Program Development: Objectives, Goals, Mission, and Community Involvement

A program’s mission statement, goals, and objectives have a role in guiding program development and provide scaffolding for a program’s design. Program planners must distinguish between these different kinds of statements and understand how each should be used in the planning process. As you learn in this module, it is particularly crucial that planners develop appropriate and measurable objectives, as these are used as benchmarks throughout the design, implementation, and evaluation of a program. When a community participates in determining the overall mission statement and goals for your program, their buy-in increases the likelihood that your programs will succeed in meeting that community’s needs.
In this module, you expand your knowledge of various methods of needs assessments. These range from surveys and questionnaires, to community forums and focus groups, to simple observation of the community in action. You also explore how the community can contribute to organizing and designing a health program and examine collaboration strategies that can be used when setting program goals and priorities.
In addition, you review the ways in which evidence can be used in program planning. Through this module’s video program, you see the central role the Community Guide played in one region’s anti-tobacco program efforts.

Discussion 1: Program Development: Objectives, Goals, Mission, and Community Involvement
When planning a health promotion program, the behaviors and conditions you seek to address must be clearly articulated early on. Working with community members to develop a clearly defined mission and specific and measurable goals is an important step.
To prepare for this Discussion, consider an HIV prevention program being proposed by a professor at a local university. The program is being funded by a national HIV/AIDS service organization. The professor has also identified the following stakeholders: two community organizations active in HIV prevention, the local health department, and various community members.
By Day 1 of Week 4, post your assessment of whether or not you expect the identified stakeholders will have difficulty setting program goals, and explain why. Identify additional stakeholders that should be involved in the planning process and explain why you chose them. Describe the collaboration strategies you would use to avoid turf struggles and ensure that all stakeholders have a sense of ownership over the program. Explain why these strategies would work.

Resources:

McKenzie, J. F., Neiger, B. L., & Thackeray, R. (2013). Planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs: A primer (6th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson.
Chapter 4, “Assessing Needs” (pp. 71–110)
Chapter 6, “Mission Statement, Goals, and Objectives” (pp. 141–161)
Chapter 9, “Community Organizing and Community Building” (pp. 255–277)
Schulz, A. J., Israel, B. A., Coombe, C. M., Gaines, C., Reyes, A. G., Rowe, Z.,…Weir, S. (2011). Community-based participatory planning process and multilevel intervention design: Toward eliminating cardiovascular health inequities. Health Promotion Practice, 12(6), 900–911.