Strategic Framework 2015—2020

32 Pages·2016·1.88 MB·English

light for the world
Strategic Framework
2015 – 2020
Table of contents
3  PREFACE
4  LIVING UP TO THE FUTURE – AN INTRODUCTION
5  DRIVERS OF CHANGE AND LESSONS LEARNT 
8  OUR RESPONSE –  
AN OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 
10  OUR PROGRAMMES 
Our Theory of Change
Eye health and health in general
Inclusive education (IE)
Livelihood
Community-based rehabilitation (CBR)
Disability inclusion
Rights of persons with disabilities: empowerment, advocacy and awareness raising
Countries
20  RESOURCE MOBILISATION AND  COMMUNICATION 
Smart growth
Communication
24  PRINCIPLES OF INTERNAL ORGANISATION  
Our culture and values
Human resource principles
Implementation principles
29  PARTNERSHIPS
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2015 – 2020 3
Preface
The Strategic Framework towards 2020 is our guide The Strategic Framework succeeds the ‘Strate-
for the coming years. There is much inequality gic Plan 2015’, while taking into account current
in the world when it comes to the availability changes and challenges in the world. The Frame-
of o pportunities and resources, in particular for work is the result of a comprehensive planning pro-
persons with disabilities: we are committed to cess held between January and June 2015, which
redressing this inequality. The strategic objectives involved staff, board members, and stakeholders
of the framework shall evolve into effective and from around the world. We are indebted to all who
meaningful implementation by us, together with took part in the process for their valuable con-
our partners. tribution by way of thoughts, recommendations,
discussions, and interviews.
Many thanks for your support!
Rupert Roniger Čestmír Hrdinka
Chief Executive Offcer Director Czech Republic
Isabelle Verhaegen Matthijs Nederveen
Director Belgium Acting Director Netherlands
Our vision and mission
1. Our vision is an inclusive d isabilities living in poverty • We are committed to
society for all where no one are amongst the most ex- i mproving eye health
is left behind and all persons cluded groups in society. They and promoting inclusive
participate equally in the are at the centre of our work e ducation, community-
cultural, social, political and and they drive the change. based rehabilitation,
economic environment. • We engage in empowering d isability rights, livelihood
2. Our mission is to con- persons with disabilities to and d isability inclusion.
tribute to a world in which take development in their • We pay specifc attention
persons with disabilities fully own hands. to women with disabilities,
exercise their rights. The UN • We strive to overcome children with disabilities
Convention on the Rights all barriers in society and and more excluded impair-
of Persons with Disabilities c reate access for people ment groups within the
guides us. Persons with with disabilities. disability community.
4
Living up to the future –
an introduction
Imagine a future in which a person with a disability
has the same rights, opportunities and possibilities
as anyone else. This is what LIGHT FOR THE
WORLD strives to accomplish. We have come fairly
far and much has been achieved. Yet, the potential
to do more is signifcant. With this in mind, we
have created a strategic framework to navigate our
organisation towards deeper impact.
Employee feedback
In the early years LIGHT FOR THE WORLD LIGHT FOR THE WORLD
started out as a specialist in eye care, however over
the past decade we have broadened our sphere
of a ctivities. Today, we also work on opening up
a ccess to education for all children, teaming up Eliminating poverty and promoting social justice
with development organisations to help them around the world is no longer the domain of classic
b ecome inclusive, and we support disability development cooperation. Traditional donor-
o rganisations to ensure their voices are heard. benefciary or north-south models of relationships
Our programmes are reaching millions of people are being challenged. These realities are refected
worldwide. Based in fourteen countries through- in the universality principle of the Sustainable
out Asia, Latin America and Africa, our teams D evelopment Goals (SDGs).
and partners work on concrete initiatives in eye The interconnected root causes of inequali-
health and education, and collaborate with local ty and poverty require a global response. The
c ommunity-based rehabilitation programmes. best way for us to respond is not to drastically
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD encourages new forms change the scope of work we are engaged in, but
of international cooperation. We are therefore r ather to consolidate and sharpen the focus of
h elping policymakers and activists to develop our p rogrammes. In the future, our efforts must
s ystems and policies promoting the values of be concentrated towards building strong local
inclusion, both nationally and internationally. We forces to motivate for inclusion where it is most
are also part of powerful international coalitions, n eeded — disability movements on the local,
such as the International Agency for the Prevention n ational and international level will be the drivers
of Blindness (IAPB) and the International Disability of change towards inclusion.
and Development Consortium (IDDC), and have
partnered with renowned foundations and We will continue to jointly work with key partners
i nstitutional donors. to implement local programmes and learn from our
efforts in different countries. Whether you are a
colleague, partner or funder, we invite you to join
our mission for a brighter future for persons with
disabilities (PWDs).
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2015 – 2020 5
Drivers of change and
lessons learnt
We analysed the signifcant trends informing our
working environment. As a result of the readings
and interviews conducted, key terms of relevance
for the development and disability movement
in the future have been identifed, and are
h ighlighted here.
Future trends in the development and
disability movement landscape
Principal trends that will inform and potentially infuence our work:
TREND 1:  structures around issues of collective action will
Political landscape of the global village become more blurred between local and national
The global village will gradually become more governments, private sector players and (supra-
polycentric. Divisions between north and south will national) multi-stakeholder platforms. Though
continue to vanish due to the power of the BRICS 1 e fforts to curtail the political space are also likely
and emerging economies following their own to c ontinue, these developments signal both the
pathway. Countries in sub-Saharan Africa, such as need and possibilities for civil society actors to
Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya, will be among these i nfuence change on the local and global stage.
emerging economies. The global political playing One i mplication for LIGHT FOR THE WORLD is
feld is set to become more complex as western to drive more of our work from the Global South.
hegemony will increasingly be questioned. Power This requires that we strengthen the autonomy and
power of our offces and local network. Another
implication is to strengthen our ability to act
1  BRICS is the acronym for an successfully in coalitions and multi-stakeholder
association of five major emerging settings.
national economies: Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa.
6
TREND 2:  the globe on the need to put the rights of persons
Changing lifestyles with disabilities, and barriers hindering their full
Lifestyles are rapidly changing in poorer societies. participation, on the political agenda. And in the
By 2035, Africa will experience a 109 % increase SDGs, at least for some of the goals, the inclusion
in people with diabetes. Diabetes increases the of persons with disabilities is refected. However,
risk of a range of eye diseases. The main cause only with public pressure will it be possible to
of blindness associated with diabetes is diabetic turn these political commitments into policies and
retinopathy (DR), and every person with diabetes practice. We need to invest systematically in raising
is at risk of developing DR. Furthermore, over further awareness and promoting ‘attitude change’
the next two decades in Africa, life expectancy at in existing processes to move persons with disabili -
birth (estimated from 2015) will rise to 65 years. ties politically beyond ‘objects for help’. Only with
As a continent, this will be Africa’s frst generation an understanding that persons with disabilities
of children who can expect to reach pensionable have the same rights and abilities to access health,
age. The increasing life expectancy and a much education and jobs as non-disabled persons will an
higher number of elderly people worldwide means environment be created for their consistent inclu-
we will need to fnd new and innovative ways to sion in public policies and funding streams.
support the necessary and huge scale-up required
to address age-related impairments – including TREND 5: 
cataracts – effectively. Resources: scarcity and abundance
Our resource base is shifting. Traditional sources
TREND 3:  of funding, private donors and government grants
Inequality: addressed and ignored are under pressure due to austerity measures and
Declining levels of global poverty are pushing stagnating public support for development aid.
issues of socio-economic inequality and inclusion At the same time, social media and the maturing
to the centre stage of global policy. This shift is funding markets have opened up new ways to
also expressed in the SDGs, which are now global build public support and identify unearmarked
and address equality and inclusion explicitly. But, funding opportunities. These funding segments are
these commitments do not automatically mean also crucial to leveraging additional institutional
that the root causes of inequality are being tack - funding from elsewhere. Additionally, local public
led, nor do they translate into tangible gains in the and private resource mobilisation is on the rise in
lives and rights of marginalised groups. This is why many traditional partner countries. More countries
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD will maintain its focus are beginning to develop social protection systems.
on marginalised communities. We will help these Our engagement can support making such systems
communities, as well as the organisations working accessible and inclusive for persons with disabili -
with them, to defend their rights and demands ties, and increase access to eye health and rehabili -
with interventions for systemic impact at the local, tation services for the poor.
national and international level. In many of the At the same time, we see an abundance of possi -
contexts in which we operate, the ongoing scarcity bilities being generated by new global coalitions
of natural resources, plus the adverse effects of cli - and foundations delivering bigger programmes,
mate change and confict-related insecurity, make and multi-stakeholder work, for example in tracho-
the working environment more complicated. Thus, ma elimination. In general, this will demand that
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD’s programme strategies we are able to develop large-scale programmes,
and internal organisation must be equipped to deal strengthen evidence and deal with multiple ac-
with humanitarian as well as longer-term develop- countabilities.
ment interventions. The implication is a strategy focused on smart
growth. We will further diversify our funding base
TREND 4:  to enable suffcient autonomy and fexibility, and
Persons with disabilities are getting more strengthen learning and evidence across the organ-
a ttention isation, to ensure that we can deliver on larger and
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with more comprehensive programmes with integrity
Disabilities (UNCRPD) has raised awareness across and accountability.
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2015 – 2020 7
Lessons learnt
Refecting on what we have achieved as LIGHT
FOR THE WORLD, the following key lessons are
informing our future direction:
LESSON 1:  LESSON 3: 
A comprehensive approach A strong organisation
We started out working with single projects, bring- As a result of the competencies within LIGHT
ing support to thousands of individuals and building FOR THE WORLD, we bring different strengths
strong partnerships in eye care, community-based and thematic and geographic foci to country
rehabilitation and inclusive education (IE). We still programmes in Burkina Faso, Mozambique and
provide this support at quality level AND have Ethiopia, as well as fragile states such as the
moved towards a programmatic approach. The Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
Burkina Faso programme shows that real change We have built up a team of international experts
towards an inclusive society requires interlinking and know how to advocate for the rights of
our projects and working at all levels, from the persons with disabilities at the international level.
local project to policy work at a national level. In Jointly, we can make a more impactful difference
all partner countries, we acknowledge that our compared with individual organisations operating
partners – non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in isolation in these countries. We need to speak
as well as governments – are in the driver’s seat, with one voice when partnering with institutional
taking responsibility for development. We have also donors and foundations at the international level,
successfully explored working with strong develop- especially if we are to establish robust projects
ment actors to make their programmes more inclu- leveraging our ability to work with other partners.
sive. The food security programme of the Centre
for Disability in Development (CDD) in Bangladesh LESSON 4: 
is a good example. Our strength is that we have a Our own capabilities
wide portfolio of strategies on offer. The challenges We see our role as one of supporting partners
are to fnd focus in various country contexts and to in their various capacities to deliver quality
avoid overstretching our resource capabilities. p rogrammes around eye health, inclusive education
and community-based rehabilitation. We provide
LESSON 2:  expertise in these areas, as well as in inclusive
The power of alliances d evelopment. We have the ability to link up
We have intensifed our work on the elimination with and convene partners, and we play a key
of trachoma. This goal in eye health can only role in advocating for the rights of persons with
be successful while working with international disabilities. We have created spaces for learning
c oalitions, such as the International Coalition for and sharing between partners and stakeholders
Trachoma Control (ICTC), for technical exchange on good practices and failures. In order to play
as well as funding partnerships. In the countries all of these roles effectively, we need to foster
where programmes are being implemented, the our human resources and build up our internal
key drivers of change are disability movements o rganisational structures.
and international networks, which hold govern-
ment and institutions accountable at all levels.
The most effective strategy at the European Union
(EU) and international level is to join forces and
form strong networks to infuence policy and its
implementation. Not pushing our own brand, but
rather promoting the cause, even in a competitive
environment, has made our advocacy work more
effectual and increased our reputation as a reliable
and responsible actor.
8
Our response –
an overview of strategic objectives
Objectives driving our work in the years to come:
OBJECTIVE 1:  OBJECTIVE 2: 
With our programmes, we aim to increase and Resource mobilisation and communication
improve the impact on the lives’ of persons with outlines how we plan to contribute to a world in
disabilities. We will: which persons with disabilities fully exercise their
• Apply our energy to providing state-of-the-art rights. We will aim for smart growth, which implies
eye health and integrate this within government that we need to go beyond our current fundraising
structures, wherever possible, in all our partner strategies. Our goal is to:
countries. We will take part in the worldwide • Further improve national fundraising strategies
initiative to eliminate trachoma, with our focus and actively respond to new fundraising trends
in Ethiopia, Mozambique and, potentially, South and opportunities. This includes channeling
Sudan. direct funding to local partners, leveraging social
• Intensify our work on inclusive education by media offerings via new platforms, and becoming
scaling up our countrywide programmes, starting involved with public-private partnerships and
in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia with the Inclusive philantropic engagement.
Education Campaign. • Increase our efforts in resource mobilisation
• Dedicate more resources to support persons with through networks and alliances, responding
disabilities in realising a successful livelihood to the trend towards bigger multi-stakeholder
since it contributes to sustainable development. p rogrammes.
Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) will • Change over to Integrated Resource Mobilisation
r emain a key strategy. Planning between all parts of the organisation,
• Seize disability inclusion focused on changing programmes, fundraising, communications and
systems and organisations. To best realise this, international alliances; and develop common
we will build a Disability Inclusion Lab to support approaches for big thematic areas, such as
others to mainstream disability into their organi- eye health, trachoma, inclusive education and
sations and programmes. d isability inclusion.
• Strengthen empowerment and advocacy activities • Strengthen our brand to enhance our credibility
to enforce the rights of persons with disabilities. and reputation. On the international level, we
will need to streamline our approach online,
which is the base for international public relation
a ctivities, targeted to certain markets and
f ocused on raising awareness.
STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2015 – 2020 9
OBJECTIVE 3:  OBJECTIVE 4: 
LIGHT FOR THE WORLD sets out to emphasise The identifed trends and challenges require a
our internal organisation and will: global response. LIGHT FOR THE WORLD will be
• Enhance our efforts to lead by example and part of a larger community to bring about change.
explore what it takes to become a fully inclusive For this, we will continue to reach out for partners
organisation. and grow our ‘ecosystem’ of partners. In particular,
• Build skills and networks for more knowledge- we will:
intensive programming. Expertise and evidence • Build strong local forces that motivate for
continues to be central in our work. Knowledge inclusion where it is most needed – disability
management will receive further attention. movements on the local, national and interna-
• Improve accountability standards to enable tional level will be the drivers of change towards
transparent and effective delivery of bigger inclusion.
p rogrammes. • Support capacity building and empowerment of
• Strengthen the governance level of LIGHT FOR southern partners. We may also back capacity
THE WORLD and intensify collaboration among building of other partners who support our
all parts of the organisation in all areas of work – s trategic framework.
advocacy, programmes, communication, resource • Strengthen our ability to act successfully in
mobilisation and internal services. c oalitions in a multi-stakeholder setting.
• Consolidate the autonomy and power of our • Actively engage in international networks, such
current Country Offces. as the International Disability and Development
Consortium (IDDC), the International Agency for
the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), the Global
Campaign for Education and new initiatives as
topics emerge, such as that of social protection.
10
Our programmes
Our aim is to foster change towards an inclusive
society, thereby benefting persons with disabilities
living in poverty. Our programmes have reached
millions of people by addressing specifc needs,
creating an enabling environment for inclusion and
ensuring access to human rights. This encourages
us to continue with our programmatic approach
and to build upon emerging needs and pressing
topics. We strive to increase our results and Employee feedback
a chieving the best possible impact. LIGHT FOR THE WORLD