Strategic plan
Our strategic plan
Our strategic plan, Focus for Change, defines VSO's distinctive competence: the contribution of international volunteering to development. It sets out our change agenda, at the heart of which is working more programmatically. This means focusing all our efforts on achieving specific development priorities within the framework of six development goals:
- Education
- HIV & AIDS
- Disability
- Health and social well-being
- Secure livelihoods
- Participation & Governance
These goals reflect internationally agreed development targets, our partner organisations' priorities and areas where we know that VSO can be most effective.
The plan also sets out three approaches which will be central to the way we work:
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Empowerment
We will work to empower the people, communities and organisations with whom we work. -
Partnership
We will work in partnerships in order to maximise our impact. -
Commitment to learning
We will actively learn so that our work builds upon the skills, knowledge and understanding gained from experience.
VSO has almost half a century's experience in international volunteering. Our contribution has continually evolved as the development environment has changed. In preparing this plan, we also drew on our experience of implementing two previous strategic plans.
Focus for Change should remain relevant for five years, but it does not have a fixed life span. It will be revised and built on as circumstances change and we all learn.
The plan is primarily for VSO staff and volunteers worldwide. It should enable you to understand VSO's vision of the future and to make decisions and take action on that basis. We hope it will also be useful for our partners, supporters, donors and other stakeholders.
Focus for Change is a guiding framework which will enable us to make more detailed plans so we can focus all VSO's efforts to achieve our purpose. Ultimately, I want everyone connected with VSO to be able to see and feel a connection between their role and our joint effort to fight disadvantage and build a fairer world.
-MARK GOLDRING
Chief Executive