Strategic Plan 2018-2021
Roadmap toward impact
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L’Arche is part of the global movement for inclusion and diversity. With more than 50 years of experience, L’Arche is a unique model of life-sharing where people with and without intellectual disabilities live, work and learn together, creating communities of friendship and belonging. L’Arche is built on a radical vision of belonging, diversity, and inclusion. All who are part of the L’Arche network, whether in communities or national and international structures, are called to live the mission with a renewed passion and commitment, to bring it forward into our neighborhoods, our societies and the world. The world we belong to is changing. Decades of emphasis on independence, competition and consumerism have left many people feeling isolated, devalued and without hope. We are aware of the rise of sectarianism, populism and racism that threaten people who are different. We are slowly beginning to recognize the impacts of global warming and our need to find new ways to share our resources. At the same time, human rights and inclusion movements led to the creation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and, now, the Accessible Canada Act. Implementation of these groundbreaking legal structures is bringing together governments and disability organizations in a new partnership for social change. L’Arche has been invited into this new partnership because of our experience in promoting the gifts and rights of people with intellectual disabilities and our experience of shared living. At Jean Vanier’s funeral, Stephan Posner, the International Leader, named this call: “We have the responsibility and privilege to receive the legacy of the founding generation passed on to us by Jean; the responsibility and privilege to receive the message from the messenger and to transmit this message and this legacy in the future. We are the successors, but it is up to us to open new paths. We are the heirs, yes, but it is also up to us to be founders in our own way, founders who are both faithful and free.” At this crossroads in time, L’Arche Canada is reclaiming its vision and values while finding new ways to increase its impact, strengthen internal support systems, foster innovative ways to live L’Arche, and build more partnerships for belonging, diversity and inclusion. With the International Federation, L’Arche Canada (members, communities and the national organization) has a mandate for change: L’Arche Canada recognizes the need to renew itself in order to meet internal and external challenges. The mandate is a call to mobilize the entire L’Arche movement to have a greater impact in achieving our mission today for our friends, neighbors, societies and our world. The Mandate calls all of L’Arche members in Canada to work towards strengthening cohesion, reconciliation, confidence building, respect, subsidiarity and clarification of relations between the different parts.
Context: Mandate for Change 2018-2021 A mandate for change is accompanied by a number of risks, in particular, risks related to resources, risks of division or dispersion and risks of disparities that, while we move forward with our bold strategy, we must remain equally aware of. The implementation of a strategic plan is directly dependent on the human and financial resources allocated to it, so the challenges of recruiting, funding and fundraising will be decisive for its implementation. The strategic plan aims to ensure the cohesiveness of the body and to strengthen it by coordinating an efficient use of resources, while allowing each community to develop its own specificities according to its environment, with a constant concern for quality. Funding of our communities is largely dependent on government legislation and policies. Traditional funding models are changing, and they generate stress on our operating mode. Broadening revenue sources from government service dollars and charitable donations is now vital. The better we can harmonize our practices and ensure its quality, the better we will be able to lobby our respective governments and access diversified sources of funding. The mandate is not to head in three separate directions one after another, but to go deeper as we go out and we go within: unity and diversity. We have developed this strategic plan by seeking to combine the pragmatism of our experience with the idealism of L’Arche’s vision for our society.
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Our Mission • Make known the gifts of people with intellectual disabilities, revealed through mutually transforming relationships. • Foster an environment in communities that responds to the changing needs of our members whilst being faithful to the core values of our founding story. • Engage in our diverse cultures, working together toward a more human society.
Our intended impact Over the next 5 years, L’Arche Canada will work with communities to empower people with intellectual disabilities and those who support them to thrive as they share life and contribute their gifts in communities of belonging. With our partners for inclusion in Canada and at L’Arche around the world, L’Arche Canada will work with individuals, communities and organizations to build a world
where each person is valued and belongs. Our strategic plan, inspired by the theory of change, will be developed into an action plan with timelines and impact indicators that will lead us from our current situation to the desired outcomes and the achievement of our objectives for a better world.
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MANDATE
PRIORITIES
ACTIONS 1.1 Structural Review
L’Arche Canada
will build a vibrant national structure that respects the diversity of L’Arche across Canada
> We will complete Activities Analysis to reorganize the operational structure of L’Arche Canada;
Strengthen support to L’Arche communities in Canada
> We will finalize the work of the mediation committee with the AAQ;
1.2 Information Collection and Measurement > We will develop and implement a methodology for impact measurement;
> We will develop processes and targets for information sharing;
1.3 Operational Support > We will create a centralized asset pool for L’Arche Canada content;
> We will build a National L’Arche Community Support Center;
2.1 Compelling vision > We will engage in the L’Arche International project on the renewal of the Charter to deepen ownership of the vision and mission of L’Arche;
L’Arche Canada
will continue to nurture and integrate our fundamental principles, core values, and spirituality in everything we do.
Share learning & nurture Innovation
> We will contribute to Canada’s implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
2.2. Leadership Development > We will establish an online learning platform;
> We will update the Leadership Development Curriculum;
2.3 Impact Practices > We will increase our Impact and Strategic Clarity Capacities at all levels of the organization;
> We will highlight the increased social outcomes of people with disabilities in community development;
3.1 Maximize opportunities > We will build and engage our alumni network;
L’Arche Canada
will help build a more human Canadian society where everyone belongs
Engage in strategic partnerships
> We will strengthen relationships & collaboration with policymakers and public advocates on accessibility & rights;
3.2 Learning Organization > We will implement the three phases of the Social Development Partnerships Program project plan;
> We will proactively contribute to forums for inclusion and social justice;
3.3 Citizenship > We will contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by fostering Diversity and Inclusion Work Initiatives;
> We will convene diverse organizations and leaders to co-create options for housing, employment, learning, and belonging;
Think globally, act locally > We will complete Strategic Activities Analysis to clarify and improve collaboration with the L’Arche Canada Foundation;
> We will implement a harmonized dues structure.
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INTENDED OUTCOMES
Strengthened Governance
> We will acquire and deploy high performance IT resources (database).
Improved capacity to measure and communicate impact
> We will increase project planning and business plan development skills.
Increased capacity and sustainability
> We will dispense L’Arche Creative Endeavor Grants to fund the creation, production, and performance of original L’Arche works.
> We will increase support of people with disabilities as co-leaders and co-learners in community-building strategies;
> We will develop leadership skills modules for people with disabilities.
> We will move from a vertical project > We will engage in a structured management and governance mode approach of continuous quality to a horizontal and flexible mode in improvement at national and order to increase local linkages, better local level certified by recognized control costs and reduce delays. external organizations;
> We will systematically > We will partner assess and apply for with external government funding; multimedia experts;
> We will develop and facilitate social finance projects.
Expanded promotion of L’Arche values, rights and freedoms of persons with disabilities Strengthened Thought Leadership
Modelled Transformative Culture
Expanded Multi-sector Network
> We will be working with multi-sectoral partners to build on our community capacity for belonging, diversity and inclusion.
Engaged Inclusion Movement
> We will build capacity for L’Arche community initiatives to expand members’ circles of support in their neighbourhoods.
Increased leadership by people with disabilities
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Through our work, L’Arche Canada will provide: L’Arche leaders with: > > >
Increased competency and commitment to L’Arche core values and vision; Enthusiasm and skills for the organization and people development in a culture of learning; Passion and skills for collaboration with members, friends and partners.
L’Arche communities with: > > > >
Increased capacity for discernment / evaluation of ways of living core values; Improvement of methods and support systems for a healthy, dynamic and qualitative community life; A spectrum of innovative, person-centered support options; Increased capacity for participation and engagement
Partners for belonging in society with: > > >
L’Arche wisdom and expertise in developing gifts, sharing life, compassion, living with/thriving through difference and vulnerability; Models and best practices regarding sharing life and communities of belonging; A stronger network of advocacy and community capacity development for the full inclusion of persons with an intellectual disability.
Our funders and donors with: >
Stories and data that demonstrate how their investment supports L’Arche in carrying out all aspects of its mission.
L’Arche International with: > >
Human and material resources to promote increased self-sufficiency in communities in developing countries; Increased experience of solidarity, collaboration and belonging within the Federation.
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Conditions for success & Guiding principles for our work over the next 3 years. > > > > > >
Strengthened relationships and processes across all components of L’Arche in Canada. Renewed dynamism, strengthening coherence, transparency and efficiency in all our actions, at all levels. Impact orientation focus on measuring and communicating our work and its results more widely. Change promoter / openness to change Prioritization of programs and practices that are consistent with strategic directions and yield impact. Focus on diverse and inclusive ways to live the L’Arche model
Ultimate Impact A world where all people are valued and belong.
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