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This is the most difficult and the most important part of the planning process. The statement of purpose summarises the organisation or project’s reason for being, and the role it is going to play now, and in the future. The formulation of a statement of purpose is a process that should be revisited on a regular basis. The mission, and the way it is understood, can be expected to change over time.

The Purpose is a clear and succinct statement of the reason the organisation or project exists. It brings clarity of purpose to members of the organisation, and broad direction as to what members of the organisation should be aiming for. It includes:

• The purpose
• The core function(s)
• The main methods used to reach those purposes

• The general trust of future operations

• The major direction of change

The statement of purpose and the mission statement are the same thing. A vision statement is not. There are many poorly developed mission statements. To study an effective process to produce bad mission statements, visit Dilbert’s Mission Statement Generator on the web at http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/career/bin/ms2.cgi

Formulating the mission statement should come after the value scan has been completed.

Four questions must be answered to write an effective statement of purpose.

1. What:

What services will the project offer? What functions will the project perform? What needs will the project meet? This should be stated in terms of satisfaction of needs rather than the service that will be performed or provided. A library, for example, is disseminating information rather than lending books.

2. Who:

Who are the people who may use this service? For whom will the project perform this function? Which segment of the market we are aiming for?

3. How:

How does the project fulfil this function? What will the project offer to meet this need? How do we go about getting the goals we have given ourselves?

4. Why:

Why will the project exist? What are the reasons for the project? Why are we doing this? This is the central question, around which the other three revolve, but pragmatically, answering the ‘Why?’ last helps to build a better mission statement.

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