Strategic planning review

Oxfam carries out original research on various aspects of its overseas programme, as part of a constant monitoring process, and in an effort to gain greater understanding of development programmes and practice. Although primarily a tool for institutional learning, some of the resulting reports are of wider interest. As part of its commitment to sharing experience of good practice, Oxfam publishes those reports which describe innovative research projects, evaluate particularly interesting projects or programmes, or are the proceedings of workshops or seminars. This is an account of the strategic planning exercise undertaken for Oxfam's overseas programme. The project involved all the country offices and support units in the Overseas Division in evaluating their current work and planning for the future. The evaluation carried out by the author contains lessons for other organizations involved in strategic planning.