Action at the Margins
Every organization, it seems, produces a strategic plan.
But let’s face it: nearly every one of these plans is—at best—painfully dry, and—at worst— painfully dry and hopelessly confusing. Why? Two reasons. First, these plans are littered with jargon and buzzwords that make little if any sense—even to the people who write them. And second, these plans are completely devoid of any humanity. To be precise, the people—usually committees of people—who prepare strategic plans lose sight of the fact that their organizations are not inanimate structures or abstract concepts; their organizations are groups of living, breathing men and women devoted to accomplishing real things for real people.
Our strategic plan is different. It’s written and designed to help you understand—immediately and precisely—who we are at CARE Canada, what we do and how we will go about improving what we do during the next five years. What a concept! In all seriousness, my experience has shown that the simplest, most direct approach is almost always the most persuasive and revealing.
We call our plan Action at the Margins. A fitting title—again, for two reasons. First, the women and men of CARE Canada are taking action everyday to help people who live at the figurative margins of the modern world— in poor countries, impoverished communities and trying conditions. And second, this strategic plan is enlivened further by my annotations, which appear at the literal margins of this plan.
These annotations provide you with my personal observations, accounts and disclosures about international development. More importantly, these annotations give you fresh, human perspectives of all of us—the women and men of CARE Canada and our knowledge, creativity and success in helping people throughout the world overcome poverty and live in dignity and security.
Kevin McCort
President and Chief Executive Officer
CARE Canada
