Cooking Yourself

a Strategy

IFMSA Webinar on
Strategy:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=IDya0CcRH7w

www.ifmsa.org 1
 IFMSA
Imprint The International Federation of Medical Students’
Executive Board
Associations (IFMSA) is a non-profit, non-governmental
Hana Lučev, Frida Vizcaíno, Batool organization representing associations of medical students
Alwahdani, Amela Hamidović, Satria Nur worldwide. IFMSA was founded in 1951 and currently
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maintains 137 National Member Organizations from 127
Contributors countries across six continents, representing a network of
Birk Bähnemann, Daniel Memarpour, more than 1.3 million medical students.
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IFMSA envisions a world in which medical students unite
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for global health and are equipped with the knowledge,
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skills and values to take on health leadership roles locally
Cover and globally, so to shape a sustainable and healthy future.
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within the United Nations’ system and the World Health
Organization; and works in collaboration with the World
Medical Association.

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2 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

Contents
1. Foreword
page 4
2. Introduction
page 4
3. Information Collection
page 5
4. Baseline Assessment
a. SWOT - page 8
b. Stakeholder Mapping - page9
c. Needs Assessment - page 10
5. The Method
a. Vision - page 12
b. Mission - page 13
c. Goals/Objectives - page 14
www.ifmsa.org

d. Strategies - page 16
e. Actions - page 16
6. Evaluation
page 17
7. Review
page 19
8. References
page 21

www.ifmsa.org 3
 1. Foreword _
• This purpose of this
document is to give
IFMSA members the
knowledge and skills to
develop a strategy on a
small or large scale for an
organizational goals.
• The steps are given in order
and with explanations at
every step
• At the end you will find
further resources and
references that were used
in writing this guide.

4 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

 2. Introduction_
What is a Strategy and why is it important
for youth lead organizations?
A strategy is an articulated plan to achieve a long
term or overall aim that is either the main objective
that your organization was created for or contributes
to it; and is in line with your organization’s vision.
Having a strategy is important for youth led organi-
zations because:
1. It ensures a systematic approach towards
your goal, decreasing the percentage of er-
rors in the organization’s work.
2. Allows you to achieve maximum efficiency
with resources and ensure that the members,
partners and all the stakeholders of the orga-
nization are working towards a common goal
that will actually achieve a degree of shift.
3. Youth-led organizations usually have a high
turnover rate and frequent changes in leader-
ship with emerging new ideas, so this is used
to sustain the development in a certain direc-
tion over generations.
What is Strategic Planning?
Strategic planning is the process of developing
this articulated plan in order to provide the frame-
work and sequence action that should be followed
through. It is done through setting priorities, constant
analysis and focusing energy and resources.
There are a lot of methods and ways for strategic
planning. In this toolkit we will focus on the meth-
od entitled “VMOSA”, as it is one of the simplest
and most commonly used method. It has a good
balance between simplicity, efficiency and success
rate, meaning that you don’t need to be an expert in
order to use it properly.
3. Information
Collection:
_
Standard Skills
Privacy
Firstly and before anything you should be
aware that this process will entail a large
collection of information and that always
brings with it security and privacy consider-
ations. If you are working within the scope
of a local or national organisation take a
minute to research the legislation that ap-
plies to you as student non-profit.
For organisations within the European Union
and for the IFMSA as a whole (Since our le-
gal home is within the EU) the basic law to
know is the General Data Protection Regula-
tion (GDPR). You can find more information
online or the updated IFMSA Privacy policy
at https://ifmsa.org/privacy/
Types of Questions
Questions are the most powerful tool you
have at your disposal whether it was to as-
sess your situation, or to gain knowledge
about things that you need to know or even
to direct the attention of the reader towards
a certain point. In order to utilize questions
in the best way you have to know the dif-
ferent types of questions and their relative
advantages and purposes.
1) Close-ended questions:
a) What are they:
Closed-ended questions come in a
multitude of forms, but are defined
by their need to have explicit op-
tions for a respondent to select from.
www.ifmsa.org 5
 These questions are commonly used in
surveys. These questions limit the ability
of the respondent to provide unique or
unanticipated answers. These questions
are conclusive and are used to create
easily quantifiable data. This is especial-
ly useful when trying to group people
into categories or prove the statistical
significance of something.
b) Limitations:
The major drawback of this kind of ques-
tions is that when you use them you have
to know exactly the scope of these ques-
tions and how they integrate in your top-
ic of question that you also should know
very well. Because if that is not the case
your questions will provide insufficient
questions for the respondent to choose
from which leads to insufficient or insig-
nificant data that will not help your re-
search or analysis. And this would usu-
ally lead to biased results.
c) When to use them:
You would want to use these questions
when you know for sure, that you have
all the options possible included, for ex-
ample if you wanted to see how many
people ordered food at a restaurant,
that only serves 3 meals (Pancakes - Spa-
ghetti - Steak) you can use these kind of
questions. Another example is when you
have a positive or negative result, for ex-
ample if you want to know how many
students passed their Biology exams
you’d have two options (Passed - Did
not pass). As you can note this proves
what we said before that these kind of
questions usually results in numeric val-
ues, things that are easily quantifiable.
6 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
In IFMSA for example, you can use
these kinds of surveys in order to know
the number of members in each commit-
tee for example, or to know the number
of trainers in your region, or for surveys
used in IFMSA programs that determine
the success of an action.
2) Open-Ended Questions:
a) What are they:
These questions are exploratory in na-
ture, meaning that they give the respon-
dent the freedom to answer with what
they see fit without limiting them with a
concrete answer. These questions pro-
vide rich qualitative data as they give
the researcher the chance to gain insight
on the actual opinions of respondents.
Meaning that these questions have a
wider range of possible answers and
their results are unpredictable.
b) Limitations:
Open-ended questions lack the statisti-
cal significance that closed-ended ques-
tions usually provide. They usually pro-
vide you with uncountable measures,
like for example the knowledge on an
individual over a certain topic or for ex-
ample the degree of satisfaction on a
service or a product, which makes these
questions a little less significant when
you are doing a conclusive large-scale
research requiring a numerical output.
Also in cases of bigger populations of
studies, the time and effort that is used
to collect the information can be over-
whelming, inefficient and not even fea-
sible. Even when taking a small sample
with the aim of inferring the data from
 your sample (assuming your sample was
unbiased) to the overall population, you
can’t use these questions unfortunate-
ly, as each answer would be a unique
opinion.
c) When to use them:
These questions are especially useful
when doing/having a/an:
i) Expert interview: Since these
questions ask for the critical
thinking and uncut opinion of
the respondent, they are perfect
for gaining information from spe-
cialists in a field. This is the case
when you have a selected group
of people to interview, someone
you can confirm to be an expert
on the topic (e.g. interviewing
an experienced trainer to know
what are the best methods to use
in certain trainings, or asking an
alumni member how did they
tackle a certain problem in the
past).
ii) Small population: When you
have a small population it is
fruitful to use open-ended ques-
tion. They will provide you with
more valuable data and you do
not need a complex statistical
analysis. (An example would be
asking your team members after
you finished your project about
their experience of your leader-
ship or asking questions to deter-
mine performance feedback of
each team member.)
iii) Preliminary research: Usually
when you want to do a conclu-
sive research you would have to
start with a preliminary research
to scout your objectives, the
populations you need to target
and the level and complexity of
your study. This is basically using
qualitative data to prepare for a
result of conclusive quantitative
data.
iv) A respondent outlet: It is usually
a good idea in any survey, no
matter how large, to leave an
open-ended comments question
at the end. This is especially
in the case of a survey asking
closed-ended questions on atti-
tudes, opinions, or behaviours.
Forcing respondents to answer
closed-ended questions asks
them to fit in your box of options
and can leave them with extra
information or concerns that
they want to share with you. Pro-
viding respondents with the out-
let of a comment box is showing
them the respect they deserve
for taking the time to fill out your
survey.
In summary: Close-ended questions usually pro-
duce quantitative data for a conclusive result
and is best when used in large groups, demo-
graphic studies or prevalence; while open-end-
ed questions are used for more qualitative data
and smaller groups and for more genuine opin-
ions.
On a side note: A lot of surveys are actually a
mixture of both types of questions with each one
serving a certain purpose as the creator of the
survey sees fit.
www.ifmsa.org 7
 4. Baseline Assessment
Baseline Assessment (Current State As-
sessment):
• Note: (Current State) In case you or your
NMO already have a strategy in place and
you want to reassess your situation.
Before you embark on your journey to design
a strategy there is one task you should do: A
baseline assessment.
Simply put, a baseline assessment is an analy-
sis of where you are now, your competitive ad-
vantages and disadvantages, what resources or
sources power do you have. Anything that helps
you find out your current state is a baseline as-
sessment tool.
This is a very helpful process that is important for
prioritization and defining the focus of your ac-
tions. It also helps you to utilize your resources in
order to dictate the framework of your organiza-
tion and decide on your next move.
Think of it like finding out what items do you
have in your fridge before going grocery shop-
ping every week.
There are many tools some of them are simple
like a basic questionnaire. Others are a bit more
compound like for example a SWOT Analysis
that we are going to talk about next.
SWOT Analysis:
SWOT Analysis simply stands for (Strengths
- Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats). It is a
simple but effective way in order to perform an
analysis of your current status, frame up a pic-
ture of where you are now and prepare for your
next moves. SWOT analysis is plotted in a Table.
8 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
_
Strengths (Build up on) Opportunities (Invest
(+) in) (+)
Weaknesses (Shore up Threats (Monitor) (-)
or improve on) (-)
Internal External
Each side presents a perspective, the left
(Strengths and Weaknesses) presents your in-
ternal aspect and the right (Opportunities and
Threats) presents you external aspect.
You should know that you can impact and have
a direct influence on your internal aspect, but
when it comes to your external aspect you can
only have some influence but not have a direct
impact.
Data sources are the sources you use to fill your
SWOT analysis with information about the 4 cat-
egories (strengths - weaknesses - opportunities -
threats) in order to find out what are you dealing
with from each category. The data sources them-
selves can also be categorized into two:
a) Internal (Executive Boards, Officials,
Members, your own Key Performance In-
dicators).
b) External (Mega Trends*, Industry or field
of work, Communities, Other organiza-
tions).
* Mega Trends: They are global, sustained and
macro-economic forces of development that im-
pact economy, business, society, cultures and
personal lives, thereby defining our future world
and its increasing pace of change. Phenomena
that affect our lives like women empowerment,
virtual reality, wireless intelligence, renewable
power, veganism, artificial intelligence,
There should always be more weaknesses than
threats as a general rule of thumb.
Another important tip would be not to confuse
opportunities with weaknesses. For example
(Improving communication) may sound as an
opportunity. If you remember we said that exter-
nal factors can not be influenced directly while
(communication) itself can be influenced direct-
ly. Meaning that it is an internal factor. So if you
want to use communication in the sense that you
need more communication to happen, you can
put (Lack of communication) for example or if
you want instead of (Weaknesses) you can use
(Areas to improve on) then you can use (Improv-
ing communication).
In conclusion, it is very important not to confuse
areas or section of the SWOT with each other.
In order to prevent the SWOT from falling apart
and ensuring that it does its job you have to
know what goes where.
Now to use your SWOT Analysis and actually
putting it to work, you need to pair points from
quadrants together. Here is a very helpful vid-
eo from a channel called virtual strategist. If you
watch it you will get an idea of how to use it.
Link: https://youtu.be/exm9uAKYkl0
Stakeholder Mapping:
Stakeholder mapping is a process that you per-
form in order to identify possible partners and
opportunities and determine how to approach
them. Before getting into the topic of stake-
holders mapping let us first talk about what is
a stakeholder? A “Stakeholder” is a person or
an organization that either has an interest in
your organization and its work or has a certain
degree of influence on or is influenced by your
flow of work, profit, processes or decisions.
Now there are many examples of stakeholders
around us (in IFMSA) as a youth-led organiza-
tion, like (Governments, Members, Deanships,
Partners, Other NGOs, Communities, etc…).
Due to the different nature of stakeholders, differ-
ent interests and different benefits gained from
the organization, you’ll find out sometimes that
there is what is called a “stakeholder conflict”
which means that a decision that you make or
an action that you take as an organization may
sometimes be supported by a certain stakehold-
er and opposed or not supported by another.
To clear this point, if you wanted to make an
initiative that would support the employees by
increasing their paycheck by 10%, you would
be supported by employees and workers’ rights
movements, but then you may be opposed by
the company’s management and shareholders.
So as an organization, the trick is that you have
to draw the interest of people or organizations
that support and believe in your cause and try to
satisfy them while not creating opposers who’d
want to stop your action.
Now- Stakeholder Mapping is a simple process
that depends on two simple concepts:
a) Stakeholders vary in their degree of inter-
est towards your organization.
b) Stakeholders vary in their degree of pow-
er over your organization.
www.ifmsa.org 9
 High level of Stakeholder Low level of Stakeholder
interest Interest
High level of Key players, take notice of them Keep them satisfied
Stakeholder power and engage directly. You should
usually spend most of your time
and efforts working with them
Low level of Communicate regularly with Communicate with them when
Stakeholder power them necessary

As you can see stakeholders are plotted or Needs Assessment:

categorized into 4 different categories by
cross-matching. And you deal with each one de-
pending on their respective category as demon-
strated by the table.
a) High interest - High power Stakeholders.
b) High interest - low power Stakeholders.
c) Low interest - High power Stakeholders.
d) Low interest - Low power Stakeholders.
For example, Imagine that you are working on
an Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) campaign. If
you wanted to see which of the entities in your
mind should be focused on. You would put the
(WHO) or a UN body designed to work on AMR
in level (a) High interest - High power. However
the UNHCR would be a level (d) Low interest -
Low power. You can consider medical schools
deanships as a level (c) for example by integrat-
ing the teaching about AMR and ways to tackle
it in their curriculum is an impactful approach on
medical students but not all deanships are inter-
ested in this. For example they don’t see the ben-
efit or simply the curriculum is too crowded and
there is no place for such a course.
This is how you perform a stakeholder analysis,
and the map that results can be used as a tool
of assessment in order to know when, how and
why to approach and deal with each stakehold-
er.
Very simply it is a way of asking a group of peo-
ple or a community (or your members) what do
they see as their most important needs and what
should be done about it. It can be an informal
needs of assessment by asking those who are
around you or it can be an official professionally
written needs of assessment that is sent by emails
to hundreds of people for example. However all
needs of assessments have a few things in com-
mon:
● They have a pre-set list of questions to be
answered.
● They have a pre-determined sample of
the number and types of people to an-
swer these questions chosen in advance.
● They are done by personal interview,
phone, or by written response (e.g. a
mail-in survey).
● The results of the survey are tabulated,
summarized, distributed, discussed, and
(last, but not least) used.
• A needs assessment is usually used:
● At the beginning once you start your or-
ganization.
● Before the installment of a new feature or
the beginning of a new term.
● When there is doubt about what the most
important needs are.

10 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

 ● When you are asked by your own mem-
bers.
● When you want to apply for a grant or a
funding opportunity.
You should not use a needs assessment when
there is no doubt about your most important
needs or when there has been a recent needs
assessment done. In order to perform the needs
assessment you need to design your survey and
use the appropriate questions, and also decide
upon a population and who’s going to answer.
Lastly, when you create a needs assessment
make sure that you get results and answers and
that you actually act upon them and design your
next move based on that.

It is used to:

● To learn more about what your group

and community needs.

● To get more honest and objective descrip-

tion of needs than what people might tell
you publicly.

● To become aware of possible needs that

you never saw as important or knew ex-
isted.

● To document your needs, which is helpful

when applying for grants or funding for
example.

● To make sure that any actions you take or

initiatives you join in actually align with
the needs expressed by the community.

● To get the community or group’s support

in the actions you will undertake.

● To get more people actually involved in

the subsequent action itself.

www.ifmsa.org 11
 5. The Method: VMOSA (Vision - Mission -
Objectives - Strategies - Action Plans)
Both Vision and mission are integral parts of any
company or organization and they both relate
to what is the main reason that the organization
exists and helps stakeholders to understand and
appreciate these facts. When used carefully and
integrated in your organization you will have a
solid base for any action you want to take. But it
is crucial to know the difference between a vi-
sion and a mission.
A vision in strategic planning is defined as the
unrealistic vision of the future which portrays to
anyone reading it WHERE do we want to go as
a youth-led organization. Using the word “unre-
alistic” is not intended to signal that it is an im-
possible future but to signal that is a future that
is somewhat far from where we are currently.
It is the most important drive for an organiza-
tion’s work and actions because it is the ultimate
goal or the alternate future that the organization
wants to reach.
5.A. Vision
Vision statements must be concise, clear and
inspirational.
Example: IFMSA vision: “ A world
in which all medical students
unite for global health and are
equipped with the knowledge,
skills and values to take on health
leadership roles locally and glob-
ally. ”
There are many types of vision statements but
two of them are most commonly used which are:
1. Quantitative. (Think about numbers or
percentages) (An example would be “By
12 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
_
2023 we envision a world where every
stakeholder we partner up with con-
tributes to Global Health” or “By 2023
we envision a world where 80% of
medical students in the world are
members in IFMSA working on achieving
Global Health policies”). Anything that
signals QUANTITY.
2. Superlative. (Think about the best, the top
or the most effective) (An example would
be “By 2023 we envision our organiza-
tion to be the number one youth-led
organization with the most contribution
by young advocates in the world towards
a better Global Health system”). Anything
that signals SUPERIORITY.
There are multiple other types of Vision state-
ments but these two are the most commonly used
and the most related to our type of organization.
Here is a quick checklist to help you guide the
write of your VIsion statement. Tick off the crite-
ria that you fulfill, You do not need to fulfill all but
the more, its likely a better statement
1. 5+ years. X (Most vision statements are
5 years or more) (Indicated in the exam-
ples by 2023).
2. Futuristic. X (Future Tense) (Indicated in
the examples by We envision).
3. Directional. X (Going somewhere as in a
change from your current position).
4. Audacious. X (80% of medical stu-
dents in the world or the number
one youth-led organization is not
something easy to achieve).
 5. Descriptive. X (Specify your target and
how you want to achieve it).
Final Note: The vision statement should be struc-
tured as Indication of the future tense - The im-
pact you want to have - What does the world
look like after your vision.
5.B. Mission
A mission statement defines what an organi-
zation is, why it exists, its reason for being. As it
was stated it should indicate WHY do we exist
as an organization and what is our purpose.
Mission statements should also be concise,
clear and descriptive. Avoid using things like
metaphors or referrals, things that may obscure
the true meaning and purpose of the mission
statement to the average reader. This is more re-
stricted here than in the vision statement.
It is somehow considered as the foundation of
a good strategic plan as it states the company’s
purpose and what will it be doing in the future. It
sheds light on what kind of business is the com-
pany involved in and the needs of its target that
it is endeavoring to serve.
To put it into a better simplified perspective, A
mission statement is like your north star! A north
star is not a place you go to, it is a fixed point
giving you a better perspective on where you
are going, It keeps you headed in the right gen-
eral direction (Directs you to your vision).
Mission Statement = Define your field of busi-
ness as an organization + Meeting your target
population’s needs or goals.
Mission statements generally have a more flexi-
ble outline as long as it is clear and as long as it
covers the core principles we are talking about
in this toolkit.
An example of mission statements is IFMSA’s
mission statement:
“IFMSA unites medical students worldwide to
lead initiatives that impact positively the commu-
nities we serve. IFMSA represents the opinions
and ideas of future health professionals in the
field of global health, and works in collaboration
with external partners. IFMSA builds capacity
through training, projects and exchange oppor-
tunities, while embracing cultural diversity so as
to shape a sustainable and healthy future”.
A good mission statement characteristics:
● Original.
● Memorable.
● Foundational (Sustains for a long time
and you don’t have to change things in it
frequently, just minor tweaks if necessary).
● Connects with members (You know you
did great when every member knows and
remembers that the purpose they work in
the organization is expressed in the state-
ment).
● Puts emphasis on the target population
and their needs..
● Fits the current reality we are in right now
(While vision statements are more futuris-
tic).
● It is based on your competitive advantag-
es and core competencies (The strengths
that make your organization special and
powerful).
● Motivates and inspires your members.
● The shorter the better.
www.ifmsa.org 13
 Examples:
TED: Spreading Ideas.
The Humane Society: Celebrating animals,
confronting cruelty.
Cleveland Clinic: To provide better care for
the sick, investigation into their problems, and
further education of those who serve.
The U.S. Fund for UNICEF: Fights for the sur-
vival and development of the world’s most vul-
nerable children and protects their basic human
rights.
Here are more examples: https://topnonprofits.
com/examples/nonprofit-mission-statements/
Train yourself by noting what good characteris-
tics are present in each mission statement.
5.C. Goals/Objectives
In IFMSA we have our own objectives in the IF-
MSA Strategy 2017/2020. Examples of those
objectives are:
1) Increase the resilience and sustainability
of IFMSA’s administration.
2) Increase financial stability of IFMSA
meetings.
3) Create a system that allows for NMOs’
individual development.
4) Improve NMO involvement in decision
making.
5) Work towards appropriate and valuable
impact assessment.
6) Have comprehensive and user-friendly
online platforms.
Once an organization has developed its mission
statement, the next step is to develop specific ob-
14 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)
jectives that are focused on achieving that mis-
sion.
Objectives are (SMART):
1. Specific.
2. Measureable.
3. Achievable.
4. Relevant.
5. Time-bound.
- Note: The new approach to this is the
(SMARTER) in which two more compo-
nents are added which are
1) Evaluation: Where indicators and
progress need to be evaluated and re-
viewed as in did we achieve our goals
and objectives? Did we reach the desired
value of our success indicator?
2) Reflection: Where you take the results
of your evaluation and reflect on them,
why did you or did you not reach them?
What helped and what did not help you
reach your goals? What do you need to
increase or decrease?
They usually specify how much of what will
be accomplished and by when.
There are 3 main types of objectives:
1. Behavioural objectives: These look
at changing the behaviours of individuals
(What are they doing and saying) and the
products (or results) of their behaviours.
A neighborhood improvement
group might have an objective of
having an increased amount of
 home repair taking place (the be-
haviour) and of improved housing
(the result).
2. Community-level outcome objec-
tives: These are often the product of a
behavioural change in many people.
They are more focused on a community
level instead of an individual level.
The same neighborhood group
might have an objective of increas-
ing the percentage of people living
in the community with adequate
housing (Note that this result would
be community-level outcome of be-
haviour change in lots of people).
3. Process objectives: These are the
objectives that provide the groundwork
or implementation necessary to achieve
your other objectives.
The same group might adopt a
comprehensive plan for improving
neighborhood housing. In this case
adoption of the comprehensive
plan itself is the objective.
Note: It is important to understand that these
types of objectives are NOT mutually exclusive.
Most groups will develop objectives in all three
categories.
Question: Why do we create objectives?
● To create specific ways to carry out your
mission.
● Completed objectives can serve as a
marker to show your members, funders
and the greater community what your ini-
tiative has accomplished.
● Helps you to set priorities.
● Helps you to develop the guidelines and
the to-do lists.
● Reemphasizes your mission throughout
the process of change, which helps your
members to keep working towards it.
● Works as a completeness checklist.
Question: When to create your objectives?
● You have developed your vision and mis-
sion statements.
● Your organization’s focus has changed or
expanded.
● Your organization wants to address a
community issue, create a service or make
a change that requires:
○ Several years to compete.
○ A change in behaviour of a large
number of people.
○ A multi-faceted approach.
Question: How to create your objectives?
1. Define and reaffirm your vision and mis-
sion.
2. Determine the changes that need to be
made in order to achieve your mission
(By research Discussing with local ex-
perts and agents of change “The people
of power to contribute to the solution” -
Discuss the logistical requirements of your
needs).
(At this point you don’t need hard and fast
answers but a general list of what needs
to occur to make the changes).
3. Collect baseline data on issues to be ad-
dressed.
4. Decide what is realistic for your organiza-
tion to accomplish.
5. Set the objectives and review them.
6. Use your objectives to define your “Strat-
egies”.
www.ifmsa.org 15
 Your objectives should be: 5.E. Action Plans (What change will happen,
Who will do what by when To make it happen):
a) Include all three types of objectives.
It is basically the greatly detailed explanation of
b) Include specific objectives that tell how how the strategies are going to be implemented
much of what needs to be done by when. to accomplish your objectives. For example, in a
program whose mission is to increase youth in-
c) Be SMART. terest in politics, one of the strategies might be to
teach students about the electoral system. Some
5.D. Strategies/ Methods (The HOW): of the action steps, then, might be to develop
age-appropriate materials for students, to hold
Strategies explain how the initiative will reach mock elections for candidates in local schools,
its objectives. Generally, organizations will have and to include some teaching time in the curric-
a wide variety of strategies that include people ulum.
from all of the different parts, or sectors, of the
community. These strategies range from the very It is easier to plot your action plan on a table to
broad, which encompass people and resources have a more systematic approach.
from many different parts of the community, to
the very specific, which aim at carefully defined Action Person(s) Date to Resources Potential Collab-
Step responsi- be com- required barriers orators
areas. ble pleted or re-
strictors
5 types of strategies that can help guide most
interventions are:

● Providing information and enhancing

skills (e.g., offer skills training in conflict
management).

● Enhancing services and support (e.g.,

start a mentoring programs for high-risk
youth).

● Modify access, barriers, and opportuni-

ties (such as offering scholarships to stu-
dents who would be otherwise unable to
attend college).

● Change the consequences of efforts (e.g.,

provide incentives for community mem-
bers to volunteer).

● Modify policies (e.g., change business

policies to allow parents and guardians
and volunteers to spend more time with
young children).

16 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

 _
6. Evaluation
A Strategic plan evaluation is an assessment
process that provides executives and managers
with performance information. It is used for de-
termining the effectiveness of a given strategy
in achieving the organizational objectives and
undertaking corrective measures wherever nec-
essary.
One of the tools you will use is:
Key Performance Indicators (KPI):
It is a measurable value that signifies and demon-
strates how effectively an objective is reached,
basically a quantifiable outcome-based state-
ment. Each KPIs should be related to your own
objectives and just like them your KPIs need to
be SMART (Specific - Measurable - Achievable -
Relative - Time-bound) as well.
There are 4 important components to a good
KPI:
1. Measure: The verbal expression of what
is being measured, and we need to be as
expressive as we can with them (Number
of new customers this year).
2. Target: The numerical value that we want
to achieve (consistent with the measure
and the due date).
3. Source: Identify origin of the data you are
collecting in order to know the progress.
4. Frequency: How often do you review your
progress in fulfilling your KPIs (Yearly,
Monthly (Preferable), Quarterly, etc….).
Some types of KPIs:
a) Raw Numbers (Number of new cus-
tomers).
b) Progress (Percentage of how much is
complete).
c) Change (Percentage of increase in
sales).
Note: You have Leading and Lagging KPIs.
The Lagging KPI means that it occurred, it is an
outcome (Percentage of increase in sales). How-
ever a Leading KPI is an indicator that tells you
whether you are approaching or going to hit
that increase, as in it tells you whether you are
on track or not (A good example would be the
number of partners working to help you increase
the marketing of your product or the average of
previous customers satisfaction rate).
Using the above KPI you can evaluate your strat-
egy:
Process of Strategic Evaluation:
It is done on two levels:
● Strategic level: When we are con-
cerned more about the consistency of the
strategy and its result (Matters more for
the purposes of this toolkit).
● Operational level: When we are con-
cerned with how well is the organization
following the strategy and pursuing its
goals.
www.ifmsa.org 17
 Mainly when you actually devise a strategic
plan, you have to consider 4 elements that you
then review and evaluate routinely.
a) Consistency: has to do with whether
the way the business operates matches
the objectives the business strives for.
4) Taking corrective actions: Once the
deviation in performance is identified it
is important to design a corrective action
and it ranges from coming up with a new
KPI for example to changing the pathway
of certain processes.

b) Consonance: refers to how well the

business or the organization reacts to the
change of surroundings.

c) Advantage: has to do with whether the

business or the organization is competi-
tive.

d) Feasibility: is concerned with

whether the business has the re-
sources and tools to function.

Steps:

1) Fixing the benchmark of perfor-

mance: Means setting a reference to
compare with from the best competitors
or the ideal results you were expecting
whether they were quantitative (like the
KPIs you set for yourself) or qualitative
(like skills and competencies, flexibility).

2) Measurement of performance: It
is done by many methods like financial
statements, impact assessment, feedback,
etc….

3) Analyzing variance: when comparing

the actual performance and the standard
performance (the benchmark) you will
get a degree of variance which you have
to analyze and see what went wrong, are
you over-performing or underperforming,
why are you under-performing in a cer-
tain area, is the degree of variance large
or small.

18 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

 7. Review _
A quick review on your timeline for creating a strategic plan:
Steps of a Strategy
- Step One: Form a Vision and mission.
Vision: We envision a world where all medical students are part of the world’s health decisions.
Mission: We aim to empower medical students with the necessary skills in order to be an active
members of the decision making process.
- Step Two: Assess current situation (including consultation).
Baseline Assessment:

Strengths
1- Number of medical students
2- highly skilled members
Weaknesses
1- Lack of major professional knowl-
edges (Legal, administration, finances)
2- Different backgrounds
Opportunities
1- Participation in the WHO and UN
2- Working with organisations possessing the
same interests that we do
Threats
1- Lmited amount of time and availability of
medical students
2- Negligence of the medical student commu-
nity in bigger political frameworks

Stakeholder Mapping:

High level of Interest Low level of Interest

High level of Power 1- National members of the or- 1- Medical school deanship
ganization
2- WHO
Low level of Power 1- Other organizations with the 1- Local student organizations
same goal

- Step Three: From a problem statement (priorities to work on).

Problem Statement: As medical students, we see that it is crucial for us to be included in
the decision making process of health policies as the fresh new eyes of the field, which is not
happening today.

www.ifmsa.org 19
 - Step Four: set goals and objectives for the priorities.
Goals and Objectives: 1- Raise awareness about the necessity of including medical stu-
dents in decision making.
2- Teaching medical students the necessary skills to have in order to actively participate in
decision making.
3- Form a united body of medical students that will be the decision making entity in our com-
munity.

- Step Five: Gather ideas on reaching the objectives.

Strategies and Action Plans: 1- Develop connections between neighbouring student or-
ganisations.
2- Develop professional workshops using non formal education to increase the level of skill for
our members.
3- Working on delegating professional members to represent us in external meetings.

- Step Six: Develop a timeline and an evaluation process for the strategy.
Timeline: Period A: 6 months of establishing connections with neighbouring organisations.
Period B: 6 months of developing professional skills using workshops.
Period C: At the end of the term Formulating delegations to the external meetings of next year.

KPI(1): Holding at least 1 meeting with 4 different neighbouring organisations in 6 months.

KPI(2): A total of 12 workshops are conducted in 6 months.
KPI(3): Delegations to 3 external meetings are determined and prepared.

20 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)

 _
8. References
General links:
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/struc-
ture/strategic-planning/vmosa/main
IFMSA Webinar on Strategy: https://www.you-
tube.com/watch?v=IDya0CcRH7w
Question types: https://www.surveymonkey.
com/mp/comparing-closed-ended-and-open-
ended-questions/
Vision Statement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yBUBm-
ciQBk
Mission Statement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x-
s4I349cdc&t=139s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wem-
6FZAucw
https://topnonprofits.com/examples/nonprof-
it-mission-statements/
Goals and Objectives:
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/struc-
ture/strategic-planning/create-objectives/main
Strategies and Action plan:
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/struc-
ture/strategic-planning/vmosa/main
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tuWjt-
c2Ifk
https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/articles/
what-is-a-key-performance-indicator
https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-ex-
amples
SWOT Analysis:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_6AVR-
GLXGA&t=333s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex-
m9uAKYkl0
Stakeholder Mapping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc55h-
PIFW8w
Needs Assessment:
https://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/assess-
ment/assessing-community-needs-and-resourc-
es/conducting-needs-assessment-surveys/main
Strategic Evaluation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umh2jlXIt-
Ws&t=180s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BX-
o8fk6SSw
https://www.slideshare.net/NARENDRAKU-
MAR289/meaning-nature-and-process-of-stra-
tegic-evaluation
https://study.com/academy/lesson/strate-
gy-evaluation-definition-methods-tools.html
www.ifmsa.org 21
 Algeria (Le Souk) El Salvador (IFMSA-El Libya (LMSA) Serbia (IFMSA-Serbia)
Argentina (IFMSA- Salvador) Lithuania (LiMSA) Sierra Leone (SLEMSA)
Argentina) Estonia (EstMSA) Luxembourg (ALEM) Singapore (AMSA-
Armenia (AMSP) Ethiopia (EMSA) Malawi (UMMSA) Singapore)
Aruba (IFMSA-Aruba) Finland (FiMSIC) Malaysia (SMMAMS) Slovakia (SloMSA)
Australia (AMSA) France (ANEMF) Mali (APS) Slovenia (SloMSIC)
Austria (AMSA) Gambia (UniGaMSA) Malta (MMSA) South Africa (SAMSA)
Azerbaijan (AzerMDS) Georgia (GMSA) Mexico (AMMEF-Mexico) Spain (IFMSA-Spain)
Bangladesh (BMSS) Germany (bvmd) Montenegro (MoMSIC) Sudan (MedSIN)
Belgium (BeMSA) Ghana (FGMSA) Morocco (IFMSA- Sweden (IFMSA-Sweden)
Bolivia (IFMSA-Bolivia) Greece (HelMSIC) Morocco) Switzerland (swimsa)
Bosnia & Herzegovina Grenada (IFMSA- Nepal (NMSS) Syrian Arab Republic
(BoHeMSA) Grenada) The Netherlands (IFMSA (SMSA)
Bosnia & Herzegovina Guatemala (IFMSA- NL) Taiwan - China (FMS)
– Republic of Srpska Guatemala) Nicaragua (IFMSA- Tajikistan (TJMSA)
(SaMSIC) Guinea (AEM) Nicaragua) Thailand (IFMSA-Thailand)
Brazil (DENEM) Guyana (GuMSA) Nigeria (NiMSA) The Former Yugoslav
Brazil (IFMSA-Brazil) Haiti (AHEM) Norway (NMSA) Republic of Macedonia
Bulgaria (AMSB) Honduras (IFMSA- Oman (MedSCo) (MMSA)
Burkina Faso (AEM) Honduras) Pakistan (IFMSA-Pakistan) Tanzania (TaMSA)
Burundi (ABEM) Hungary (HuMSIRC) Palestine (IFMSA-Palestine) Togo (AEMP)
Cameroon (CAMSA) Iceland (IMSA) Panama (IFMSA-Panama) Trinidad and Tobago
Canada (CFMS) India (MSAI) Paraguay (IFMSA- (TTMSA)
Canada – Québec Indonesia (CIMSA-ISMKI) Paraguay) Tunisia (Associa-Med)
(IFMSA-Québec) Iran (IMSA) Peru (IFMSA-Peru) Turkey (TurkMSIC)
Catalonia - Spain (AECS) Iraq (IFMSA-Iraq) Peru (APEMH) Turkey – Northern Cyprus
Chile (IFMSA-Chile) Iraq – Kurdistan (IFMSA- Philippines (AMSA- (MSANC)
China (IFMSA-China) Kurdistan) Philippines) Uganda (FUMSA)
China – Hong Kong Ireland (AMSI) Poland (IFMSA-Poland) Ukraine (UMSA)
(AMSAHK) Israel (FIMS) Portugal (ANEM) United Arab Emirates
Colombia (ASCEMCOL) Italy (SISM) Qatar (QMSA) (EMSS)
Costa Rica (ACEM) Jamaica (JAMSA) Republic of Moldova United Kingdom of Great
Croatia (CroMSIC) Japan (IFMSA-Japan) (ASRM) Britain and Northern
Cyprus (CyMSA) Jordan (IFMSA-Jo) Romania (FASMR) Ireland (SfGH)
Czech Republic (IFMSA- Kazakhstan (KazMSA) Russian Federation United States of America
CZ) Kenya (MSAKE) (HCCM) (AMSA-USA)
Democratic Republic of the Korea (KMSA) Russian Federation – Uruguay (IFMSA-URU)
Congo (MSA-DRC) Kosovo - Serbia (KOMS) Republic of Tatarstan Uzbekistan (Phenomenon)
Denmark (IMCC) Kuwait (KuMSA) (TaMSA) Venezuela (FEVESOCEM)
Dominican Republic Latvia (LaMSA) Rwanda (MEDSAR) Yemen (NAMS)
(ODEM) Lebanon (LeMSIC) Saint Lucia (IFMSA-Saint Zambia (ZaMSA)
Ecuador (AEMPPI) Lesotho (LEMSA) Lucia) Zimbabwe (ZIMSA)
Egypt (IFMSA-Egypt) Senegal (FNESS)

www.ifmsa.org
22
medical students worldwide
International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)