Introduction

World Vision International is a global non-profit making Christian organization. It was established in 1950 by its founder Rev. Robert Pierce as a relief and development organization working to promote the well-being of the poor regardless of their color, ethnicity, religion or origin. The organization has its operations in more than 100 countries, and it mainly depends on donations and grants. World vision international is a legal entity whose formation is contained in the statutory laws of the state of California.

It was initially started as a service organization to meet the emergency needs of the missionaries especially in United States. However, it later expanded its operations to other countries with an objective of providing relief to the poor and more specifically children. World vision international has focused on orphaned children especially in Uganda, Somalia, and Romania most of who became orphans a result of HIV/AIDS and civil war. The non-profit organization has over the years introduced poverty eradication programs in agriculture to promote self-reliance. It also provided clean water to communities that helped in the drop of mortality rate and also for irrigation purposes. It is ranked as the 11th largest charity in United States with total revenue of over $ 981 million.

 

Mandate, vision and mission statements

The idea of establishing world vision was conceived in China when Rev. Pierce was introduced to an abandoned child called White Jade. From this experience, pierce though it was a good idea to have an organization to take care of the world’s abandoned and poor children. As a result, the main mandate of the organization is to take care of the needy children in every part of the world. The non-profit organization has been proactive in advocating for child survival. In partnership with governments, businesses, and other organizations, WV has addressed issues of child labor, children sexual exploitation and use of children in civil wars significantly. In essence, the main objective of world vision international is to ensure sustained well-being of children, especially the most vulnerable. It is mandated to;

1. Ensure children are safe and protected from crimes
2. Ensure that children grow healthy and strong
3. Offer children and family support in acquiring knowledge and skills needed to lead productive and fulfilling lives.
4. Foster loving and nurturing a relationship with God and each other.

In addition, the organizational has also provided emergency relief, health care, education, economic development and promotion of justice.  World Vision International has worked closely with other international bodies such as WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR and ILO to ensure that it provides the necessary assistance to the needy in the society. It is also noteworthy to understand that the organization has greatly funded evangelical activities across the globe.

World vision international has been critical in poverty eradication in the communities.  Over the years, the organization has attempted to address the causes of poverty by focusing on community needs such as clean water, health, income generation and leadership training. The organization trained communities’ agricultural skills to increase productivity.

The success of any organization, whether a profit making or for not-for-profit, depends on clearly defined vision and mission statements. These are essential statements that act as roadmap to the realization of the objectives of the organization. World vision international has well-defined vision and mission statements that have been critical to the overall success of the organization.

Vision statement: the company’s vision statement is based on John 10:10 “I have come that you might have life, life in all its fullness.”

Mission statement: ‘’follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in working with the poor and oppressed to promote human transformation, seek justice and bear witness to the good news of the Kingdom of God.’’

The organization has holistically followed this mission statement in its commitment to:

• Transformational Development that is community-based and sustainable focused especially on the needs of children.
• To provide emergency relief to disaster affected persons
• In partnerships with churches to contribute to spiritual and social transformation.
• Witness to Jesus Christ by life, deed, word and sign that encourage people to respond to the Gospel.

Core values

The organization acknowledges that effective service delivery is based on well-defined core values as listed below;

    Christianity

    Committed to the poor

    Value for the people

    Stewardship

    Partnership

    Responsiveness

    Commitment

Governance and Membership

World vision international is a global not-for-profit organization whose success has been attributed to its good governance.  The top governance includes a chairman, international president, and a chief executive officer. Affairs and decisions of the organization are made by an able board of directors which is the ultimate governing body of the organization. The organization board is made up of 24 directors excluding the international president. It is imperative to understand that all these directors are volunteers and are not remunerated for their services.  Election of these directors is conducted in regional forums to ensure equitable representation. They play an important part in connecting national boards and advisory councils to the wider World Vision Partnership. This helps to ensure alignment of governance direction. Organization’s board of directors has the following responsibilities;

• Ensuring overall health and well-being of the organization. This gives the directors an oversight role of overseeing the international president’s management of the global center and other partnerships.
• Ensuring the alignment of world vision international offices around the world. The directors have an obligation expanding the partnership policy of the organization. They are also obliged to oversight the president’s role in ensuring sustainability and development of the partnerships.
• To encourage and examine new program initiatives

World Vision international’s planning

Planning is critical in determining the success or failure of a non-profit organization. Every organization must have a clear short term and long term strategic plan. This offers an organization the opportunity to assess the performance of the organization and its progress in the realization of its goals. A long-term strategic plan should help the organization to respond effectively to new situations. It also serves as a critical component of the organization’s legal concern. It should offer guidelines on how the firm should carry out its activities within the legal bounds.

On the other hand, organizations must have its short term plans commonly known as the work plan. This is an important document that gives an outline of planned activities and the duration within which they should be accomplished.  The work plan should also give a clear explanation of the person(s) responsible for the accomplishment of such activities. Strategic or long term plans are different from the work plan by the fact that the latter gives a further explanation of how the former will be accomplished. The effectiveness of any planning process is greatly influenced by the harmony between the strategic objectives and the annual targets.

World Vision International understands the importance of strategic planning in the realization of its objective of service to vulnerable children. The organization acknowledges that in order to plan the future, it is important to analyze the current situation. It is in the public that the poor are getting the poor. Despite the previous efforts to solve the poverty problems, it is clear that some people are living in desperate conditions and are disconnected from opportunities to pull themselves out of this menace. WV takes it as their obligation to give such people hope in life.

The organization usually has a five-year strategic plan with the current one being the 2011-2015 strategic plan. The strategic plan looked ideal as it coincides with the global objective of realizing millennium development goals. Its long term plan involves poverty eradication, reducing child mortality, and improving maternal health. At the end of the five years, the organization should be able to take stock and assess its achievements.

For the organization to achieve its plan of improving the lives of the children, the organization must focus on the world’s poorest regions. This will enable the organization realizes its objective of transforming the lives of eight million children around the world. By putting the focus on the third world economies, world vision international will manage to get to the children who need their help most.  The organization intends to address the main causes of poverty and ensure that this issue is addressed fully. World Vision is also concerned in determining the effectiveness of their work towards accomplishing the firm’s mission statement.

Strategic Plan 2011-2015

World Vision has a five-year strategic plan with five main areas of concern. The organization believes that these priorities will be vital towards the accomplishment of the mission and vision statement. The strategic plan has the following priorities;

1. 1. Evidence of real change for children

WV has set a five-year strategic plan based on its mandate, vision and mission statements. It is the mission of the organization to ensure that children live in the fullness of joy.  It is for this reason that the organization intends to focus on its areas of expertise that include child health, humanitarian action, and child protection. The organization intends to use resources in the most effective manner so as to reach far and wide. To ascertain the organization’s impact, the firm intends to spend time and resources in gathering evidence on its impacts on the lives of children. During this period, the organization will lobby and campaign for policy changes for the betterment of poor.

2. 2. A transformed supporter experience

The modern public sector demands transparency and accountability and WV are keen about this.  In order to realize this objective, the organization intends to reach the audiences that it can inspire.  This will enable proper understanding of individual needs and working out the best way to fulfill them.  It is also the obligation of the organization to ensure closer connections between supporters and those they support. Necessary technologies will be put in place for the supporters to experience the challenges and fears of the poor children.

 

3. Growing organization income and influence

World vision international, just like any other organization aspires to increase its income and influence. The current economic downturns will force the organization to strategize on the best ways to increase its income since donations and government spending on charities is expected to decrease substantially.  To achieve this objective, the organization hopes to increase the income from public donations.  The organization also hopes to increase government grants and multilateral sources to ensure growth in income. This will be realized through securing new contracts and manage the existing ones effectively.  To increase the firms influence, the firm must be more influential in policy making. The organization aims to be a leading voice especially in child protection and humanitarian actions. Raising awareness through heavy promotion and high profile campaigns will also be essential for increased influence.

4. 4. Being an inspiring and effective organization

From the organization’s core values; it is clear that the organization always strive to be a source of inspiration to many.  Inspiration to others will require the firm to confidently and consistently live its Christian identity. Firm’s actions must be compelled by strong Christian values to increase inspiration.  The organization also intends to nurture, empower and develop its staff to ensure that they are always inspiring.  Innovativeness and accountability among the organizations staff will play a significant role in ensuring that its clients get the desired inspiration.

The partnerships are always in planning exercise to ensure that their activities effectively fulfilled. For instance, the organization is planning to carry out a food security program in United States. A team has been set out to implement a strategy to work out effective food programs in the country. World vision is greatly concerned with the issue of food security. Poverty and food security have a positive correlation. It is, therefore, essential for the organization to implement food security programs that will be critical in poverty eradication.

The issue of HIV/AIDS has been a major area of concern in world vision corridors. Many of the orphaned children especially in the developing countries have been as a result of AIDs related deaths.  It has therefore been the plan of the organization to curb this menace with efforts already in India. The goal is to reach an improved and equitable use of proven HIV prevention and treatment interventions by children, pregnant women, and adolescents. The approach will be by promoting comprehensive sexuality education and on protecting the rights of excluded adolescent population who are highly affected by HIV.

World vision international Programming

World vision international has several programs with an objective of enhancing education, health and immunization, emergency relief, nutria, water & sanitation, HIV/AIDS, and children protection.  The programs of the organization are formulated by the organization’s board of directors, but some are regulated by other international bodies such as WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR, and UN. In addition, WV’s programming in humanitarian contexts is guided by Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and International Humanitarian Law. The Executive Board is the governing body of World Vision, and it provides intergovernmental support and oversight to the organization. The organization undertakes the following programs;

Malaria programming

World Vision understands that malaria is among the leading killer diseases in the world.  Most of these deaths have resulted in increased poverty and number of orphans. Due to this reason, the organization has rolled out programs intended to reduce malaria infection throughout the world. The organization feels motivated by this program since the number of malaria deaths globally have decreased by 42% since 2000. Africa has been the greatest beneficiary of the program where the death toll has reduced by 49% and a 30% decrease in malaria incidence. However, the organization intends to carry on with the program since the disease still kills 627,000 people per year most of which are children below five years in Africa. There are also over 200 million malaria-related cases each year, and there have also been several cases of drug resistance.

World Vision is committed to fighting malaria till there are zero malaria related deaths.   The organization has rolled out a prevention and treatment program popularly referred to as the 7-11 strategy. This strategy ensures that mothers and children below the age of 5 sleep under treated mosquito nets. The program also ensures a swift diagnosis, treatment, and care. Through the organization’s water, sanitation and hygiene interventions issues that create breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitoes are effectively addressed. World Vision has invested as follows in the malaria program;

• Investing 33% percent of the US$115 million Global Fund Portfolio to malaria intervention,
• Distributing more than $1.8 million long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets to 13 countries.
• Including training almost 10,000 people in malaria service delivery.
• Educating community health workers to recognize and equip families for prevention and early
• Treatment of malaria, aided with mobile phones for accessing modern medicine in rural areas.
• Increasing access to artemisinin combination therapy for children and mothers with malaria.

Urban Programming

World vision international is also cautious of the increased poverty as a result of urbanization. Urban population is increasing every year with most of these urban dwellers living in world’s major slums.  It is estimated that over half of the world’s population lives in slums with UN predicting a major increase in slum dwellers in the next 30 years. The increase in urban poverty has severe consequences especially to children who are vulnerable to health and safety risks associated with urban life. In 2008, World Vision established the Centre of Expertise for Urban Programming as a knowledge asset to lead urban research and development, learning facilitation, capacity building, and organizational adaptation.

The urban program intended to address the child well-being in an urban setup.  As a result of intensive research by the expert team, the organization devised locally driven solutions to urban poverty. For instance, the organization has recommended secure urban rights, created livelihood opportunities and the introduction of municipal policies that ought to be implemented. Children and youth have been motivated to lead the course of changing their communities for the better.  World Vision International is establishing learning sites in different regions such as Latin America, East Africa, and South Asia and in the Middle East to promote inclusiveness and child wellness.

 

Sponsor a child program

This is the oldest program initiated by world vision international. Sponsor, a child program, was initiated in 1953 by the then president Rev. Pierce. It is an important program that helps to tackle the cause of poverty in the lives of children, families and their communities at large. The intention of the program was empowering the children to self-reliance. The organization understands that education is critical for developing talent and productivity of the young children. World Vision international’s sponsor a child program has a budget of $45 a month to cater the basic needs for one child. People all over the world are encouraged to offer their contributions and change the lives of poor children.

The organization has also been active in malnutrition programs. The issue of malnutrition to young children has been rampant especially in developing countries. To eradicate this problem, the organization has initiated several programs most of which are in conjunction with WHO. Such programs have been initiated in southern Asia, Indonesia and major parts of Africa. Other programs involve the provision of water and sanitation to ensure healthy living standards.

World vision’s Budgeting

Budgeting is very important in managing the affairs of any organization. The success of the program implementation squarely lies on the good budgetary allocation and management skills at the disposal of the organization. Nonprofit organizations wrestle continually with trying to maintain and improve their operations, especially in today’s uncertain economy. There are various types of budgeting system types such as Line item; Zero-based; Performance; Program; Composite or hybrid. World vision international is committed to performance-based budgeting, which is also named, results-based budgeting (RBB)). Under this type of system, the organization identifies the results it wants to achieve, determines the resources needed for those results, and then allocates them. Moreover, this will help ensure that the organization’s processes, resources, and services are directed at strategically important results. It’s important to note that the Executive Boards of directors from the different regions work together to present a “road map” that will improve linkages between resources and results, and also improve and create harmonization in the presentation of the biennial support budget for a period of a year. The Board is also responsible to provide a single, integrated budget that includes both the program and institutional budgets for the organization.

It is essential to understand that budgeting will only be effective if the source is acknowledged. For instance, over 80% of the world vision international budget is privately sourced. Grants and government contributions are also a common source of budget but not very reliable. Apart, from cash contributions, the organization also receives physical gifts such as clothing, food commodities, and medicines.

 

Work Cited

“Vision and Values | World Vision International.” World Vision International. Web. 15 Apr.  2015.

“WVI.” WVI. Web. 15 Apr. 2015.

 

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