The steps taken by Provinces and communities in formulating the SEPP has shown the need to have some practical guidelines in order to:

• facilitate the involvement of the members of the EPC in its formulation, implementation and verification;
• ensure the consistency of the aims of the SEPP with the needs and situation of the young;
• help the SEPP to become a genuine focus for everyday pastoral activity in the EPC.

We consider the SEPP, rather than a document, to be a community way of thinking about involvement, clarification and identification which aims at:

• generating within the EPC a working arrangement based on criteria, aims and common plans for activities, in this way avoiding the fragmentation of our activities, and building up a synthesis and unity in our educational activity;
• creating and deepening in the EPC an understanding of the common mission and shared vision;
• so that it becomes a shared reference point with regard to the quality of the educative pastoral work which is constantly checked.

This process ought also to aim at creating in the educators and evangelizers a real planning and group-work mentality, which makes them capable of animating long and complex processes and constantly checking themselves against the real situation to assess the effectiveness of their own efforts.

For this reason the procedure that is followed together, and the working methods employed are much more important than the written document produced.

1.1 Different levels of planning

Pastoral planning involves different levels of realization which give rise to different kinds of procedures and documents which need to be clarified together and integrated.

Frame of reference

In Italian, this is the "quadro di riferimento", in Spanish "ideario", in French "points de référence".

This is a collection of basic guidelines regarding aims, methods, the notion of man and of education, proposals, without direct reference to their applications or implementation. It is a kind of statement of principles which define a philosophy of education.

Hence it is a brief and ‘permanent’ document: of long-term duration, and applicable in all circumstances in a given cultural context.

In some countries this frame of reference identifies a particular institution and its functioning before the State and other educational organizations.

The features of this frame of reference are very important because even though they may lack suggestions for their application, they spread and lead to the assimilation of the "ideas" which guide the plan: the notion of man and of society, of the Church, and of pastoral activity which throws light on our educative and pastoral praxis, the guiding principles of Salesian pedagogy (the preventive system), the values of Salesian Spirituality.

This is the overall plan of action which embodies the educational vision. In this sense:

• it indicates the practical working aims related to the needs and to the requirements of a particular area;
• it proposes practical ways and means of achieving these aims;
• it establishes roles and functions to ensure the effectiveness of the means and the achievement of the aims.

An educative pastoral plan is more specific than a frame of reference. It is "medium term" in duration, and applicable in the local situation in which a Province or a community functions. The aim or objective that is set, the area of work selected, the working methods chosen, indicate the way ahead for an educative community and determine its character.

The annual pastoral plan

This is the yearly application of the SEPP: the selection of some specific aims to follow up with particular attention during the years. Through these yearly plans a program is gradually built up which makes the SEPP effective according to the regular assessment carried out by the EPC.

Planning program

This is the distribution of the tasks with regard to personnel, time-tabling, places, as required by the project and the annual plan, and the on-the-spot decisions regarding things to be done. This is carried out every year.

The Timetable or Calendar

This is the ordered arrangement of the different stages or educational interventions (with the methods and the timing of their fulfillment and the means and those involved) by which an attempt is made to move towards the achievement of the aims set out in the SEPP.

The timetable or calendar helps to get the plan working, develops it, as time passes, and adapts it to the different target groups; in the agenda the aims become successive stages; the method becomes a set of activities and experiences arranged in order.

The GC 23 suggested that in its revision of the SEPP, among other things, each Province should translate the faith journey proposal into concrete agendas, suited to their own target groups and to the contexts in which they were working. (GC, 23 230).

The Provincial SEPP and the local SEPP

The Provincial SEPP decides on the aims, the strategies and the common educative- pastoral action-plans which direct the pastoral activity of all the communities and works, as a focal point for their planning and assessment.

Normally it ought to have:

• a general outline which is valid for all the activities;
• a particular slant for each type of activity (School, Youth Center, Parish etc)

The local SEPP applies the orientations of the provincial SEPP to local conditions.

2. THE GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE SEPP

A project or plan in order to be realistic and effective needs to be seen as an ongoing process, as a journey which, setting out from a starting point, moves towards the objectives determined by aims and activities which continually modify it; for this reason it should be drawn up in different stages. The three phases mentioned below are to be taken up, expanded, further developed, and this several times over so as to adapt the educational plan to the changing circumstances in which we are working.

2.1 The phase of analysis of the situation

• Knowledge of the situation where we are and of the youth situation in our own context: people, circumstances, resources, problems, trends, possibilities.
• An educative and pastoral interpretation of this situation in order to evaluate the facts according to their potential for making things easier or more difficult for young people and their human development in the faith, to discover the gospel values of which the young people could be bearers, and their expectations. This interpretation is carried out in the light of the fundamental points of the Salesian mission and of the preventive system.
• Identifying the more important challenges and the urgent educative and pastoral issues which arise from the analysis of the situation.

2.2 The planning phase

• Decide on educative-pastoral choices: in the light of the challenges and the issues established in the analysis of the situation, the community needs to make its fundamental options; choose those aspects which it considers the most important, urgent and feasible in order to move towards the final proposals.
• Formulate for each choice or area for action concrete, clear and verifiable objectives.
• Select the strategies or action plans, i.e. the paths, ways of acting or the methods which seen appropriate in order to achieve the objectives set.
• Set out practical courses of action or involvement, for which the target groups, the aims to be achieved, the ‘contents’ to be communicated or achieved will be decided.
• Determine the responsibilities of the different people or of the team and the functions of the organizations.

2.3 The phase of assessing the project

This allows for objectively measuring the impact of the project on the situation, evaluating the results in the light of the proposed aims, discovering new possibilities or urgent issues that arise, and deciding on the new steps to be taken.

This assessment carried out during the process also makes it possible to support and guide the people and groups responsible, in carrying out their responsibilities and roles, to motivate them more and to adjust their own progress.

The assessment ought to include the different people, groups and teams involved; it ought to be positive, that is directed towards providing help and motivation to obtain better results, and even if it concentrates on a particular issue, it ought not to lose sight of the whole of the SEPP of which this particular feature is part.

In an overall assessment of the SEPP there are some aspects that should not be forgotten:

• knowledge and application of the SEPP by all the members of the EPC;
• the level of knowledge;
• the degree of impact in different activities;
• following up its application throughout the year;
• the results obtained; the level of success;
• the reasons for a less than satisfactory result;
• the activity, the ability, relationships, attitudes of the people and teams responsible;
• the organization of the different structures;
• the adequacy of their functioning and their inter-relationships.

3. THE PROCESS OF FORMULATION OR RE-FORMULATION

The aim of the plan is not so much to put in the hands of the workers a new document to get to know and put into action, but rather to help the EPC to work with a collaborative approach and with clarity of aims and criteria which make real co-responsibility possible.

For this reason, the process is as important as the final document.

3.1 Fundamental criteria for planning

• The involvement of all the members of the EPC, ensuring motivation presenting the aims and the process with clarity.
• The participation of everyone in the different phases:
  • fostering adequate, prompt and plentiful information;
  • promoting a calm and ongoing dialogue in the study of problems and situations;
  • always appreciating the involvement of everyone.
• The effort to be clear about and be continually reminded of the points of reference and the lines for reflection:
  • the centrality of the young person and the youth situation;
  • attention to the overall vision of the Salesian educative and pastoral project (the four dimensions or areas);
  • the ever valid aspects of our educative-pastoral approach (the preventive system).
• Clarity from the outset regarding the different levels of participation (discussion, decision, implementation) and those responsible.
• Continual evaluation of the process, to provide encouragement and to improve on it.

3.2 The EPC, the subject of the process.

Every valid educative project is always a joint and collaborative venture. The provincial SEPP involves all the communities and works of the province, while the local SEPP involves the EPC as the subject of its formulation, implementation and evaluation.

In this process, SDBs and lay people together experience communion and a sharing in the spirit and mission of Don Bosco. All the members of the EPC follow the path of discernment, actively participating in the search for the aims and the courses of action of the SEPP (GC 24, 119-120).

The SEPP, formulated, implemented and verified together sets up the EPC, creates a common way of thinking, makes the educative-pastoral action more effective, becomes a special occasion for ongoing formation for SDBs and lay people.

How do we involve and engage all the EPC in this process?

• Set up and get started an animating group which:
  • stimulates and motivates, helping to overcome any obstacle;
  • points to the working methods;
  • provides helps and aids for reflection and study;
  • sums up and formulates the conclusions to propose to the group.

This group at provincial level can be the provincial Youth Pastoral Team supplemented with other competent and qualified people; at local level the council of the EPC.

• Involve and motivate in a special way the Salesians and the SDB communities in this task of animation of the process of reflection and formulation of the SEPP; consider action across the province to:
  • clarify the role of the Salesian community as the animating nucleus of the EPC;
  • examine together further the elements of Salesian identity: the preventive system as a spirituality, pastoral method, educational methodology, the synthesis of education and evangelization. etc.
• Prepare a doctrinal and methodological frame of reference to present to the EPC as an aspect of sharing and as a guide to the process;
• Think of a method of encouraging the participation of all the groups and organizations of the EPC according to their responsibilities and possibilities.
• Involve in a special way the members of the Salesian Family who work in the same area (cf. GC 24, 125):
  • across the province, through meetings of provincial organizations (provincial youth pastoral team and/or the provincial council with representatives of the different groups in the Salesian Family present in the Province;
  • at local level: through dialogue between the different committees of the Salesian Family and the SDB community and the Council of the EPC.