strategic plan

April 2008 – March 2013

Our Vision is a world where children with disabilities can achieve the best possible quality of life.

Our Purpose – ThePromise works to improve the lives of disabled children in Russia. We do this by promoting a system of support (Portage) for disabled children in partnership with families and carers and by encouraging a more positive attitude to disability.

Our Values –

• The right of all children to lead a fulfilling life
• We value the right of people to determine and develop their own future
• We believe in working in partnership
• We believe that all children should be valued for their unique qualities

Priorities and Focus

Services

Portage delivery:

We will continue to support a portage service in the Ryazan oblast both within state run institutions and the community. Our aim is that the model used in Ryazan oblast will be clear and precise and capable of replication in other oblasts by local NGOs, local authorities and local institutions. As Portage spreads within Russia, Ryazan will become the Centre of Excellence for delivery and training of Portage. Our long term goal is that all Portage services are funded locally and that ThePromise supports the start up of new services, the on-going training of Portage workers and works with a Russian body to ensure quality control of Portage throughout Russia.

Multi agency practice (therapies/multi disciplinary care package for disabled children)

We will continue to provide additional therapies to the children receiving Portage such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy and supplementary feeding, integrating this multi disciplinary support within the individualised programme for each child. We aim to highlight this area of work as a desirable element of local professional practice. We will not employ therapists but will place highly skilled volunteers within our programmes to work alongside our Portage workers. We will facilitate good medical care for our Portage children to enable them to benefit from Portage.

Dissemination of information (training/materials/information)

We aim to publish a range of training materials in English and Russian to enable more Portage workers to be trained. We aim to train up a group of Russian trainers so that our courses can be run in Russian using Russian materials.

We will continue to make available information about Portage to other organisations in Russia and investigate ways to disseminate information about Portage to parents/carers, Russian authorities, institutions and NGOs.

Accreditation and Quality Control

We aim to prepare the ground for the foundation of a National Portage Association in Russia which would develop and maintain an agreed Code of Practice and monitor and accredit quality Portage services throughout the country.

Working in partnership

In addition to the services we provide directly, we will also work with and support individuals and organisations who share our vision, seeking to build effective partnerships and alliances.

Geography

Ryazan oblast: We will continue to work within the Ryazan oblast and aim to establish models of best practice in this region.

Russia: We will support other NGO’s and institutions to set up Portage services around the country based on the Ryazan model of excellence.

Beyond Russia: We will cooperate with potential partners outside Russia who wish to replicate the model.

Localisation/sustainability

We understand the importance of self determination in development and our long term goal is that Portage is provided to all children that need it via Russian organisations. ThePromise is a catalyst for Portage and it is not our long term aim to be the provider of Portage. Our priority is to train up Russians to run and finance the service.

Our long term goal is that each new Portage service that is set up becomes self funding within an agreed number of years.

We will register as a Russian NGO as a matter of urgency. The UK charity would continue to set strategy and fund the activities of the Russian NGO for the medium term. In the long term, ThePromise would look consider providing seed funding to start up NGOs setting up Portage services.

Key Stakeholders:

• Russian children with disabilities
• Carers
• Institutions
• Russian partner organisations
• Russian children with disabilities living at home or in institutions
• Parents/carers
• Students and university staff
• Portage workers
• Potential Portage workers
• Professionals working with disabled children (e.g. physiotherapists. Occupational therapists,. psychologists)
• Donors
• Trustees and staff
• Russian Authorities working with disabled children (social protection/education/health)
• Russian Institutions working with disabled children (orphanages/baby homes)
• Partner NGOs
• Volunteers (Russian and expat)

Staff:  We will ensure we have a high quality, competent and motivated staff team responding to the changing needs of a growing organisation. We will aim where possible to recruit Russian staff – whilst acknowledging that as a UK registered NGO, some posts will need to remain in the UK.

Volunteers:  We value the work of our volunteers. Where possible we will aim to work with qualified volunteers such as therapists, fundraisers and university students. We will establish a programme for sending suitably qualified volunteers to Russia on a regular basis and will seek to replicate our university volunteer programme in other parts of Russia.

Training and development:  We aim to provide on-going training and professional development for all our staff, trustees and volunteers.

Governance/Strategic Planning

We will:

• Govern and manage the organisation wisely, through a well supported and effective board, with a clear understanding of what we are trying to achieve
• Monitor our results, outcomes and impact
• Monitor the external environment to asses opportunities and threats
• Have prudent policies covering items such as risk assessment and financial management
• Satisfy statutory and legal requirements in the countries in which we operate
• Benchmark our work against other NGOs
• Develop and maintain policies for the organisation

Fundraising

We will continue to run regular events in the UK and approach trusts both in the UK and overseas. We will aim to build up our database of regular donors and will invest in developing long term relationships with corporate donors and institutions in the UK and Russia. We will look for opportunities to fundraise in Russia and build our capacity to fundraise in Russia.

Marketing and Communications

We will communicate effectively with our key stakeholders and will seek to raise our profile via proactive PR. We will invest in marketing tools such as our website, newsletter and database.

Organisational and technological infrastructure

In the short-term, we will continue to keep costs to a minimum through home working but will invest in technology to facilitate this. We will improve our admin and finance processes to make them more efficient.

Finance

We will:

• Generate sufficient income to cover our expenses
• Develop a secure and diverse funding base to cover our activities
• Ensure we maintain our reserves at a prudent level
• Strengthen our financial management capability and systems across the organisation