Plan strategy english

Victor Brott

Working for lasting improvements in children’s lives

Introducing Plan’s strategic directions and strategic enablers

Plan’s Mission Plan strives to achieve lasting improvements in the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries through a process that unites people across cultures and adds meaning and value to their lives by: ●

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enabling deprived children, their families and their communities to meet their basic needs and to increase their ability to participate in and benefit from their societies building relationships to increase understanding and unity among peoples of different cultures and countries promoting the rights and interests of the world’s children

Victor Brott

The directions and enablers will help us to develop and grow as an organisation that is responsive to the changing needs of children while continually improving the impact of our programs on their lives.

Our aim is that, over the next 10 years:

In 2001 and 2002, we reviewed where we are now and what we have to do to continue to work effectively with and on behalf of children.

The world does not stand still and the needs and interests of children change and evolve with it. So it’s important that we take stock and define how our strengths and experience can develop so that we continue to achieve our Mission.

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We have consulted across the organisation, from the children themselves through to members of our International Board in order to understand the issues and aspirations of everyone involved.

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The results of these consultations are the strategic directions (which define how we will work towards our Mission) and the strategic enablers (which define how we can become a more efficient and unified organisation). These will guide and support our work into the future. The strategic directions and strategic enablers represent the first time that we have consistently and clearly articulated how we will work to achieve our Mission and Vision.

We will work with children, families, communities and local organisations to ensure that they have the skills and the resources to manage their own longterm development. At the same time, we will mobilise international resources and work extensively through partnerships to improve the lives of more children.

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We will be a recognised authority on child centred community development and children’s issues, and will use this to influence the priorities and decisions of policy-makers in donor and developing countries.

The strategic directions are: Being a child centred community development organisation ●

Making long-term commitments to children living in poverty

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Assisting as many children as possible

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Building relationships

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Working in partnerships and alliances

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Being a recognised voice

We will continue to work with vulnerable and marginalised children, their families and communities, using a child centred community development approach that is flexible and responsive to children’s needs and rights.

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The directions and the enablers are closely linked: both are equally important in taking us forward.

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Children will take an active part in the development process at community, national and international levels. Their needs and rights will be at the heart of everything we do. They, their families, communities and sponsors will build strong relationships and be linked to other groups working to address children’s issues.

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We will work as a unified global organisation that uses its rich diversity of people and resources to work with children, their families and communities to enable them to realise their potential.

The strategic enablers are: ●

Enhancing the global organisation and identity

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Developing our people

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Being a learning organisation

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Harnessing the potential of information

What do we mean by child centred community development?

A great deal has been written and said about child centred community development.

It is important to emphasise that child centred community development is not a new concept. Rather, it builds on our considerable knowledge and experience of working with children, their families and communities to enable children to realise their full potential. Child centred community development describes how we work and builds on our established Program Principles and Directions.

This approach puts children, their views, their needs and their rights at the centre: children should have a say and what they say should be listened to and acted on. Our work, therefore, is about enabling children to express their opinions and priorities while also listening to the adults in their families and communities.

Child centred community development can be strengthened and supported by sponsorship because the sponsorship processes ensure that we build relationships with individual children and their families. The quality of children’s lives depends greatly on the nature of their relationships with others who can support and be informed about their development. Sponsorship can help broaden their horizons, encourage them to express themselves and help ensure that they have sustainable access to resources to support their community’s development.

Everything we do is geared towards working with all parts of a community to build collective skills and resources to enable them to meet the needs of the children and ensure that children realise their rights. It is not about helping individual children through quick-fix solutions; it’s about helping a whole community to work together to improve the lives of the children within it.

We support this work by developing local, national and international partnerships with others who share our aims.

By doing so, we increase the impact of programs, influence policy, make sure the means are available to get the job done, and ensure that children’s voices are heard at all levels.

communications technology Liba Taylor

Plan’s Vision is of a world in which all children realise their full potential in societies that respect people’s rights and dignity.

Introduction

Jenny Matthews

Plan’s Vision

Our strategic directions 1. Being a child centred community development organisation

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What this means All our work will be child centred to ensure that children, families and communities address children’s needs and rights and realise their potential.

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Why is it important?

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We have increasingly been involving children, their families and communities and partners in the development process. We are now building on our extensive experience to establish a consistent, effective approach that is flexible enough to meet the different and changing needs of children.

Our Vision, Mission and Principles provide a clear mandate for us to champion children’s rights. We now need to develop our role as promoters of these rights while at the same time defining how we will work to address the causes and consequences of poverty for children.

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The rise in the number of people living in towns and cities, HIV/AIDS, the increased isolation of minority groups, conflicts and disasters have all made children affected by them particularly vulnerable. Our aim is to identify those children in greatest need, wherever they live, and to continue developing our ability to work with them.

4. Building relationships

We define children in particularly difficult circumstances as those whose needs go beyond poverty, such as child labourers, children with disabilities, children affected by HIV/AIDS and street children.

Why is it important?

At times of disaster or conflict in areas where we work, we will work in partnership with emergency relief organisations while continuing to focus on long-term development.

2. Making long-term commitments to children living in poverty What this means

Why is it important?

We will ensure consistency across all our work by clearly defining our development approach.

We will make a long-term commitment to work with children living in poverty to improve their lives and help them realise their potential. This includes children from both rural and urban areas as well as those in particularly difficult circumstances.

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Why is it important?

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Our main funding comes from sponsors who provide regular support to Plan. As these funds are not tied to a particular project or time, we can make long-term commitments to children living in poverty.

The causes of poverty are complex and cannot be tackled overnight. That’s why our ability to make longterm commitments is so important. Ultimately, this approach should result in fewer children being born into poverty.

We will continue to encourage and provide the means for children and donors to communicate, develop an understanding of and work together to address children’s needs and promote their rights.

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3. Assisting as many children as possible Our objective is to help as many children as possible but to be true to our Vision and Mission we must be driven by program requirements and not by funding opportunities.

While sponsorship remains our most important means of raising funds, it does not always lend itself to supporting our work with particular groups of children. We will therefore develop new sources of funds and work to enable children, families, communities and partners to access local sources of support.

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What this means

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What this means

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Helping more children requires the right mix of funds. Grantfunding opportunities have gradually increased in recent years. Without compromising the stability and independence we enjoy from sponsorship funds or program quality, we need to embrace this opportunity to widen our support base.

This will mean that we can help more children without compromising our Vision or programmatic approach.

To do this, we need to emphasise to both institutional and individual donors that Plan is a leading child centred organisation. We also need to develop effective alternative ways for donors to support our work, generate resources globally and adopt a range of flexible business models.

Equally, we need to develop the ability of communities and partners to find local sources of support to maintain their long-term development.

greater reach to more children. It also increases the skills, expertise and learning of those involved, including Plan.

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We need to build on the substantial potential for developing cross-cultural understanding provided by sponsorship and make the process of sponsorship more flexible to sponsors’ and children’s needs.

We need to promote development education to increase a commitment to children’s rights and needs.

We also need to strengthen our development approach so that children, families and sponsors understand that development of the wider community is the best and most sustainable way to improve the lives of individual children.

Equally, we need to help children change what can still be unequal relationships between them and those local, national and international individuals and groups on whom they rely to reach their full potential. In part, this will be achieved by promoting understanding and learning based on actual experience of child centred community development.

5. Working in partnerships and alliances What this means

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We will continue to build partnerships with local, national and international groups, including governments in both program and donor countries, to use our experience and expertise to influence policies that have a positive impact on the needs and rights of children.

6. Being a recognised voice What this means We will ensure that children are heard in policy discussions. Not only will we encourage them to speak out, we will also speak from experience on their behalf and in their interest at local, national and international levels.

Why is it important? ●

We have extensive experience of working with and for children, and child centred community development means that we actively seek and act on children’s opinions. We will use this experience and knowledge to speak out with them and on their behalf.

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By doing so, we can reinforce the quality of our work.

In turn, this will encourage policy-makers to ask our opinion and listen to what we have to say.

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We have a growing body of experience on which to build: the birth registration project and the Global Movement for Children being two prime examples.

We will now develop a common advocacy policy focused on advancing the rights of children.

We will actively seek to work in partnership with local, national and international organisations that share our aims and values. We will also work with governments in program and donor countries. All involved in such alliances benefit and become better able to tackle the issues affecting children.

Why is it important? ●

Working in partnership involves building relationships. By actively seeking to work with others, we can reinforce the vital elements of child centred community development.

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Working in partnership in all Plan countries increases the impact of programs and enables

Adam Hinton

Our strategic enablers 7. Enhancing the global organisation and identity

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What this means

We also need to build understanding and relationships across the organisation and develop our leadership and management style. This will allow us to act and speak as one in our work towards achieving our Mission.

We will reinforce our role as a successful global child centred community development organisation.

What this means

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In an increasingly competitive environment, it is vital that we continue to reinforce the qualities that set us apart from others and underline our identity.

What this means

This process will increase awareness and understanding of who we are, what we do and why we do it. The increased profile and respect will in turn increase our influence in program and donor countries, and our ability to raise funds to support our work.

We also need to ensure that the results of our development in the past few years are reflected in our leadership and governing roles. This means enabling increased representation from program countries.

We will recognise the value of learning from experience across the organisation and among children, families, communities and partners with whom we work.

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We will replicate our child centred community development approach in the development of our own organisation and the people within it. This means involving staff at all levels and ensuring that they have the skills we need to continually improve our approach to development.

Why is it important? ●

Child centred community development should be reflected in everything we do and in how we work. This includes being transparent, accountable and valuing the role and input of every individual.

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Having defined our path for the years ahead, we need to ensure that staff have or develop the skills to move the organisation forward.

This applies equally to those working directly with children and to those who work on their behalf, such as in advocacy or fundraising.

Why is it important? ●

We are already committed to a culture of learning at all levels – from children and communities to global networks.

With program countries increasingly able to access email and the internet, we can use the technology to support and improve both programs and communications between children, communities and sponsors.

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There remain, however, experiences and knowledge that we do not yet share across the organisation or use to promote our work. Therefore, we need to invest in developing how we learn from the experiences and knowledge of others.

We already use media such as radio, television and video to support our work with children. We will continue to develop this, using locally-appropriate technology to reinforce our program goals.

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Both of these are vital to ensure that we are aware of changing circumstances and continually use our learning to improve our work and develop our staff.

We will continue to develop our use of new technology to raise funds, increase awareness and educate our supporters.

Equally, we will investigate how new technology can improve communications between children and sponsors.

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We can develop our own use of new technology to improve our systems and processes. Our aim is to improve coordination between the different parts of the organisation and in turn improve efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

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We will continue to introduce children to technology such as radio and the internet that will enable them to have their voices heard at all levels.

Why is it important?

8. Developing our people What this means

Together, Plan staff, the children, communities and sponsors will keep abreast of and use the latest technologies to support child centred community development and the building of relationships. We will also ensure that the management and business systems we use are effective and efficient.

Jenny Matthews

9. Valuing and learning from experience

Why is it important? ●

10. Harnessing the potential of information communications technology

How you can contribute Defining how Plan will work and what our priorities will be over the next few years impacts on everyone involved in the organisation. That is why there has been extensive consultation across Plan already and why we are encouraging your contributions, ideas and opinions throughout the process.

To find out more about the strategic directions, the strategic enablers and the latest developments on the implementation of the Global Strategic Plan, contact your country, regional, national or departmental director.

Jenny Matthews

Text Š Plan 2003 Published by FPPI Ltd Plan International Headquarters Chobham House, Christchurch Way Woking, Surrey GU21 6JG United Kingdom Tel +44 (0) 1483 755155 Fax +44 (0) 1483 756505 Email info@plan-international.org www.plan-international.org December 2003 The pulp used in the manufacture of this paper is from renewable timber produced on a fully sustainable basis and is bleached without the use of chlorine gas (ECF – Elemental Chlorine Free). This paper is suitable for recycling.