Strategic Planning For Local Economic Development Programmes Training

Learning Outcomes

• Analyze the socio-economic context of a local area to identify development opportunities and constraints.
• Design a strategic plan for a local economic development programme that includes vision, goals, objectives, and action steps.
• Evaluate the alignment of the strategic plan with relevant national, provincial, and local policies and legislation.
• Implement stakeholder engagement strategies to ensure inclusive participation in the planning process.
• Demonstrate the use of monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress and adjust the plan as needed.

Target Audience

This course is intended for municipal officials, economic development practitioners, community leaders, and consultants involved in planning or implementing local economic development initiatives in South Africa.

Prerequisites

None — open enrollment

Course Outline

Practicals

Overview

Practical sessions provide hands-on experience in applying strategic planning tools to real or simulated LED scenarios. Learners will conduct stakeholder analysis, develop a logical framework, create a budget, and present a mini LED strategic plan.

Practical Activities

• Practical 1: Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis — Learners identify and map stakeholders for a given LED case study, analysing their interests and influence. (3h)
• Practical 2: Situational Analysis Using SWOT/PESTLE — Using a local municipality scenario, learners perform a SWOT and PESTLE analysis to identify strategic issues. (3h)
• Practical 3: Logical Framework and Budget Development — Learners design a logical framework for an LED programme, including activities, outputs, outcomes, and a budget. (5h)
• Practical 4: LED Strategic Plan Presentation — In groups, learners compile and present a mini LED strategic plan based on the week's work, receiving peer and facilitator feedback. (5h)

Summatives

Each delegate is assessed continuously throughout the course via daily exercises, scored practical assignments, and a final summative test at the end.

Practical Assignments — 30%

Practical assignments are observed and scored against a rubric during the practical sessions. Each delegate's practical mark is averaged into a single 100% score and contributes 30% to the final total.

Daily Exercises — 20%

Every training day ends with a multiple-choice exercise scored out of 100%. The scores from each daily exercise are averaged across the duration of the course to produce a Daily Average mark, which contributes 20% to the final total.

Final Test — 50%

On the last day a final summative test is written. It is a multiple-choice paper with multiple-answer questions: each question may have more than one correct option, and a single wrong selection on a question marks the entire question wrong — no partial credit. The final test is scored out of 100% and contributes 50% to the overall mark.

Final Total

Component	Out of	Weight
Practical Assignments (rubric-scored)	100%	30%
Daily Average (multiple choice)	100%	20%
Final Test (multi-answer multiple choice)	100%	50%
Final Total	—	100%

All marks are recorded on the AATICD LMS and visible to each learner under their account.

Certificate

How it works

• Certificates are auto-generated on the AATICD LMS as soon as the marks pass the 50% threshold.
• Each certificate is a branded PDF with the delegate's name, the course title, the unit standard ID, NQF level, credits, and the date of issue.
• You can download or print your certificate from your LMS dashboard at any time after issue — there's no reissue fee and no expiry date.
• If you scored under 50% you can sit the final test again at the next scheduled session at no extra cost.

Where to find it

Sign in to the LMS, open your dashboard, and your certificates appear under My Certificates. Each entry has a View / Download button and a print option.

Training Discounts

Group discounts apply automatically — the more delegates you enrol, the greater the saving. Discounts are calculated at 3% per 5 delegates, scaling up to 40% off for 100+ delegates.

Delegates	Discount
5	3% off
10	6% off
15	9% off
20	12% off
25	15% off
30	18% off
50	30% off
75	35% off
100	40% off

3% discount per 5 delegates, up to 40% off for 100+ delegates. Contact us for a custom group quote.