Prerequisites

• A university degree.
• Practical experience in an institutional or administrative environment.

Course Description

What matters is not how fast you move—but whether you are moving in the right direction. This course provides participants with a strategic planning compass instead of random effort, enabling them to analyze reality, define direction, translate vision into actionable plans, and build decisions that are lower in risk and higher in impact within a changing environment.

Course Objective

By the end of this course, participants will:
• Understand strategic planning, its components, models, and importance for institutions.
• Diagnose the current situation using strategic analysis tools and set priorities.
• Formulate the core elements of a strategic plan (vision, mission, values, objectives).
• Translate strategy into initiatives, implementation plans, and performance indicators.
• Manage risks, develop alternatives, contingency plans, and strategic communication.
• Apply effective governance to ensure strategy execution and sustainability within the organization.

Course Outline

• Introduction to strategic planning:
- Definition of strategic planning and key terminology.
- The difference between strategic and operational planning.
- Strategic planning models and when to use each.

• Strategic analysis tools:
- Internal and external environment analysis.
- Use SWOT (situation diagnosis), PESTEL (context analysis), and prioritization tools.
- Identify strategic issues and develop assumptions.

• Formulating the strategic plan:
- Develop vision, mission, and values.
- Define strategic and operational objectives.
- Link objectives to stakeholder needs.

• From strategy to execution and measurement:
- Translate objectives into initiatives and action plans.
- Performance indicators, monitoring, and reporting.
- Align resources and organizational structures with the strategy.

• Risk management, alternatives, and communication:
- Identify and manage strategic risks.
- Develop alternative strategies and contingency plans.
- Design a strategic communication plan.

• Execution governance and strategic monitoring:
- Convert the plan into a strategic map linking (objectives – initiatives – indicators – responsibilities).
- Governance model: who decides, who implements, who reviews (RACI & accountability).
- Stakeholder management and internal alignment (strategic alignment), turning strategy from a top-management decision into daily organizational behavior.
- Periodic monitoring systems (review meetings, dashboards, progress reports).
- Manage change associated with execution so the strategy does not remain a lifeless document.

Course Benefits

• A graduation certificate by Al Jazeera Media Institute.