Obtaining a change in attitude toward family planning

The Paraguayan Center for Population Studies (CEPEP) has always carefully planned its activities but a process of strategic planning beginning in 1989 allowed several shortcomings in the planning process to be identified and corrected. The planning strategy had previously been strongly vertical with only departmental directors and the executive director fully involved. Other office personnel and clinic directors were prevented from contributing in any meaningful way by bureaucratic obstacles and their lack of an overall vision of the organizations mission. Although CEPEP had devoted considerable effort to diagnosis and evaluation prior to developing its plans the type of evaluation conducted was not appropriate for analyzing medium and longterm trends and needs. Improved planning required continuous analysis of the organization as a whole rather then evaluation of specific projects and it required a frank and realistic analysis of the internal organization in relation to CEPEPs goals and its short medium and longterm strategies. CEPEP planning suffered from overly general objectives and failed to prioritize goals. Assignment of human and financial resources tended to reproduce the distribution of resources of the preceding year rather than being guided by the plan. New and innovative programs were not funded immediately; available funds were assigned almost exclusively to existing programs. New projects tended to be implemented only because an international donor appeared with the idea and a disposition to fund it. Such projects were often unrelated to planned activities of short duration and of dubious relevance to CEPEP goals. The plenary meetings committee work and seminars for CEPEPs strategic planning were time consuming but productive. They provided a foundation for CEPEP to redefine its goals and strategies. New plans call for a strong component of activities designed to change the attitude of the government toward family planning and open the organization to collaborative programs with other public and private sector institutions. Activities in rural areas are to receive greater emphasis. More resources are to be devoted to information and education. The new objectives and tasks require an internal reorganization which is currently underway.