Social Planning

1
Social Planning

• Using Planning Techniques and Skills

2
Social workers use planning skills to

• Plan programs and services
• Plan interventions
• Write grant proposals
• Make decisions based on fact gathering and data
  analysis
• Facilitate the inclusion of various groups in the
  planning process

3
Planners serve the public interest, but define it
in different ways

• Organismic (Planner as expert public is best
  served by use of technical skills).
• Communalistic (Assumes that all members of the
  public have common interests. These interests are
  expressed in the political process planner is
  responsive to demands placed on him/her by
  government).
• Individualistic (Unified public interest can not
  be defined instead it is determined through
  negotiation and political compromises. Planner
  works for interest groups).

4
Planners also differ in terms of who should be
involved in the planning process. It can be

• Only professional planners with technical skills.
• Politicians and interest groups should be
  involved.
• Beneficiaries of plans should be actively
  involved in planning decisions.

5
Most planning is based on the Rational or
Problem-solving Model

• Problem identification
• Assessment
• Goal Setting
• Implementation
• Evaluation

6
The planners conceptualization of the public
interest and decision-making participants
determine the planning model used
Model Public Interest Participants
Rational Served by use of technical skills to select the best plan Planners with expertise
Incremental Determined through politics Planner acts as mediator to determine common interest Politicians and interest groups
Advocacy Determined through politics No unified public interest Interest group employs the planner
Transactive Institutional oppression limits ability of all to have interest met. Group interest determined through dialogue Beneficiaries and planner are equal partners in planning process
Marxist Social action is needed to promote interests of disadvantaged Planners role is to help oppressed create social movements
7
Most of what we do as planners is to help develop
goals and objectives

• Goals are broad, ambiguous, and pertain to an
  ideal we want to reach such as end homelessness
  or improve the quality of life in the
  community.
• Objectives are steps to reaching the goal and
  must be
• a) Measurable
• b) Time-limited
• c) Related to a specific task or process
• d) Evaluable

8
Planners use a variety of methods to choose among
alternative goals or intervention plans

• Decision trees
• Conceptual, visual, or mathematical models.
• Principle of Transitivity
• Cost benefit or cost effectiveness analysis.
• Analysis of the distributional impact of the plan
  (what groups will benefit or lose).

9
Sample goals objectives for a Medi-Cal Outreach
Program might include

• Goal Improve health care status among community
  residents
• Objective 1 Recruit 10 community residents for
  paid employment as peer health educators by
  February 1, 2003. Evaluation criteria number of
  residents recruited
• Objective 2 Provide a series of six training
  workshops on Medi-Cal eligibility by April 1,
  2003. Evaluation criteria number of workshops
  actually held, number of people attending,
  findings from evaluation survey distributed to
  those attending.
• Objective 3 Inform the public about Medi-Cal
  eligibility through local media and community
  forums. Evaluation criteria number of calls for
  more information to Medi-Cal hotline. Number of
  people attending forums.

10
Objectives can either be task or process
oriented.Task objectives focus on completing a
specific activity or delivering a specific number
of services.Process objectives are a means used
to complete a task-related activity. In community
practice process objectives are most often
related to recruiting new members, leadership
development, increasing public awareness, or
strengthening the organization.
11
In planning community organization interventions,
we must try to integrate strategies and tactics
with goals and objectives. You can use the format
distributed in class and posted on the class
website for your final assignment.