Action Foundation is looking ahead to the next five years with a new set of priorities. Here our CEO Duncan McAuley talks about the inspiring process of hearing from the people directly affected by our work in building a vision for the future.
We’re delighted to share with you all our new five-year Strategic Plan!
Throughout 2022 we’ve been working through a two-stage process, first reviewing our Identity by looking at our Purpose and our Values and second by drawing together our Strategic Plan, a set of priorities which will guide our development, investment and direction over the next five years. Although there’s a bit of work remaining to complete the process, we’re excited to share it with you and hope it creates some excitement for you too!
Over 60 volunteers and clients contributed to the discussions across 11 sessions, and along with staff, trustees and partner organisations, their contributions have shaped discussions and decisions throughout the process. If you were involved in any of these sessions, facilitated by Good Labs – thank you.
Join our online session
On Wednesday November 16 at 1pm we’re running an online session (sign up here) when I will talk through our new Strategic Plan, giving some context and answering questions as to how decisions were informed by what was shared. If you can’t attend, we’ll make the recording of the session available and will also be sending out an e-mail summary with the same information in the coming weeks.
It was inspiring to hear the reflections of those who we serve alongside the many volunteers who support the work we do. I was moved by the honesty of what life is like in this country for our clients and by the transformative impact of engaging with one of our projects. We were challenged to explore new ways of supporting individuals and their families and this is reflected in our Strategic Plan as we look to grow our services while continuing to deliver the essential support we currently offer.
Our new Purpose and Values Statements are up on our website here and below is our new Strategic Plan. You’ll notice four priorities which will be our specific areas of focus over the coming years and, below those, the three key themes which will continue to be embedded across everything we do.
Our Strategic Plan isn’t a structured overview of everything that happens at Action Foundation, but an outline of the specific areas that will be our focus over the coming years.
By continuing to focus on delivering services directly to those who need them, we’re restating our commitment to everyone we work with. Whether it’s attending a Language class, our Drop-in or living in one of our properties, we will continue to have a direct impact on the lives of those we work with through our project activity.
Strengthening our work
To strengthen what we do, we’re investing in our existing partnerships and establishing new ones with organisations that share our values and bring something complementary to our work. In this way we’ll make sure our clients are getting the best possible service from Action Foundation and we will work collectively with others to make the biggest impact we can with the resources available across our region.
To ensure the quality and longevity of our work we’ll be prioritising investment in our staff, volunteers and internal systems, which together with a fresh focus on different ways of funding our work and a better understanding of the changes in society or policy that affect our clients, will equip us to negotiate the challenges ahead. If the Covid pandemic and policy changes in the last few years have taught us anything, it is the importance of looking after each other and looking out for changes that happen which are out of our control!
We’re really excited about our new strategy which you can see here and hope you are too!
This last year has been a challenging one for many of the people we work with and for us as an organisation. As we move towards winter and start to think about 2023, we’re determined to step up to the challenges ahead with compassion, courage, and integrity. Our strategy will equip us to grow and develop as on organisation, continuing to support and empower people seeking asylum, refugees and migrants for many years to come.
