Our Strategic Objectives

Originally Plan worked with the adults of its partner communities to implement development programmes aimed at addressing the needs of disadvantaged children.

With an increased focus on children's rights, Plan has seen how children's participation and putting children's interests at the centre of their own development help break the cycle of child poverty. For this reason, at the beginning of the 2000s Plan defined and expanded its identity and role as a 'child-centred community development organisation', approving Strategic Directions reflecting this approach.

Since then Plan has doubled its worldwide income, increased the number of countries where it works, and faced new challenges, including growing inequality, environmental degradations associated with climate change, population pressure and urbanization, spread of HIV/Aids and rapid increases in energy and food prices. To adapt its work to the changing environment and have a greater and more effective impact on the lives of children in 2008 Plan revisited and updated its five-year objectives.

As part of that review the following priorities and objectives were adopted:

Impact and accountability
To be a leading organisation in delivering measurable impact for poor children.

Stronger child-centred community development
To continue to adapt quality child-centred community development programmes to local contexts across countries and regions.

Modernised child sponsorship
To facilitate a global social network of child sponsors in support of children living in poverty.

Diversify income
To increase resources in most countries where Plan has a presence and to work closely with corporations, institutional donors and foundations enabling Plan to assist as many children as possible.
 
Agile and effective organisation
To make Plan an effective and responsive organisation in reducing costs, being guided by clear policies, procedures and accountability framework.

Representative and participative governance
To promote a culture of inclusion and participation across its governance and advisory structures and to build the competence of children, communities, sponsors and other partners to influence decisions and priorities of institutions on poverty and the wellbeing of children.

Plan Ireland's objectives, together with other constitutional matters, are set out in our Memorandum and Articles of Associations.

Our main objective is:

‘… to relieve poverty by promoting and protecting the rights of children…’