OMEGA FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLAN POPULAR VERSION

Transcription

1 OMEGA FOUNDATION STRATEGIC PLAN POPULAR VERSION Date: September 2013

2 Omega Foundation (OF) was initiated in 1997 as a Community Based Organisation (CBO) in Kisumu district within Nyanza Province of Kenya. It was registered as an NGO in 2001 and currently operates primarily to promote Health, Socio-Economic and Cultural Development in Nyanza, Western and parts of Rift Valley regions. At the time of developing this new Strategic Plan ( ), Omega Foundation was operating under a 5-year Strategic Plan ruining September 2008 to August 2013 and this new Strategic Plan is expected to have a seamless transition from the previous Strategic Plan to this new one. This document presents the Strategic Plan for Omega Foundation. It sets the stage for a new strategic direction. Omega Foundation has carefully reflected on her historical timelines, learned important lessons and conducted a detailed analysis of both the internal and external environment. The hallmarks of the strategic direction are the strategic areas below: Strategic Area 1: Health Strategic Objective: To improve health and well- being of communities by reducing the impacts of HIV and TB, improving nutrition, maternal and neonatal health. Strategic Area 2: Education Strategic Objective: To empower children and youth through quality education and training support. Strategic Area 3: Livelihoods Strategic Objective: To improve livelihoods through unlocking of economic opportunities. Strategic Area 4: Water and Sanitation Strategic Objective: To reduce waterborne and sanitation-related diseases through the promotion of hygiene and the provision of water services. Strategic Area 4: Capacity Development Strategic Objective: To develop an agile institutional framework of systems, structures and accountabilities that deliver on the mission of OF and her implementing partners. OMEGA FOUNDATION1 P a g e S t r a t e g i c P l a n P o p u l a r V e r s i o n S e p t e m b e r

3 THE STRATEGIC MAP FOR OMEGA FOUNDATION VISION Healthy communities enjoying opportunities for development To strengthen the capacity of communities to Mission Strategic Areas/ Goals Intervention Areas HEALTH EDUCATION LIVELIHOODS Prevention, Promotive and Curative HIV and TB Nutrition Reproductive Heath Noncommunicable diseases live meaningful lives through integrated health and innovative livelihood solutions Advocacy, Technology & learning resources Infrastructure Mentorship & skills development Sponsorship Group savings and loan Micro enterprise development Agricultural innovation Market development WATER AND SANITATION Hygiene Water services CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT Strengthening organizational capacity Social enterprise Research & training Bench marking VALUES Innovation, team work, integrity, Excellence, inclusiveness and collaboration 2 P a g e

4 VISION, MISSION AND CORE VALUES Vision Statement Healthy communities enjoying opportunities for development Mission Statement: To strengthen the capacity of communities to live meaningful lives through integrated health and innovative livelihood solutions Values Innovation: OF is committed to employing innovation in the delivery of goods, products and services to target communities. Integrity: OF will at all times conduct its operations in a transparent and accountable manner. Team work: OF will remain an organisation dedicated to team work in the delivery of results. Excellence: OF will at all times strive for excellence in implementing internal processes, interaction with stakeholders and customers by upholding the highest standards of professionalism in the market. Inclusiveness and Collaboration: OF will at all times foster collaboration, networking and linkages for achieving results. 3 P a g e

5 OVERVIEW OF THE HEALTH SECTOR IN KENYA Health care is an important and necessary part of any society. The true mark of a civilised society is how it attends to and looks after its most vulnerable members in order to remain productive. Health care is important for all, young and old, rich and poor. It is therefore important to make affordable health care available to all; hence the country will live up to the vision 2030 expectations to provide equitable and affordable health care at the highest affordable standard to her citizens. Under the banner of Vision 2030, Kenya will structure the health delivery system and also shift the emphasis to promotive care in order to lower the nation s disease burden. This is aimed at improving access and equity in the availability of essential health care-resulting into a healthy population. In order to achieve this, the Vision 2030 stipulates a devolution approach that will allocate funds and responsibility for delivery of health care to district hospitals and clinics. This will empower Kenyan households and social groups to take charge in improving their own health. OVERVIEW OF THE WATER AND SANITATION SECTOR IN KENYA Water supply and sanitation in Kenya 1 is characterised by low levels of access, in particular in urban slums and rural areas, as well as poor service quality in the form of intermittent water supply. Only 9 out of 55 water service providers in Kenya provide continuous water supply. Seasonal and regional water scarcity exacerbates the difficulty to improve water supply. Although urban water tariffs are high by regional standards (US$0.46 per m3 on average in 2007) [4] the level of cost recovery is low due to a high level of non-revenue water (average of 47%) and high costs. Costs are high due to the need to tap distant water sources and due to high levels of staffing (11 workers per 1000 connections or more than twice the sector benchmark). Investment in the sector increased fivefold from US$55m in to almost US$300m in % of this amount was financed by the government with its own resources, 31% by external donors and 11% was self-financed by utilities. Countrywide sanitation estimates for 2008 indicate that 31% (27% of urban and 32% of rural) Kenyans had access to private improved sanitation. In urban areas an additional 51% of the population used shared latrines. In rural areas, open defecation was estimated to be still practised by 18% of the population. In it was reported that half of the Kenyan population within the service area of 55 WSPs had access to improved sanitation facilities 1 The Kenyan water sector underwent far-reaching reforms through the Water Act No. 8 of Previously service provision had been the responsibility of a single National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation as well as of a few local utilities established since After the passage of the Act service provision was gradually decentralized to 117 Water Service Providers (WSPs). These are linked to 8 regional Water Services Boards (WSBs) in charge of asset management through Service Provision Agreements (SPAs). The Act also created a national regulatory board (WASREB) that carries out performance benchmarking and is in charge of approving SPAs and tariff adjustments. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation is in charge of policies for water supply and the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation is in charge of policies for sanitation. 4 P a g e

6 The vision for Water and Sanitation (WASH) sector is to ensure water and improved sanitation availability and access to all by The vision s goal is to attain 90% access to safe and reliable water for urban areas and 70% for rural areas and reducing unaccounted for water to below 30%. It aims to achieve 70% and 65% access to safe sanitation for urban and rural households respectively. It also targets to attain 40% and 10% sewerage access for urban and rural areas respectively. OVERVIEW OF THE EDUCATION SECTOR IN KENYA The Government of Kenya is committed to the provision of quality education and training to its citizens at all levels. This statement has been reinforced by the on-going Free Primary Education, Free Day Secondary Education, and bursaries and loans provided through the Higher Education Loans Board. The Social Pillar in the Vision 2030 singles out education and training as the vehicle that will drive Kenya into becoming a middle-income economy. In addition, the Constitution, 2010 has provided for Free and Compulsory Basic Education as a human right to every Kenyan child. The country is therefore obliged to align education and training to the demands of the two documents. The vision for the education sector is to have a globally competitive quality education, training and research for sustainable development. Amongst the targets set in this sector are; a) To increase the GER in early childhood Development Education by 50%, b) Raise the transition rate from Primary to secondary level from 60% to 75%, c) Raise the transition rate from Secondary level to University from 8% to 15% and d) Reduce the teacher student ratio from 1:47 to 1:40. LIVELIHOODS AND ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN KENYA The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Millennium Development Goal 1 is to extreme poverty and hunger by This makes it imperative for the productive sectors and the producing actors in the corporate, civil society and government to collaborate on income generation, food security, job creation and poverty alleviation initiatives. The indicators for economic stability include reduction by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day. It also includes achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people as well as reducing the number of people who suffer from hunger. Vision 2030 aims to increase annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates to an average of 10% over the vision horizon. The rampant poverty rise in the past 5 years has majorly contributed to poor health, insecurity and consequent loss of life, thus the need to rise above extreme poverty. Kenya is ranked among the 30 poorest countries of the world with top 10 per cent of Kenyans earning 44 per cent of the national income, whilst the bottom 10 per cent earns less than one per cent. 5 P a g e

7 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND THE ROLE OF THE BOARD At this stage, OF requires understanding and implementing corporate governance. Corporate governance is the system that maintains the balance of rights, relationships, roles and responsibilities of members, directors and management in the direction, conduct, conformance and control of sustainable performance of the organisation with honesty and integrity for the long term interests of the organisation, members, and business and the community stakeholders. The OF board team have four (4) fundamental responsibilities: a) b) c) d) Technical oversight and direction Resource mobilisation Ensuring compliance, and Improving performance This strategic Plan finds the most significant roles of the board to include the following as stipulated in Table 8 below: THE ROLE OF THE BOARD # 1 Function CEO Matters 2 Resource Mobilisation Performance Matters Strategy Setting/Approval Risk Management 6 7 Compliance Operating Framework 8 Communication and Relationship Management Roles Select, Monitor and Evaluate Mentor and guide Set remuneration and assess Appoint and remove, as required Raise resources to sustain the OF strategic options Connect OF to funding sources Establish suitable indicators of performance Monitor on a regular basis Make strategic decisions based on most accurate information Provide overall long term direction Development of specific goals and targets Ownership of risk management policies and practices Monitoring and regular update of risk management policies and practices Ensure organisation meets all necessary requirements Provide leadership to the organisation in an appropriate way Set policy agenda for organisation Endorse direction as appropriate Manage communication with key stakeholder groups, including members and other relevant groups to assist the organisation achieve its goals To avoid conflict between the Board and Management, OF requires articulating what is the role of the board, and what is the role of management. Many boards are now adopting an approach of specifying exactly which issues require board involvement, and in many board charters a section dealing with Matters Reserved for the Board is included. OF is considering this in its governance manual. 6 Page

8 BOARD STRUCTURE Finding and selecting appropriate board members is critical to the success of an organisation. While OF at the moment may be focused on raising funds and resources for the organisation, this is not the sole criteria for selecting or evaluating board members. Board members act as stewards to the organisation (working together to effectively achieve the mission). Therefore, in addition to the fund raising role attribute, board members must demonstrate the following others: 1) A strong belief in the organisation. It is critical that board members are loyal to the purpose for which the organisation was created and have an understanding of the needs of its constituents. They should also have a strong sense of the history of the organisation, and be able to reconcile this with the organisation s vision and changing realities. 2) Diversity. The composition of the board should be diverse, reflecting the population that it seeks to serve. Some sources for prospective board members are colleges and universities, legal professionals, business leaders in the community, donors, service clubs, the banking industry, and volunteers. 3) Willingness to commit time and resources. Board members should be able to attend most board meetings and be ready to commit financial resources in support of the organisation. 4) Experience in governance. The most valuable board members display strong skills in stewardship and planning for the future, formulating strategic plans, setting priorities, and monitoring performance. 5) Ability to work with a team. Board members have to put aside self-interests to determine what is best for the organisation. 6) An understanding of his or her role as board member. Board members are governors, sponsors, ambassadors, and consultants. In practice board members will play many roles but managing the organisation is not one of them. The Board as part of the implementation will appoint Board Committees that will deal with the issues of resource mobilisation, compliance and performance monitoring INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS For OF, careful thought has been brought in to bear on the delivery of programmes that are dictated by this plan. The agility and efficiency required in realising the vision of the organisation has been built into the strategic areas dealing with capacity development. These so far are considered as the most viable means of achieving this. In this regard, the organisational structure and board roles have been revisited. A number of key functions and desirable practices have been identified and incorporated into the implementation strategy. These are, but not limited to financing, tracking progress, identifying and mitigating risks. PHASING THE STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLEMENTATION The period October to December 2012 is the pre-strategic plan phase. During this time, it is envisaged that OF will clear all the outstanding business related to the various strategic plan, develop supporting strategies like the HR and Resource Mobilisation and others to a level of determining the stage of organisational maturity and specific changes needed to strengthen the outfit to a level of adopting and executing this strategic plan. 7 P a g e

9 MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS The organisational structure of OF is as follows: Figure 2: The OF Organogram Board of Trustees Internal Auditor Chief Executive Communication ICT Assistant Head of Programs Institutional Strengthening Advisor Head of Finance and Operations Business Development M& E, Learning and Research Education Advocacy Health & WASH Economic Empowerment Grants and Compliance Senior Accountant HR & Admin M&E 8 P a g e Child Support Health Promotion Clinical Services Grants Accounts Assistant Procurement/ Logistics Drivers Admin/HR Assistant Hospitality Assistant

10 RISK MANAGEMENT ASPECTS In the realisation of this strategic plan, risk management must be considered in order to take precautionary measures in good time and thus prevent failure of the strategic plan implementation. The following are some of the critical factors for success; 1. The OF board and management must obtain ownership and buy-in from all relevant parties. These include membership, partners, local communities and the Government of Kenya (GoK), to mention a few. 2. The board and management must, and immediately intensify the fundraising capacity and efforts to secure new funding and other support. These sources could include private and public sectors as well as mechanisms for generating funds internally. 3. The management must start to track the annual work plans by establishing monitoring milestones, setting a general baseline, conducting half year and annual reviews and revising work plans. 4. While this strategic plan document is an important asset for branding and creating the visibility of Omega, it still is exposed to the risk of gathering dust on the shelves and resource centers. This risk must be addressed by an inclusive launch and wide dissemination of the document among stakeholders. PROCESS OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF will during the pre- strategic plan period require institutionalising a simple internal performance monitoring and evaluation framework that is to be used across all programmes and regions. It should include among others business performance, governance, institutional, economic and other protocols. This will be used or adopted to the monitoring, evaluation and reporting requirements of this project. All protocols shall be agreed upon with the Board and stakeholders. Progress against each project component will be tracked using the OF-specific indicators. Specific to monitoring plans, OF will develop a performance monitoring framework to track performance as per implementation plan. OF should collect data from all strategic areas on quarterly basis. Specific to evaluation, OF will implement both internal and external evaluation for all programmes and projects. Internal evaluation will be conducted by the M and E and personnel and internal audit function. External evaluation will be jointly sanctioned by the senior management and will take form of mid- term and end term. These shall be carried out by independent consultants. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGS, EXTERNAL AUDITS, MANAGEMENT AND BOARD MEETINGS There will be one (1) Annual General Meeting. There may on a need be basis other special general meetings. In all these the Board shall report to the stakeholders all matters (important) on how OF is achieving the performance targets. This will still be the Annual Strategic Plan Review. 9 P a g e

11 There will be one (1) Annual Audit of Omega and its affiliates. This shall be carried out by independent auditors and accountants appointed by the Board, through a resolution sanctioned by the Board. There will be four (4) Board Meetings every year. There will be monthly management meetings at OF. OF shall develop a decision making structure to support such important processes The board will cause the development of viable strategies and policies to actualise the dreams of this plan. Such policies will include; Communications, Records, Finance & Procurement, HR policies, ICT, Project management framework, Institutional strengthening approach etc. BUDGET/RESOURCES The strategic plan is estimated to cost KES 900 million MONITORING The strategic plan has an integral monitoring and evaluation framework from which monitoring plans for each initiative is derived. 10 P a g e