broadening horizons

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INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY 2006-2012
BROADENING HORIZONS
INSTITUTIONAL STRATEGY 2006-2012
Ayuda en Acción is an independent, non-party and non-denominational NonGovernmental Development Organisation (NGDO), created in Spain as an
Association for International Cooperation in 1981 to promote structural
changes aimed at the eradication of poverty and injustice in the world. Our
objective is to support the development of the most deprived children,
families and communities in order to improve their living conditions. With the
aim of bringing an end to poverty, we support comprehensive, long-term
development programs that promote action in the areas of health,
education, infrastructures, financial and economic initiatives, food safety and
community-building. We also promote awareness raising, education for
development and advocacy campaigns aimed at impelling social and political
changes that benefit the people with fewest means.
© Pablo García Mateo
www.ayudaenaccion.org
C/ Enrique Jardiel Poncela, 6, 1ª planta. 28016 Madrid. 902 402 404. informacion@ayudaenaccion.org
C/ Javier Lasso de la Vega, 3, bajo. 41002 Sevilla. 954 21 51 63. informacion@andalucia.ayudaenaccion.org
© Ayuda en Acción Bolivia
C/ Balmes, 32 3º-1ª. 08007 Barcelona. 934 88 33 77. barcelona@barna.ayudaenaccion.org
C/ Maestro Clavé, 10, puerta 2. 46001 Valencia. 963 10 61 21. informacion@valencia.ayudaenaccion.org
Av. del General Sanjurjo, 64. Bajo izq. 15006 A Coruña. 981 13 37 37. informacion@galicia.ayudaenaccion.org
Pl. Sarrikoalde, 3 (entrada por Av. Lehendakari s/n). 48015 Bilbao. 944 47 96 77. informacion@euskadi.ayudaenaccion.org
C/ Cimadevilla, 15. Esc. A, 2º E. 33003 Oviedo. 985 21 47 25. información@asturias.ayudaenaccion.org
In 2006 we undertook off a thinking process to reflect on our lines of work,
leading to the development of our new institutional strategy: Broadening
Horizons. This strategy encourages us to undertake new challenges while
reaffirming our determination to eradicate poverty and inequality.
This document, which will guide our steps and lines of work over the following
years, is a result of experiences and contributions from communities in the
South and Ayuda en Acción's own teams, sponsors, collaborating institutions
and volunteer groups. It is an abridged version of our institutional strategy,
summarising our commitment not only to defend people and their rights the cornerstone of our work - but also to promote active societies which
demand human rights compliance from their governments, to strengthen
development processes in Southern nations and to consolidate and increase
our international presence.
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© CONGDE
24/10/2007
1. Our view of the international context
The world today is marked by inequity between rich and poor countries; between men
and women; between rural and urban areas and regions; and between ethnic and social
groups. Millions of people in America, Asia and Africa live in a state of poverty which
prevents them from taking part in development processes and denies them access to
dignified living conditions.
Ayuda en Acción believes that democratic systems are the frameworks to build
societies being capable of offering opportunities. However, democracy has not yet been
consolidated in many of the countries with the highest rates of poverty and inequality
and their processes and mechanisms for social participation remain weak. It is
therefore crucial to support people empowerment processes to enhance their social,
technical and political capabilities, allowing people to exercise their rights and obligations
as the driving force behind active civil societies, which will in turn strengthen public
institutions and help to consolidate democracy.
© Omar Ayyashi
© Omar Ayyashi
© Iciar de la Peña / Ayuda en Acción
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Institutional project: Ayuda en Acción uses supportive links and child sponsorship as
tools to foster direct relationships between the people and communities in the
North and South through mutual understanding and joint responsibility in the
struggle against poverty.
Intervencion model: Ayuda en Acción carries out comprehensive, long-term actions to
advance peoples' education and skills to ensure sustainable local development processes
beyond our Organisation's presence, together with awareness raising and political impact
activities both in the North and South.
3. Our model of work
In this new period, Ayuda en Acción is going to impel its work alongside Southern communities
from a rights-based approach. This implies the acknowledgement that the poor are entitled to
demand that measures to ensure development and dignified lives are effectively put in place.
Ayuda en Acción promotes actions to ensure that these rights are fulfilled, especially for
women, children and youths.
Citizens are increasingly aware of the need to change international policies. They seek
Development NGOs leadership in political and social areas, commending these
organisations to ensure compliancy with the international agreements set out to protect
every individual's human rights.
Our model of intervention spans several areas in local, national and international spheres.
Our Organization will continue to support development processes alongside
communities and will coordinate them with actions on a nationwide scale. We will also
promote social participation both in Spain and in the countries where we work in the
construction of a fairer world by means of awareness raising and policy impact actions
and we will enhance our institutional capacity to build alliances and strategic partnerships
with other organisations.
Mission: To improve living conditions for children, their families and their communities by
means of comprehensive development projects and awareness raising activities, with the
ultimate goal of achieving structural changes that lead to the eradication of poverty.
Provide humanitarian aid and consolidate prevention work, aimed at reducing the
vulnerability of people and communities to disasters and ensuring the continuity of
development processes.
Promote people empowerment processes to drive their participation in the policy making
which shape their lives and to achieve equal rights for men and women, as well as for
indigenous peoples and other excluded groups.
Promote active citizenship in which citizens share the responsibility to tackle poverty issues
and are organised to demand the fulfilment of people's rights on behalf of governments and
international bodies.
Spheres of our work
Lines of action in local development processes
Ayuda en Acción has been working for over 25 years to narrow the gap between North and
South. In order to consolidate our organisational identity over the coming years, our
strategy has identified several key areas:
Support access to dignified living conditions which guarantee that basic needs - health,
education, housing and clean water - are accessible not only to children but also to their
families and communities.
Foundational identity: Ayuda en Acción is an independent, non-party and nondenominational organisation whose work revolves around people as rights holders and
main actors of their own development.
Favour actions to enhance local economies, supporting the improvement of infrastructures,
optimisation of production and sales processes, job creation and access to financial
instruments such as micro-credits.
Our involvement in this area will aim to:
Increase our capacity for policy impact among civil society. Our Organisation will increase
its presence in cooperation forums and local, national and international decision making
spaces and increase our cooperation with local and regional governments.
Intensify our public presence to increase knowledge regarding our development work in
other countries and our positions in the areas we work in.
Open up spaces for the poorest people and groups we work with to communicate with
Spanish society with their own voice. One of the basic tools for this activity will be the
development of solidarity ties between similar groups.
International cooperation policies and the defence of human rights
Ensuring people's rights
Ayuda en Acción considers that the key for the fulfilment of every individual's human rights
is to ensure that the agreements and laws set out by governments are implemented. The
agreements themselves should aim to protect these rights and implement measures to
guarantee that they are a reality for all of the population, without any kind of discrimination.
The Development NGOs should aim to generate and articulate social conscience on issues
relating to inequity and injustice, promote awareness and advocacy for these rights and
mobilise society to demand them.
2. Mission and identity of Ayuda en Acción
Support actions to ensure the sustainability of development processes, by improving
people's technical and professional skills and by preparing leaders capable of driving their
communities forwards.
Coordination of local and international work
Promote coordination of local development processes so that our work alongside
communities shares common goals and an increased impact, by means of sales and
microfinance networks, town associations or local producers' associations.
Promote our global policy campaigns locally so as to improve our work in Southern
countries. Ayuda en Acción will increase the presence of our international policy and
awareness raising campaigns and actions in these countries, particularly of our education,
HIV/AIDS and gender campaigns.
Increase public spaces for social participation. Ayuda en Acción will support the creation
and strengthening of forums and public spaces in which citizens can promote the
advocacy of rights such as access to education or gender equality.
International cooperation agenda Ayuda en Acción will strengthen its presence in
international forums to increase our influence on cooperation policies as well as on other
policies which have an impact on the fight against poverty and exclusion.
Defending the fulfilment of human rights in international decision-making arenas, Ayuda en
Acción's work will be aimed towards the implementation of policies that guarantee the
defence of people's rights.
4. Organisational strengthening
The implementation of our new strategy will also help us strengthen our institutional model.
Among the challenges that lie ahead for the coming years are:
Consolidation of institutional presence
Spanish citizenry and the development of a fair world
Our new strategy will help us increase our awareness raising and policy activities in the
Spanish context as one of the cornerstones of our action. Thanks to recent changes
made to Spanish cooperation and development policies, as well as those promoted by
the Agencia Española de Cooperación (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation),
the Spanish setting has become a dynamic and very appealing space in which to
promote policy impact and negotiation, backed by the framework provided by European
cooperation institutions.
During this new stage we will need to consolidate the internationalisation process and
increase our networking.
Organisational development
During the coming years at Ayuda en Acción, we will maintain our efforts to guarantee
transparent management, the efficiency of our work and the pursuance of quality in all the
processes we implement in both North and South.