T HE M AUREEN AND M IKE M ANSFIELD C ENTER : A CTION P LAN D EVELOPMENT 2014 E CONOMIC E MPOWERMENT P ROGRAM

Your Priority Objectives What is an Action Plan? Why is an Action Plan important? How will you develop your Action Plan? Consulting with your Fellowship partner on your Action Plan. Your timeline for developing the Plan.

We are honored to have you here with us. We value your time. It is important to ensure that the program was beneficial to you, both personally and professionally. In developing an Action Plan, you will write down tangible skills and strategies you learned that made it worth your time to participate.

Promote mutual understanding and lasting partnerships. An Action Plan will help you think about what you have learned to better understand Americans and how you might share this knowledge with your colleagues, friends and family. An Action Plan will help you better understand how Americans perceive your country and how you can work to further educate the world. An Action Plan will help you think about how to maintain and grow your new relationships.

Provide a forum for you and American partners to collaborate and share ideas, approaches, and strategies. An Action Plan will help you think about the new ideas and strategies you have learned and help you decide what action you can take to put these new ideas into practice in your own work and community.

Build a global network of professionals as we work in an increasingly interconnected environment. An Action Plan will help develop plans to stay in touch with your colleagues on the program, with other U.S. alumni in your country, and with global Fellows.

Develop leadership abilities that you already have to effect positive change in your workplace and community. An Action Plan helps you think about the skills you have developed on this program and what you can specifically do to use these new skills in such areas as communication and planning.

-Learn best practices in microfinance -Gain better guidance in business development -Gain experiences that help support job creation -Learn to set up successful business plans -Build networks and share information -Learn best practices to improve work culture -Enhance personal leadership and management skills -Improve personal knowledge of entrepreneurship -Exchange experiences on best practices for women entrepreneurship -Share knowledge in organic farming management -Gain knowledge of how to empower young people -Learn perspectives on community enterprises -Strengthen skills in economic empowerment and sustainable development -Improve communication and teaching skills

As your time progresses in the U.S., your objectives may evolve. After just one week in the U.S., your objectives may already have evolved. After one week with your Fellowship, your objectives may continue to evolve. Take a few minutes now to think about and write down your objectives for your time in the U.S., both professionally and personally. Don’t share it with us, but keep these with you to reflect on throughout the program.

What will develop you personally as a leader and an agent for change? How can you develop your skills to be the best you can be? What would make a real difference in your work? What would make a real difference in your community, in your country, and to the world? You are a leader and can do great things!

Before you write your Action Plan, you need to understand your Vision. After you develop your objectives, see if they fit into your larger Vision.  What would you like to see happen?  Consider where you want to go and the Action Plan will be the series of steps you take to get there.

An Action Plan helps you assess what you’ve learned, to communicate your goals (to yourself and to others), and to make your ideas reality. Your objectives What you’ve learned that you want to replicate Adjusting US strategies to your cultural context List what specifically needs to be done Describe the team or specific individuals required to get it done The resources required to do it

The objective you wish to achieve Specific steps to achieve the objective A time schedule to achieve each step Designation of who is responsible for each step Description of the resources needed Evaluation Plan: This does not need to be detailed in the Action Plan. But you need a strategy to determine whether your steps are working and whether you need to readjust.

Understand Your Objectives Begin Your Fellowship Take Notes On Strategies/Innovations/Ideas Ask Many Questions: the most important part! If you identify tactics you want to use in your own work, write it down as something that might be part of your Action Plan.

Each night, review the activities of the day. What do you want to take back to your home? What might work the same way that you’ve seen it implemented here? What might work but needs great adjustment for your home context? Consider follow-up questions you may have for the person who shared this idea/strategy with you. Conduct follow-up meetings or s.

Great to have lots of new ideas, but don’t overwhelm yourself. Each Action Plan is different: Some Fellows may have many small and simple action areas that can be achieved quickly. Some Fellows may have one major action item that will take 3-5 years. Some Fellows will have a combination of small and large items. Some Fellows will include a visit by their US partner in the Action Plan; some won’t.

What about your work is important to you and to your community? What constraints do you have that limit your ability to do this work? What do you do when something difficult or challenging arises? What do you do when something positive happens? What activities are working well? What activities can be improved? How often do you achieve the result you wanted? Did the activities make sense in terms of what you were trying to achieve?

A SWOT Analysis (or SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used to evaluate:  Strengths. Characteristics of your business or project that give it an advantage over others.  Weaknesses. Characteristics that place the business or project at a disadvantage relative to others.  Opportunities. Elements that the business/project can exploit to its advantage.  Threats. Elements in the environment that could cause trouble for your business/project.

Cultural Context. What works in the US may not work in your country. But how do you adjust it so that you are successful? Your Organizational Culture. Is your organization open to your ideas? Can you be successful with your Action Plan? Team Approach. How do you include other members of your organization in your plan to help make it a success? Integration. How will your Action Plan fit with existing organizational planning?

Time Frame. Don’t plan to do too much in too short a time. Timelines. Look at your plan as a whole to ensure that the sequencing and scheduling makes sense. Detail. Think through the details of implementing your actions. Resources. Be realistic in assessing your inputs.

At the end of Week One, consider what your Action Plan looks like at this point in your fellowship. Keep this draft to help you create a plan to to Deena no later than Monday, May 26 at If you have one earlier, please send it earlier. It’s okay if it’s not perfect, but please send something. We will continue to work on your Action Plan with you.

Action Plan Template GoalStrategyAction/TaskResponsbilityTimelineResourceCostEvaluation Overarching Achievement How you will accomplish this? All the small steps you need to take to do this? Who precisely will do this? When will it get accomplished? What do you need to accomplish it? How much will it cost? How will you measure you have succeeded?

What is my goal? Expanding international partnerships for Montana. What are my objectives? Develop more people-to-people relationships. Create study abroad opportunities. Create business relationships. Create better understanding of other people/cultures/countries.

What are my tasks and timelines? Find funded-projects to achieve these goals as follows: - review grants.gov with alerts - review private foundation websites monthly and create alerts - meet with international Montana corporations on an ongoing basis - write grant proposals on an ongoing basis

Evaluate: Am I Successful? Number of new projects Amount of new funding Specific participants supported New business development Number of students studying abroad Number of students studying new languages Number of people applying for new passports

Are the proposed actions valuable? Are they do-able? Can you get the resources you need? Will your team support you?

Important Message: Each Action Plan is Different!