Step 4.2 Identify priority strategic goals
The vision and mission can only provide a general summary of the strategic directions of the NSS in the medium term and must be broken down into more tangible, time-bound, and measurable goals. These strategic goals or outcomes must be prioritized based on the national development goals’ priority indicators and available capacity and resources in the NSS .
The strategic goals or outcomes correspond to the prioritized solutions identified in the NSDS training workshop based on a summary of the results (key issues) of the NSS Assessment - capacity, outputs, and user needs and satisfaction. The solutions should be further prioritized based on a coherent objective tree or theory of change
The strategic goals must address the relevant NSS capacity development target areas across the three (3) levels of the NSS --- individual, organizational, and systemic capabilities (Capacity Development 4.0), and must be aligned with the UN National Quality Assurance Framework.
Concrete actions
- Starting with the draft vision statement in Step 4.1, perform an objective tree or theory of change analysis based on the problem tree analysis in the NSS assessment.
- Identify appropriate solutions or objectives to each of the underlying causes and effects of the core problem.
- Evaluate each proposed solution or objective according to the SMART criteria to arrive at a comprehensive yet parsimonious set of the most strategic goals or outcomes.
- Build a coherent objective tree or theory of change diagram to consolidate and summarize the long-term goal or outcome (vision) and the objectives or preconditions (strategic goals or outcomes).
- Identify concrete outputs or groups of outputs that can collectively contribute to the achievement of the strategic goals or outcomes.
- Construct a results framework/matrix to summarize all results (the vision and strategic goals or outcomes) and key outputs of the new NSDS.
- Identify corresponding indicators to measure/monitor achievement of outcomes and delivery of key outputs (selected using the same SMART criteria) and appropriate sources (or means of verification) of the data.
- Identify important assumptions and risk factors that may affect outcomes and outputs.
- Identify cooperating and development partners to deliver the results.
