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Our Vision
A world where justice, dignity and respect prevail for all.
Our Mission
To work in partnership to challenge poverty and inequality. We support practical actions that enable people to improve their lives and shape their own futures.
Our Values
1. Human Respect
“We all matter”
- We challenge inequality and stand up for justice
- We listen to views with fairness and equality, no matter who you are and where you’re from
- We take time to find common ground
- We put people’s aspirations at the centre of everything we do
2. Community Focus
“People lead their own development”
- We build better societies by bringing people together to achieve their potential
- We are a decentralised organisation, driven by community needs
- We work to understand and tackle the root causes of poverty and inequality
- Our work builds social capital
3. Integrity
“Principles drive our commitment”
- We are open, honest, reliable and accountable in all we do
- We work to the highest professional standards and use resources responsibly, efficiently and effectively.
- We learn from the people we work with, are willing to be self-critical, and continually strive to do better.
- We recognise that people rely upon our planet’s natural resources and will strive to ensure that our work is environmentally sustainable.
4. Partnership
“Complementary strengths working together”
- Partnership is at the heart of our work and we have deep respect for the long-term relationships and processes involved
- We recognise that individually we are limited yet together we can achieve more and achieve better
- We value the different strengths of our partners and believe that working together as equals helps us all to be more effective
- We strive to collaborate effectively to achieve a common purpose
Our Aims
Concern Universal strives to Prove and Improve every project to maximise value for money and ensure sustainability. Our Theory of Change helps us to check that we are not only doing things right, but also whether we are doing the right things as we work to challenge poverty and inequality.
1. Resilient Lives
Resilient Lives
We focus on Resilient Lives, and in particular agricultural development, because many of the most vulnerable people in the world depend on subsistence agriculture for their livelihood. Yet the right to food is not being upheld and over a billion people go to bed hungry every night.
Goal:
- To ensure that vulnerable people have more resilient and sustainable livelihoods and that economic growth is equitable
Priority strategies:
- Increasing market access for smallholder farmers
- Conservation and environmental protection
- Sustainable agricultural development
- Low carbon technologies
- Local and sustainable energy production
Key Outcomes for 2014-2019:
- 958,620 people with an increase in cash income
- 177,250 people using fuel efficient stoves
- 727,725 people with increasing yields
- 26,415 hectares irrigated
- 835,571 people with a decrease in ‘hungry months’
2. Better Health
Better Health
We focus on Better Health because without health there can be no development. Good primary healthcare starts with the basics: access to clean water and sanitation, protection from tropical diseases such as malaria and access to skilled health professionals. When people have access to good health care they are more likely to lead productive and fulfilled lives.
Goal:
- To improve health by increasing access to basic services like water, sanitation, primary healthcare and emergency food/ shelter.
Priority strategies:
- Service provision of basic services
- Improving government accountability for the provision of basic services
- Policy development related to health/WASH
- Emergency relief
- Community partnership and ownership of primary healthcare
Key Outcomes for 2014-2019:
- 2,765,500 people with access to safe water
- 3,755 ‘open defecation free’ villages
- 10,233 water points provided or rehabilitated
- 160,809 new toilets built
- 2,386 schools with a new or rehabilitated water point
3. Upholding Rights
Upholding Rights
We focus on Upholding Rights because we understand that the underlying causes of poverty and inequality are often related to unequal power and the lack of accountability of those in positions of power.
Goal:
- To improve government accountability to vulnerable people and to increase citizen engagement in decision-making processes, as well as increasing the respect for the rights of all people.
Priority strategies:
- Social protection
- Gender and disability rights
- Local governance
- Social accountability
- Prevention of violence against women
Key Outcomes for 2014-2019:
- 222,280 people in dialogue with local or national government in issues that affect their livelihood
- 3,059 CBOs/CSOs trained and supported in using social accountability techniques and tools
- 416 workshops between community and local government on issues that affect their livelihoods
- 910,846 people trained in advocacy skills, and/or made aware of their rights
- 301 local government bodies using social accountability tools
Our Approach
Poverty is not just about being poor. It is being denied choice and opportunity – whether it’s a lack of food, water, healthcare, education or feeling powerless to make changes. Concern Universal tackles poverty from the grassroots and works with people across all levels in society, to help families make a lasting difference to their lives.
Our work to challenge poverty and inequality responds to the needs expressed by people where we work in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Each of our programmes develops programmes that respond to local need. By avoiding an organisational blueprint, our approach allows innovative ideas to emerge from the exchange of ideas between our programme teams, our partners and, most importantly, people living in poverty.
We have developed five core strategies that are necessary in a sustainable development process.
International Aid Transparency Initiative
Concern Universal is compliant with the International Aid Transparency Initiative. This is a global commitment by donors and aid organizations to make information about aid spending easier to access, understand and compare. To view our profile, click here
