From your Playgroup WA (Inc) Board

The Playgroup WA (Inc) Strategic Plan 2007-2009 outlines the decisions and actions that shape and guide our organisation, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future.

Our most recent 3-year plan was developed in late 2006 and adopted by the Board during the December 2006 Board meeting. The plan is a result of months of review and evaluation, a drafting process that included staff, Board and an external facilitator, and a participatory feedback process between staff and Board by which the results were refined into the concise document presented here. The plan describes:

• the vision that will guide Playgroup WA (Inc)'s focus over the next 3 years
• the purpose of Playgroup WA (Inc) - the answer to the 'why are we here' question
• the values that we espouse and live by
• our objectives for the next 3 years - based on the most important issues identified for the future and
• the strategies that we will use to achieve these objectives

As with all planning documents, the Strategic Plan is a framework for what we intend to accomplish, but it is only a framework. An annual implementation plan will be created and reviewed each year and will detail the steps that we will take to acomplish these strategies.

It is worth discussing the succinct new vision - "to be recognised as the peak body for playgroups throughout WA" - in a little more detail. At first glance, one's tendency is to think "I thought that's what we were doing already!".

Playgroup WA (Inc) currently serves and speaks for more than 18,000 families and their children around Western Australia who attend community and supported playgroups. However, there remain many other community style playgroups and a considerable number of independently funded and run supported playgroups who we believe could benefit from closer ties with the broader playgroup community and the resources that Playgroup WA (Inc) can offer.

The vision also recognises that, in order to be recognised as a peak body, Playgroup WA (Inc) needs to act more like a peak body, to become more relevant to our members, to non-affiliated playgroups, and to government bodies and other organisations alike, and to improve our advocacy for the role of playgroups in communities and for parents as first educators.

Central to this vision is the continued development and enhancement of our core services including publications, events, the web site and e-newsletters, workshops and advocacy, and it is on these areas that we will be focused in the coming months.

The Board welcomes your feedback on our plan! You can either call our Hotline on 1800 171 882 or email us your thoughts.

Playgroup WA (Inc) Strategic Plan 2007-9 02-03-2007 View our Strategic Plan for 2007-9 and find out more about our vision, mission, values and objectives for the coming years. Download File - 106kb