Written by Mekong Institute

The Mekong Institute organized a two-week training course on “Strategic and Participatory Planning and Management”from 15-26 August 2011 at MI’s training center in Khon Kaen, Thailand. Thirty-five participants from China, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam attended the program. This practical training aims to help leaders, senior officers and planning staff of government agencies and public enterprises do effective strategic planning through participatory approach.  

The training course covered six modules: (i) Importance of Strategic Planning and Meaningful Participation of Stakeholders; (ii) Environmental Analysis; (iii) Establishing Organizational Direction; (iv) Strategy Formulation (v) Implementing Strategic Plan; and (vi) Institutionalizing were designed and delivered by using participatory approaches where the participants went through three progressive stages of 1- “Learn to do”, the participants were provided knowledge on basic concepts and tools to and facilitators; and 3- “Share to learn”, participants got opportunities to present their group work and share their experiences to co-participants appreciate the acquired knowledge and skills in a real-life situation by visiting companies and villages in Thailand which considered strategic management as key to their success.

The results of the overall evaluation for this learning program revealed that the participants were satisfied with the course content and found the topics covered very relevant to their work. Moreover, they highly appreciated the facilitators and te training methods used. The participants were very satisfied with the field visit and the opportunity given to get the real experience and learn from the organizations’ success. During the two-week training course, the participants developed friendships and established network among professionals from different organizations and countries.