1. Introduction

Technical support for school planning is a key foundational input for the implementation of a project. This technical support will provide the basis for stakeholders to start thinking about their local context and the problems that they need to solve in order to make their school better. An important part of the planning workshop is an introduction to basic principles of child friendly schools (CFS), particularly the six dimensions that define child friendliness: (i) Inclusive Education; (ii) Educational Relevance; (iii) Health, Nutrition, and Safety; (iv) Gender Sensitive; (v) Stakeholder Engagement; and (vi) Enabling Environments. It is essential that stakeholders understand these CFS principles in order for them to effectively define local problems in terms of the needs of children rather than other pre-conceived notions that may have less to do with children's rights. Planning principles that stakeholders learn during the workshop should facilitate the development of a needs-based plan with logical linkages between the various elements of the plan (e.g., objectives, activities, etc.). The planning workshop supported by the project should lead to the development of an ANNUAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN based on a participatory process among stakeholders, which also includes a statement of important problems, objectives, activities, resources, and indicators.

2. Objectives

• Participants acquire skills in planning that are logical and objective-based.
• Participants can describe the most important principles of a Child Friendly School and use these principles in the identification of problems.

3. Target groups

• School Directors
• Teachers
• Community Representatives/Local Authorities (e.g., Commune Council Members, etc.)
• Children

4. Information on implementation

A planning workshop typically lasts between two and three days. The days set for the workshop should be determined consensually so that as many stakeholders as possible may participate. Stakeholders should represent a broad cross-section of the local context including (i) school directors, (ii) teachers, and (iii) community representatives. If stakeholders are too numerous for everyone to participate, representatives should be selected by the three major stakeholder groups mentioned above. The number of stakeholder participants at a workshop may vary between 10 and 25 persons.

It is not recommended that children directly participate in the planning process with adult stakeholders as this usually promotes tokenism, particularly in hierarchical societies where it is disrespectful for younger people to express opinions different from that of their elders. Input for planning from children should occur in separate activities in which children work by themselves (with no adult interference) to describe what their vision for a 'good' school is. This vision should then be communicated to adult stakeholders at the beginning of the workshop through skits, pictures, or drawings produced by the children.

The workshop program should cover the following topics:

1. Introduction to Child Friendly School Concepts
2. Elements and Characteristics of a Plan
3. Identifying Problems
4. Objectives Analysis
5. Defining External Factors
6. The Planning Matrix
7. Writing Activities and Using Menus
8. Writing Indicators (optional depending on stakeholder ability levels)
9. Identifying Resources for the Plan
10. Stakeholders, Ownership, and Participation
11. GANT Charts
12. Next Steps

The progression of planning should be logical so that stakeholders start with problems, which help them identify objectives, which in turn guide the selection of activities and resources to achieve the objectives. Problems should be defined in terms of CFS principles, which will ensure that activities address children's needs.

The facilitator of the workshop should make sure that discussions of each of the above topics is highly practical in focus rather than abstract and theoretical. For example, explanations about the identification of problems should deal with finding real problems in the local context, which in turn leads to a list of such problems that need to be addressed. By keeping the workshop practical in focus, stakeholders should be able to come up with a concrete School Improvement Plan that is consensual and logical by the end of the workshop.

5. Resources Needed

• Stationery: problem and activity cards, poster paper, tape, marker pens
• Selected handouts explaining technical aspects of planning
• Travel and per diem costs for participants to attend planning sessions.
• Photocopy costs for dissemination of the plan