Social sector planning and sustainable social services delivery, and management practices in developing countries

Abstract

This paper explores the role of social planning in the delivery and management of social services. Social planning is a contemporary social sector development strategy which development agencies ought to adopt in order to deliver quality social services. Contrary to the conventional strategies, through social planning, appropriate social welfare programs may be initiated and good program management practices promoted. However, although this strategy is associated with numerous advantages, many development agencies continue to use conventional approaches to deliver social services. This has resulted into failure to initiate appropriate social programs to address critical societal challenges. This paper assesses the effect of community involvement in identifying their needs and in setting social development goals on social services delivery. The paper adopted a systematic literature review approach and based on the findings of the review, we conclude that social planning helps to initiate appropriate and efficient social development programs. This improves social services delivery and promotes good program management practices. Thus, we recommend that development agencies should adopt prescribed principles of social planning so as to be able to initiate appropriate social development programs which can address social challenges in society.