Amhara National Regional State Bureau of

Agriculture
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate

Concepts & Definition

Of Planning and Reporting

Adopted by:- Habtamu Yallew
June 2018
Enjebara
A. Planning
 Brainstorming
 What is Planning? and what are the
benefits/ importance of planning?
 Planning tools and techniques ?
 Steps of the planning process?
 Ways of planning ?
 planning approaches?
 Types of planning ?
 What is Planning?
WHAT IS A PLAN?
 It is written document of intended future course of
action an organization aimed at achieving specific
goal(s) or objective(s) within a specific time frame.
 It explains in detail what needs to be done, when,
how, and by whom, and often includes best case,
expected case, and worst case scenarios.
 WHAT IS PLANNING?

 Planning can be defined as the process of

setting goals, developing strategies, outlining
the implementation arrangements and
allocating resources to achieve those goals.
 It is a way of locking towards the future &
deciding what the organization will do in the
future.
What is Planning? Conti…
It is a continuous process which involves
decisions, or choices about alternative ways of
using available resources, with the aim of
achieving some goals at some time in the
future,
It is the process of scheduling/arranging the
optimum utilization of existing scare resources
to improve the living condition of people
It shows the road map to success.
 Benefits/importance of Planning
Planning most importantly helps us:
 To develop a clear vision of what we or our
organization sees for the future,
 To develop specific goals and objectives,

 To set the strategies of how will achieve our goals,

 To build a schedule for when it will happen,

 To establish what success will be & how to

measure it. (With already Developed indicators)
Importance of planning cont…..
 It enables us to know what should be done
when, (with out proper planning interventions may
be implemented at the wrong time or in the wrong way).
 It helps mitigate and manage crises and
ensure smoother implementation,
 It improves focus on priorities and leads to
more efficient use of time, money, and
other resources
 It helps to determine what success will look
like,
 10 questions to be asked during the
planning process

When constructing a plan, always ask

these ten most important strategic
questions:-
1. Where are we now? ------ Assessment.
2. Where do we want to go? -------
Gap/future end.
3. How do we get there?
4. When do we want to arrive?
questions to be asked ……..
5. Who will get us there?
6. What it will cost?
7. Who will accomplish the plan?
8. When will each strategy & goal be
completed?
9. What are the expected results?
10. How do we measure results?
Therefore, Planning helps us to become a
strategic thinker.
 Planning Tools and Techniques
Forecasting:- a vision of the future, a process of

assumptions about what will happen in the future.

Benchmarking: a technique that makes use of external

comparisons to better evaluate one's current performance

and identify possible actions for the future,
Participation: include people who will be affected by

plan outcomes and/or will be asked to help implement

them.
 Principles of Planning (7)
1. Participation:-
Planning is a participatory processes where
by the community are able to:-
Identify their problem,
Define their objectives, strategies,
policies,
Workout detail activity schedules (what
to do, when to do, by whom to do, by
what to do, etc).
2. Promote Sustainable Development
 The economic and social dimension of
sustainable development Plan focuses….
• reducing poverty,
• reducing different kinds of social and
economic inequalities,
• enhancing access to education, health,
water, sanitation etc,
• Socioeconomic infrastructure & services
etc.
3. Evidence-based/result based
 Development plans should be founded on a
strong RBME system (base for RBME),
 Besides development goals the plan should be
action-oriented and allow for tracking progress
towards development over time,
 Plans should have clear and measurable
targets, which take into account different
regional and national priorities, realities,
capacities and levels of development,
 4. Standardized and aligned plan
 Meaning Coordination,

Long term and short range

plans should be coordinated
with one another to form an
integrated plan,
 It means the plan has to maintain
standard and alignment to the NDP
and the National Vision,
5. Integration of cross-cutting issues and policies

 The development plan should be based on

 sector policies, country’s long-term vision,

 continental and global development agenda,
 The plan taking into considerations about
the benefit of women, disadvantaged groups,
environment and minorities.
 6. Transparency and value for money in goods and service delivery

 The plan implementation should be supported with

strong M&E framework/policy or guideline.
 A periodic follow-up and oversight should be
completed with monitoring and evaluating the progress
made based on administrative and survey data.
 The result must be opened for all concerned bodies,

 There should be quality project design and series of

M&E activities, (to ensure value for money),
 7. Flexibility

 It is always required to keep in mind that the

future will be different in actuality.
 Plans are flexible to favor the organization to
cope-up with the unexpected
environment.
 i.e. there is a revision of plan to go with this
unexpected environment.
 Ways of Planning
There are two ways to development planning
Product/activity-based/driven: Giving
high intention for inputs, activities &
outputs.
And

Results - driven: Giving high intention

for outcomes, impacts (It answers so
what equations),
 Planning Approaches….
1. Top-down planning approach: The planning process (problem
identification, designing, managing and evaluation) is set by the
top bodies (centralized)
2. Bottom-up planning approach: The planning process is handled
by the people who are themselves the target group. This
planning process is participatory and gives emphases and is
sensitive to local needs and resources.
3. Mixed planning approach: This is a planning process that uses
both top-down and bottom-up planning approaches at the same
time; that is, both the top bodies and beneficiaries are participated
in the planning process.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Each approach

1. Strengths of Top-down planning approach

Incorporates knowledge of the wider (macro)
economic and political environment as well as
external technologies and practices,
 Much expertise and experience available,
 Weaknesses Top-down planning approach
Poor understanding of the reality of the
target group (micro-environment),
Limited ownership by the community,
Strengths and Weaknesses …….
2. Strengths of Bottom- Up planning approach
 Utilizes the knowledge and skills which exist
within the community,
 Can help to empower the target group
through the process undertaken.
 Encourages a greater sense of ownership and
commitment by the target group,
 Creates ways through which the most
disadvantaged and marginalized can be
included in development process,
 Weaknesses Bottom- Up planning approach
Does not have a strong knowledge of the
wider economic, technological and political
environment,
Concentration is on each community
looking after its own interest and there is
limited concern about the wider society,
Development plans may be ambitious and
not have adequate resources available.
Uses unpredictable methodologies
So haw planning should proceed? from the ‘top-
down’ or from ‘bottom-up’

 That realistic planning is an iterative

(repetitious or frequent ) process,
 With this information, suggestions and
guidance flowing in an up and down direction.
 Planning the economy and planning projects
should proceed in parallel reinforcing and
refining each other.
 Types of plans
 Every organization has to prepare a plan to
achieve predetermined objectives in proper time.
 However, the types of plan depend upon:

A. The time dimension,

B. The area/Spatial/geographical coverage,

C. The Sectoral plan,

A. Based on time dimension
 It refers to how long a plan is in use or it covers.
So, based on it, there are three types of plans:
1. Long-term plan: It covers the plan period > 5 years.
It is a plan type that indicates direction plan

rather than detail plan.

Since it covers a longer period of time, it gives a

great chance for improving of the plan.

 So it is more comprehensive with high risk and

flexibility.
 Based on time …
2. Medium-term plan:- It covers the plan period 3 - 5 years.

 Called tactical plan, e.g. Growth and

Transformation Plan.
 It is a sub-set of long term strategic plan,
 It is implemented through the implementation
of short-term plans (a direct source of annual
plan or operational ).
Based on time …

3. Short-term plan: It covers up to one year (< 1 years).

• Since it is implemented immediately after approval, it is

hard to improve it during implementation. (not

flexible)

• It is extracted from the medium-term plan.

• The plan gives detailed and specific information about

the organization ( like staff Number and type).

B. Based on Geography/Area

Based on the area they cover, plans can be divided in to

 National, Regional, Zonal, Woreda, Kebele plans.

C. Based on Sectors

 Like
 Agriculture, Education, Industry, etc
 t i c a l
p ra c
y o u r c t i n g
t a r e o n d u e
wh a i n c r e t h
n c e s h a t a
p e r i e n d w e
e x l a n a n g t h
p c t i
an nu a l
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c e s s ?
bar r
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n ni n
pl a
Major challenges in relation to zone
and worda planning system,
 Usually Zonal and woreda level institutions directly

copy the plan sent from higher level and pest

instead of contextualizing according to their
potential and agro ecology of their specific locality.

 Moreover the higher level institutions including

the region do not aggregate and readjust the plan

which is sent from lower level institutions.
Major challenges in relation to planning …
 Because of these reasons there are cases

of mismatch between the region, the zone

and the woreda plan.

 All activity are not planned with a correct

format,

 Plan is not prepared with a full potential,

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Success is the result of well plan
or Well plan is half done!!!

M
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Report Writing
 What is Report?
 A report is a document of writing, speech,
television or film, containing information
organized in a narrative, graphic, or table form
made with the intention of relaying information or
events in a presentable form,
 Organized data/ narration ready to inform users
about process, performance level, result,
What is Report …
 A report is written for a clear purpose and to

a particular audience. Specific information and

evidence are presented, analyzed and

applied to a particular problem or issue.

 Are tools through which we know what

happened or what we got from M&E activities,

What is reporting?
 Is a systematic activity of processing and

distributing information to partners depending

on the type of information they require,
 Is a tool through which we know what
happened or what we got from M&E
activities,
 Report type
1. Monitoring report focuses on what we get
from an intervention (input, activity and out puts),
 Monitoring Report involves comparing actual
performance with the planned performance,
 A good monitoring Report system provides early
warning signals so that corrective action can be
taken timely,
Reporting ….
2. Evaluation report deals with what we get from
the development intervention, (Result level)
 Results-based reporting seeks to shift
attention away from activities to
communicating important results that your
intervention has achieved at the output and
outcome levels.
Reporting ….
 An effective results-based report communicates
the effectiveness of an intervention for
decision-making by the managers.

 In order to write the results-based report,

one should consider the following:-

 What was achieved and what were the
indicators of success?
How do actual results compare to expected
results?
Results-based reporting….
Quantifying achievement whenever possible
What were the reasons for over or under
achievement?
Any unforeseen problems or opportunities that
may require new strategies,
The involvement of others (partners,
stakeholders and beneficiaries) and degree of
attribution,
Enough data to describe the effects of activities
undertaken.
Sample Evaluation Reporting Format
A typical Evaluation report could have the
following components:
 Title page with a picture, names of
monitoring team, time (D/M/Y)
 Table of contents
 Acronyms
 Executive summary
 Introduction
 Objective of the report
 Methodology
Evaluation Reporting Format …
Findings/implementation performance
 Follow up from previous recommendations,
 Financial utilizations ,
Results/Achievements
 Case stories (from assessment)
 Lessons learnt
Challenges
Conclusions and recommendations
Appendices
 List of interviewee/participants,
 Others (correspondences, supporting documents, etc)
Other types of Reports
1. Informative:- contains only facts and figure
(leaves the analysis, interpretation, conclusion
and recommendation to the users),
2. Interpretive: includes analysis, interpretation,
conclusions and recommendations by the
writer of the report.
Features of Good Reports
 Narrates an event or an activity,
 Is a formal way of presentation,
 Is prepared for a specific audience,
 Explains how the information is gathered,
 States why the information is collected and
how useful it is,
 May include conclusion reached (for
decision),
 May also include recommendation as required,
 Contents of Narration report
1. Table of Contents
2. Executive Summary
3. Introduction
4. Description of Activities and Achievements
5. Resource Management
6. Stakeholders’ Coordination
7. Monitoring and Evaluation System
8. Challenges/Problems Encountered and
Solutions
9. Lesson Learnt 
10. Conclusion and Recommendation (optional)
11. Appendices
Points to be considered during report preparation

 Define the objective of the report,

 Identify your audience (Know what the

audience wants to know),
 Determine the time frame for reporting,

 Design appropriate data collection tools,

 Use good formats for reporting,

Points to be considered…
 State conclusions and recommendations (as
necessary),
 Circulate the draft report to get comments for
improvements,
 Review as necessary and prepare summary of main
findings, conclusions & recommendation (if your
report is big),
 Distribute to those concerned,
 t i c a l
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ar t e re t h r i ti n
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Major challenges of Reporting system: -
 Agricultural terms,

 Abuse of the actual report Format,

 Mismatch of measurement,

 Doesn’t Evaluated with Management body,

 All activity achievements are not fully

reported,
 Report not Narrated,
Major challenges of Reporting system ……
 Continuity,
 The Plan & Report formats are Different,
(activities).
 Lack of Confidence (The same activity with
different achievement data),
 Lack of Understanding about budget year
and crop calendar reporting,
 Contents report formats
----------------------------Woreda/ Zone Agriculture office.
Reporting Year------------ Quarter------------- Month-----------

Revised Report Format.xlsx

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