State planning for strategic program development

This presentation will describe how facilitating strategic planning in a small asthma program, with limited time and funding, can be used for strategic program development. The process used in this example included weekly engagement with program staff, drawing on their experiences with an advisory panel, a moving patient story, and current priorities at a program and organizational level. Engaging more stakeholders throughout the strategic planning process was not possible due to unavailability of partners and a short timeline. Instead, the current program evaluators started discussions with a small group of program staff to listen to their descriptions of the most important priorities over the upcoming years. The discussions were then themed; shared back with the staff; and developed into goal areas, objectives, and strategies. The plan is now used as a working document to engage partners and ignite conversations about implementing interventions.