SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.
How to use SMART planning to create effective Girl Scout Journey Take Action Projects
Here is a sample of what that looks like. (Breathe journey(environmental theme)
Specific What is your issue ?
Nonspecific The environment, trees
Specific – Litter at the beach, recyclables ending up in trash cans, lack of recycling bins, people don’t to know ways to reuse or have knowledge of resources for their non-recyclables, lack of awareness of tree planting programs, need for an increase in green space (starting a community garden), anti-smoking
Who is your target audience ?
Nonspecific The whole world, people, everybody.
Specific Three classrooms worth of kids at my school, a specific school service club, the youth group at my church, my cousin’s daisy troop, kids who haven’t started smoking yet, adults who already smoke, kids who text and drive, kids who haven’t started texting yet, kids at an after school program.
Measurable We plan to email or interview in person, an expert about trees (or gardening or recycling or anti -smoking) We plan to run a workshop with 20 attendees. We plan to send 50 emails apiece and get 500 unique views on YouTube. We plan to get 3 local clubs to post a link to our website or video. We plan to make 100 flyers and give them out at a booth at our school carnival. We plan to put up 20 posters up at our school to increase recycling.
Achievable Will you halt deforestation ? Probably not, but you can educate your audience about the importance of rainforests and you could teach them and show them resources to support causes or products that are rainforest friendly.
Realistic If you plan to work together by email, do you all have email accounts that you check regularly? If you plan to do research online, do you have internet access? If you plan to meet or go on field trips have you checked with leaders and adults?
Time Bound We plan to have our flyers done by Nov 1, we want our video edited by Oct 30, we want to have 400 views of our video by Nov 15, we plan to present our video, class or project to 3 other troops by Feb 2.
EPA now I’m going to add my own acronyms
Expertise If they are going to tell people about an issue, they need to research so they know why it is important & so they can tell people. They can do this by researching online or interviewing more experts or community leaders in their topic.
Pay it forward/Solving a problem While a journey TAP isn’t required to be sustainable, it should address the root cause of an issue and come up with a longer-lasting solution. It should also contain a pay-it forward component where they ask people to help spread the news or you enlighten them so they change their behavior or habits to make lasting change.
Advocacy No matter the project, what I really want girls to gain from this process is a feeling that they cared enough to stand up and do the right thing & get people on board with them.
Specific What is your issue ?
Nonspecific The environment, trees
Specific – Litter at the beach, recyclables ending up in trash cans, lack of recycling bins, people don’t to know ways to reuse or have knowledge of resources for their non-recyclables, lack of awareness of tree planting programs, need for an increase in green space (starting a community garden), anti-smoking
Who is your target audience ?
Nonspecific The whole world, people, everybody.
Specific Three classrooms worth of kids at my school, a specific school service club, the youth group at my church, my cousin’s daisy troop, kids who haven’t started smoking yet, adults who already smoke, kids who text and drive, kids who haven’t started texting yet, kids at an after school program.
Measurable We plan to email or interview in person, an expert about trees (or gardening or recycling or anti -smoking) We plan to run a workshop with 20 attendees. We plan to send 50 emails apiece and get 500 unique views on YouTube. We plan to get 3 local clubs to post a link to our website or video. We plan to make 100 flyers and give them out at a booth at our school carnival. We plan to put up 20 posters up at our school to increase recycling.
Achievable Will you halt deforestation ? Probably not, but you can educate your audience about the importance of rainforests and you could teach them and show them resources to support causes or products that are rainforest friendly.
Realistic If you plan to work together by email, do you all have email accounts that you check regularly? If you plan to do research online, do you have internet access? If you plan to meet or go on field trips have you checked with leaders and adults?
Time Bound We plan to have our flyers done by Nov 1, we want our video edited by Oct 30, we want to have 400 views of our video by Nov 15, we plan to present our video, class or project to 3 other troops by Feb 2.
EPA now I’m going to add my own acronyms
Expertise If they are going to tell people about an issue, they need to research so they know why it is important & so they can tell people. They can do this by researching online or interviewing more experts or community leaders in their topic.
Pay it forward/Solving a problem While a journey TAP isn’t required to be sustainable, it should address the root cause of an issue and come up with a longer-lasting solution. It should also contain a pay-it forward component where they ask people to help spread the news or you enlighten them so they change their behavior or habits to make lasting change.
Advocacy No matter the project, what I really want girls to gain from this process is a feeling that they cared enough to stand up and do the right thing & get people on board with them.
