Components of an Annual Work Plan

Summary of the long-range plan

Objectives/Goals for the upcoming year
Detailed activities related to these objectives/goals
Plan for monitoring and evaluation
Annual budget
Your annual work plan should be written in enough detail to give a clear picture of the activities
planned for the year, when they will occur, the resources that will be required to complete them,
the goals and objectives they meet, and the targets and outcome measures of the activities. Work
plans can also include cost estimates for each activity; these can be helpful in preparing the
annual budget.

How to prepare an Annual Work Plan

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Decide who will be involved in writing the new work plan.

Schedule work planning meetings several months before the current work plan expires.
Review the current work plan with the work planning group.
Discuss with the work planning group whether the current activities need to be modified.
If necessary, conduct a brainstorming exercise to come up with new activities.
Write out each activity in detail. Keeping your organizations mission, vision, goals and
objectives in mind can help identify proposed activities.
7. Identify what the target measures/outcomes are for each activity. What goal/objective
does each activity meet?
8. Determine who will be responsible for carrying out each activity on the plan.
9. Develop a proposed schedule/time-line for each activity
10. Decide what resources will be required to carry out the proposed activities.
11. Check the budget to make sure that adequate funds are available to carry out the
activities.

How to develop and schedule activities

When developing activities for your organization:
Base your activities on stated organization goals and objectives
State the activity clearly
Indicate when the activity will be carried out
Assign responsibility to the appropriate staff member(s)
Make sure that adequate resources are available.
Be sure to answer the following questions:
What is the activity?
What What goal/objective is being met?
What are the targeted measures and outcomes for the activity?
Who Who is responsible for seeing that the activity is carried out?
How What resources are necessary and available?
When What is the proposed date the activity will be completed?