Save the Children's Foundation - Research Paper

Introduction

There are many charitable organizations in the world that help in distinct cases where they offer different types of assistance to their specific group of people according to the interest that the organization aims to achieve. These organizations may decide to work with marginalized groups of people such as children who have social disadvantages, physically and mentally challenged children as well as adults and those living in harsh environmental conditions such as refugees, those living in war areas as well as those that live in dry areas. (Arvidson, & Lyon, 2014). Some of these organizations seek to ensure proper feeding of children, educating them, checking on their wellness and other functions. In this paper my organization of choice that deals with children are the Child Voice Organization.

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The Child Voice Organization was formed in the year 2006 to reestablish the voices of many children that were lost due to war in the Northern part of Uganda. During this time around thirty thousand children were abducted and taken away from their parents by the Lord's Resistance Army. These children would later undergo some training to become soldiers. Several children were lucky to escape, but they had to endure hardships due to trauma and stress. Lack of educational opportunity was another challenge they were facing.

The Child Voice Organization was providing psychological therapies to the children who were members of the army after the abduction. The organization was helping adolescent girls, orphans due to the war, sex slaves, former child soldiers, and other girls whore were in high risk of other challenges. The organization was helping the girls to recover from the past trauma that they had encountered during the war. It was also assisting them in acquiring an education while they were at the center, and others were getting vocational training as they were in desperate need to rebuild their lives again after the war.

Like any other organization, The Child Voice Organization has its mission and vision that are well outlined. The mission and the vision of this organization remind it about what they do and what they are in pursuit of getting. The vision, on the other hand, emphasizes the organization about how far and what they want to achieve as s long-term goal. Their mission and visions are well founded as they conform to what they do.

Mission

The mission of this organization is to empower children who have hearing loss to be successful in life in both educational and social settings of their lives by enhancing their listening, speaking and academic skills.

Vision

The vision of this organization is well established. The vision of the Child Voice organization is to gain national and international recognition as the leaders in listening and educating the children on speaking for the children who have hearing loss as well as supporting their families.

Since Uganda is no longer at war, the organization hasn't collapsed. It is extending its humanitarian activities to other war-torn countries to take care of the children from those states the way it did in Uganda. The organization now has an establishment in South Sudan and Nigeria. It currently serves as a legitimate Non-Governmental organization. This status is what allows it access to other states as stated above.

Strategic Issues of Child Voice Organization

There are several vital issues in this organization such as leadership, staffing, funding, and guiding principles. (Butler, & Wilson, 2015) As it may be for any other organization, the administration remains paramount as there must be those leading the others to ensure a smooth running of the organization. To achieve good administration, this organization has well-structured management with competence, skills and goal-oriented leaders. Good control allows the organization to have its day to day operations taking place well and in an organized way. The structure of leadership is from the chairperson and the vice chairperson, a secretary, and a treasurer. These represent the leading management. However, some regional managers are responsible for running the organization at different levels in the regions.

The other strategic issue is that of staffing. The staffs of an organization are the main determinants of the success of any firm. However, at times the effect of staffing usually faces challenges due to the shortage of the staff to help in the running of organizational processes making it a challenge to deliver and achieve the goals. The Child Voice Organization is not different from other firms in terms of inadequate staff. The inadequacy may hinder the organization from making their vision and mission. However, this organization is committed to ensuring that they sustain a good population of the workers to assist in the activities of the organization. The organization acquires its staff from a variety of states such as Uganda, South Sudan, and Nigeria among other countries of the world.

Since the Child Voice Organization is a non-profit foundation, it, therefore, does not engage in any business to make money to run it. It is agreeable that it needs a lot of money to fund its programs. Owing to the need for finances, the program depends on donations from other bodies, governments of various countries and from well-wishers. Most of these charitable organizations in the world face the challenge of insufficient finances. Lack of funds hinders smooth flow of operations and other programs undertaken by these organizations. Lack of resources on time makes their work harder; it also implies the hiring of workers. The aftermath of these struggles is the collapsing of these organizations. Nevertheless, this particular organization has been able to manage their finances well through proper allocation of grants and accountability when dealing with funds. The Child Voice Organization has shown success in its endeavors.

The guiding principles of the organization are part of its strategic issues. Guidelines are essential in running any firm or organization. They guide the operation of any organization. They outline what is expected of every member of the organization. Minors are a compassionate group of people, and therefore firm rules have to be put in place. It is critical to get all the principles correctly to avoid breaking them. Some of the guidelines of the Child Voice Organization include:

• Appropriateness- children are allowed to express themselves. Engaging with children, their teachers and families are useful in ensuring relevance.
• Value all children as a citizen and respect all their rights.
• Respect for the children is another principle as consultations are founded on respect for children.
• A proper understanding of the children's feeling and needs involves the active engagement of children.
• Ethical considerations are crucial while dealing with a sensitive group of people such as children. Honoring a child and his/her family is moral and should be ensured at all times.
• Handing the agenda to the children as working with children requires methodologies such as projection. Asking child-friendly questions to allow for their views explicitly.

Key Concepts of the Organization

The Child Voice organization applies fundamental concepts such as capacity building among the children under its care. It achieves this by procuring rehabilitative therapies to the children that need it. It also involves the children in expressing themselves as per their guidelines that allow handing agendas to children to have their views. The school-going age is facilitated to get an educator to teach them. Education is a critical way of achieving capacity building. The children who are deaf are taught how to use sign language as well as assisting those that can hear in learning listening skills

Volunteerism is another technique that this organization uses to build the capacity of its children. By allowing them to take part in expressing themselves under various forums and project their views. Mentoring the children and encouraging them to move on is vital and is one of the activities of this organization. They do this to counter post-traumatic stress especially to those who were recruited into the army. As it happens in many charitable organizations, collaboration with other stakeholders is vital. Child Voice Organization cooperates with well-wishers, different governments and other organizations for various reasons such as funding. It, therefore, paints a vivid picture of the concept of partnership.

In the past, non-profit charitable organizations did not apply the method of marketing themselves. Currently, the marketing technique is acceptable, and non-profit organizations are using various channels to achieve this. The reason for marketing is however not to get customers as the principle is applied primarily. The Child Voice uses the law of marketing to create awareness and wealthy potential funders. It also does this to be able to ensure that more children and families get to know about it.

Non-profit organizations do not apply the usual marketing techniques. For the Child, Voice Organization involves the use of distinct strategies while marketing themselves. Some of the policies they employ include the use of interviews and short-term and long-term surveys. These studies aim at examining the various aspects from a perception of charitable organizations. The philanthropic organizations have only three targets whenever they are figuring out marketing themselves. These targets include clients, volunteers as the workers and donors to help to fund their programs.

Marketing for the non-profit organizations, on the other hand, does not give many benefits as many gains from these targets are non-monetary contributions such as foodstuffs, clothes, self-volunteering to offer technical expertise mainly by professionals such as educators who can provide themselves to educate the children in the case of our organization.

Child Voice Organization being a non-profit has the mandate to ensure that it fully advocates for its mission and vision. There is however a difference between lobbying and being able to decide between the two is what will exempt the organization from state taxation. These non-profit organizations are typically exempted from tax. Charitable organization advocacy makes their voice to be heard regarding the issues that relate to their programs and mission. A charitable organization such as the Child Voice Organization advocates for themselves as well as their target group and that which is under their acre by contacting state authorities and representatives. They explain their mission and share what they do. They also advocate for their children by spearheading children related projects such as equal education opportunities, quality health care for children, proper nutrition and provision of adequate security to protect them and their rights.

As many other non-organizations do, our organization is also keen on inviting representatives or other members of the public to visit their website or their offices to inform them about the organization. This advocacy allows them to make recommendations as well as pointing out the challenges that they encounter as they undertake. The exercise of support as practiced by these organizations may take longer as it is a continuous engagement likely to occur from time to time. Advocacy by these organizations does not target at altering the laws, but instead it aims at sensitizing the stakeholders and other statutory bodies to understand them well and what their mandate is. The Child Voice Organization as a non-profit organization to assist in furthering its long-term and short-term goals. That staffs and other volunteers may work to push and influence specific laws on behalf of particular organizations.

The differe...