How Has Strategic Planning Evolved over Twenty-Five Years of Tanzania Development Vision 2025? A Systematic Review of Changing Understandings and Practices in the Public Sector

Abstract

Strategic planning has become an integral component of public-sector reforms across many developing countries, yet relatively little is known about how its meaning and practice evolve over long periods of national transformation. This paper examines how strategic planning has changed throughout the implementation of Tanzania Development Vision 2025 by synthesising evidence from studies published between 1999 and 2026. The review reveals that strategic planning has undergone four major transitions. First, it evolved from being largely a reform-driven administrative requirement into a broader strategic management tool aimed at enhancing organisational performance and service delivery. Second, planning practices gradually shifted from highly centralised and compliance-oriented approaches towards more participatory and execution-focused processes. Third, stakeholder engagement, employee involvement, communication, and human resource alignment increasingly emerged as critical factors influencing strategy implementation. Finally, despite improvements in planning sophistication, persistent institutional challenges including limited resources, fragmented coordination mechanisms, weak monitoring systems, restricted local autonomy, and political interference continued to constrain implementation effectiveness. In general, the findings suggest that Tanzania’s public sector has progressively moved from document-centred planning towards execution-centred strategic management. However, the development of institutional capabilities has not kept pace with rising strategic ambitions. By tracing the evolution of strategic planning over the twenty-five-year life span of Vision 2025, this study contributes to strategic management scholarship by demonstrating how long-term national visions shape the diffusion, adaptation, and maturation of strategic management practices in the public sector. The findings also provide valuable lessons for the implementation of Tanzania Development Vision 2050 and for strategic reforms in developing economies more broadly.