding. How can small organizations manage to avoid the project trap, yet still, fundraise?
A: A strategic plan helps you to have the focus, know what your priorities are; and importantly, enables you to say no. Going after projects is the trap.

“Our strategic plan guides us on what to apply for and what not to apply for. It helps us to tell donors we can’t do certain things since they’re not in our strategy - it makes it easy to say no to things you don’t want to do. Our strategic plan has helped us secure the donors we want - the type of donors who accept and understand what we need.” -Sam Shaba, Honeyguide

“It’s important to share your strategic plan with trusted donors so they understand the direction you are taking. I write lots of proposals, and having an effective plan makes it much easier to have one language. Your strategic plan emphasizes your identity, so it’s easier to write in a way that reflects who you are. We have also had opportunities for funding our rangelands work which came about from our strategic plan that articulated how we wanted to grow that aspect of our program.” -Belinda Mackay, Grevy’s Zebra Trust


Q: How long does it typically take to develop a meaningful Strategic Plan? Or how long does Maliasili normally think it should take?
A: The length of time really depends on the organization and their needs. However, we often tell organizations to expect anywhere from 4-6 months (or even more) to carry out the process well, which includes engaging stakeholders, reflecting on past achievements, and a lot of thinking and wrestling with difficult questions. All that takes time.

Q: Within the strategic plan, does Maliasili help organizations refine bits of the plan, to dive deeper into areas needed during or after the plan? For example- many organizations need M&E or fundraising planning.
A: Because strategic planning is one of the first things we do with an organization, we also carry out an organizational assessment that feeds into the process and helps us all identify some of these important areas to focus on. We also look at an organization's strengths and weaknesses, which helps uncover some of those stickier areas that need a 'deeper dive.' While they might not get answered during the strategy process, they will be considered in terms of the "what does our org need to look like" step of the strategic planning process. You might find this useful to understand more: https://www.maliasili.org/organizational-strengthening 

Q: What has been Maliasili’s experience with partner organizations and existing strategic plans during the Covid-19 pandemic? Are a lot of organizations taking time to refine/pivot/update plan? Are the goals typically staying the same and tactics are changing?
A: Organizations are indeed adjusting plans and adapting during COVID. We supported many of our partners last year to develop short term response strategies to address COVID and update their work plans accordingly. But in our experience, the organization’s higher strategic goals have remained the same and are still what partners are ultimately working towards - just with some adjustment for the current context.

Q: What is the best periodicity to review the strategic plan?
A: Our approach to strategic planning and review is really that it should be a living document. Something your organization is constantly reviewing, constantly using to set plans, to track progress and to reflect on. If it's something you're using frequently, then you should know when it's time to do a more thorough review.