STRATEGIC FOCUS IN STRATEGIC PLANNING: EVIDENCE FROM EDUCATION, HEALTH, WATER, AND PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICE DELIVERY IN TWO SELECTED LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES -TANZANIA

Strategic focus is essential for strategic planning effectiveness in public sector organizations. The paper analyzed strategic focus orientations adopted in education, health, water, and physical infrastructure service delivery in two selected Local Government Authorities in the Lake Victoria zone in Tanzania. The paper employed a qualitative approach by obtaining data from secondary data sources comprising the strategic plans implemented from 2016/2017 to 2020/2021. Inductive content analysis was employed by reading the documents several times to establish codes, categories, and associated themes. The results showed that the two selected local government authorities adopted a multi-focus strategic orientation in education service delivery. Multiple issues, such as increasing accessibility to primary and secondary schools, enhancing schools’ hygiene, students’ desk availability, construction of teacher houses, and promoting students’ academic performance, were strategic plans’ multi-focused priorities. In the health service, strategic plans also had multiple focuses, including the construction of new health facilities in their jurisdiction, ensuring the availability of essential drugs and diagnostic supplies in health facilities. Reduction of maternal and infant mortality rates was among a multitude of issues emphasized by strategic plans. The two selected local government authorities also paid attention to the increase in the percentage of people with clean and safe drinking water, water sector staff quality improvement, and repairing the water schemes to a functional level. Strategic plans from the two authorities focused on a set of multiple issues in the infrastructure sector. The plans focused on increasing better access to districts and village feeder roads, and at the same time improving the quality of the existing road network through the construction of bridges and culverts. A choice of a multi-focus strategic orientation on specific issues potentially relieved the two authorities from strategic complexity and indecisiveness. The paper increased understanding of strategic focus in strategic planning for service delivery in local government authorities.