Developing our new Strategic Plan – time for your say

Children in Scotland's Chief Executive, Jude Turbyne, on the importance of a strategic plan and why it's vital to take time, and include consultation work, to get it right.

A strategic plan is one of the most important documents a charity has, and I know how vital it is that we get it right for Children in Scotland. So, it’s taken a wee bit longer than I originally planned. 

The initial groundwork started in 2020 but, as we all know, a pandemic came along and changed everyone’s priorities. Staff continued working on it, but we had to accept we didn’t have the capacity to take it forward while there were other very serious priorities.  

In August 2021, I came into post as the new Chief Executive. After a few months of learning about the organisation, I took on the development of our new Strategic Plan for 2023-2028. However, I made sure that I was building on what had been done before with members, staff, children and young people in our advisory group Changing our World, and the board. 

Ultimately, it is the board that has overall responsibility for the development of a strategic plan, and I want to thank them and particularly the dedicated sub-group, for keeping the work on track over the past year.  

I am confident that we have listened to what the organisations we work with, staff at Children in Scotland and the children and young people that advise us are saying. In compiling an initial draft, I have also tried to make sure that we are using our learning as an organisation and our ongoing evaluation of what does and doesn’t work in terms of fulfilling our vision and living our values.   

We are now at the stage of wanting to hear from our members again and also reaching out to the wider Children in Scotland network. We want your views on the proposed strategic priorities in the plan and the key actions we will concentrate on to try and fulfil these priorities. 

So, I have two invitations.

1. I have created a short survey which asks you to reflect on key areas of the draft strategic plan. The survey will close on Tuesday 21 February, and it would be really great to get your views by that date.

Spoiler: if you’re a Children in Scotland member and complete the survey, you can enter a prize draw to receive one of three free places on one of our fantastic webinars! 

2. If you are a current Children in Scotland member, you can come along to a Voices Forum that we are holding on Tuesday 21 February (10am-11.30am). You can register for that by emailing Parisa Shirazi, pshirazi@childreninscotland.org.uk. 

You can share you views via both the survey and the forum, or either. Thanks very much for engaging with us.