Why Assess The Habitat For Humanity International? - Paper Example

Introduction

Achieving set goals is every bit as daunting for organizations as it is individuals. Many businesses, government agencies and non-profit agencies conduct some sort of planning to air their goals, development strategies to help attain them and arranging required resources. However, for many organizations, they fail to attain their long-term goals. According to ... almost 70% of these organizations fail to achieve these goals they have set for themselves.

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The Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI) has a track record of setting and attaining their goals which has been quite impressive. Over the past few years, we have set our targets and timelines for a money we would want to raise, homes we would like to build and number of countries we would like to make habitable for humanity. This is according to the 2014-2018 Strategic Plan. For this organization, there is an urgent need to always make sure we have the capacity to attain our goals. The board of directors encouraged its workforce to develop a strategic plan with the most determined goals. The broad ambitious goals are; building community impact, building sector impact, societal impact and growing a sustainable organization. After this plan was endorsed by the board of directors, there was a need of how to increase the chances of achieving these goals. For instance, is there a need to learn from their past mistakes to help in ensuring progressive success in attaining their aspirations?

According to (Lattimore, John and Mickey Lauria p.3) important element of strategic planning of Habitat for Humanity is entitled "Defining, Measuring and Communicating Impact". Over a couple of years, the organization has updated and increased our theories of change to acknowledge that developing shelter solutions leads to the improvement of household health and well-being along with contributing to established and interconnected communities. The impact initiative came from the above theory of change and from Habitat's for Humanity to capture the range of assistances occasioning from people having a decent shelter which we all believe it ultimately leads to breaking the cycle of poverty.

For instance, Habitat for Humanity rehabilitation work most of the times improves the quality of water and sanitation of a household. Consequently, we expect that the incidents of waterborne illnesses to go down. With lesser illnesses, we also likely expect that the household heads maintain some sort of employment or livelihood to be in a better position to raise money to send their children to better schools. Also, with the Habitat for Humanity, there is increased the physical, social and psychological health of communities.

Measuring the Impact of The Habitat for Humanity International

All activities that Habitat for Humanity undertakes can be measured, and the resulting changes are attributed to them and their partners. This aids in establishing its contribution to improving the lives and communities it serves. Items that are measured for this international organization are known as the core metrics. These metrics are supposed to make up the Impact Initiative that was selected, and there were various indicators put in place that will;

Undoubtedly articulate the outcomes emanating from the programs and services of Habitat for Humanity to foster learning and progressive improvement in the work it does. Also, developing a complete knowledge management capacity along with enhancing the effectiveness of their communication to all audiences, reporting on results attained and tailoring its messaging to various audiences (Delmelle, Elizabeth, et al. p.525).

Achieving its Organizational Benefits

To attain the above organizational benefits, Habitat for Humanity needs to acclimatize and advance. For instance, just any shelter that they build is created with a rigid base, their program development and implementation process ought to be fashioned on a strong foundation that will include the following:

1. Proof of what works for a planned project to ensure non-repetition of mistakes.
2. Knowledge of the political and sociocultural environment where the program will be realized.
3. The participation of communities, their input and endorsement of the proposed projects.
4. A firm monitoring and evaluation plan.
5. Financing to properly undertake the program, not excluding monitoring and evaluation.

All of the above elements will be geared towards keeping track of if the set programs are producing intended results. This is increasingly critical if they are to ensure achievement of the goals of the strategic plan. If for instance, the outcomes of their programs monitoring and evaluation show that they are at risk of not attaining their goals, then there is a need for necessary changes. This helps in ensuring the Habitat for Humanity as an international organization becomes stewards of their donor funds and therefore, ultimately to achieve its mission more effectively and efficiently.

By Habitat for Humanity being able to describe in more depth and more detail the outcomes and effect of its programs will help the organization tell the public their story and escalate public backing for enhanced and decent housing for everyone. Developing a shared strategy to measure, define and communicate the effect will help in the accomplishment of the organizations' goals alongside building energy, capability building and community enablement. The data about Habitat for Humanity shows that their work is turning the lives, families and communities around.

A Look Back From the Future to Assess the Importance of the Work of Habitat for Humanity

For this organization, it started quite rough, and housing was a bit of a challenge. In developed countries, the results from foreclosure meltdown which started in the last decade led to a strong drag on economic growth resulting in increased unemployment. In the developing countries, the organization crossed the threshold of more people dwelling in urban than rural areas - a movement which has continued up to this day.

These conditions presented exclusive and substantial challenges to Habitat for Humanity. In 2012, the leadership of the organization undertook on a central question: "How would a global organization, inspired by God's love for all people, respond to the ever-increasing need for adequate housing, and do so at a time when financial resources were more constrained than at any time in the previous two generations"?

The organization was inspired by a prayerful commitment to their mission, the board and senior leadership of HFHI with support from various Habitat partners. There was drafting s strategic plan from 20154 to 2018 with the aim of positioning the Habitat as a promoter, supplier and partner of choice in addressing the world's persistent shelter needs.

The plan envisioned a future where housing is recognized throughout the globe as key to decreasing poverty and improving communities. The Habitat has been able to inspire many of the private sector bodies to commit themselves, with resources they have, in addressing the housing requirements of the poor. Also, more organization, government bodies and individuals have opted to bestow their attention, capacity and energies to the suppression of deficient housing. The Habitat, in many countries, has made noteworthy development in the housing deficit. It has laid the basis for a feasible housing finance business that offers capital at reasonable and inexpensive terms.

The Habitat has also worked with partner colleagues to assist landowners to establish irrevocable rights to the land on which their housing is erected. There has also been the creation of a system of technical experts around the globe to provide high-end direction to households that opt to improve their housing states. As stated earlier, the Habitat has demonstrated unquestionably that access of adequate housing is a requisite component in breaking the inflexible cycle of poverty.

Inspired by this evidence and success stories that the Habitat has shared, the number of volunteers across the world has doubled and have joined them. The organization has transformed its processes to ensure enough resources to support its work and pursue fresh and innovative initiatives. They have been able to bring on board and retain the finest and committed housing professionals globally, and it conducts its operations in means that honour those that invest their resources with them.

The organization has made great progress over the last decade, and today, there are still far too many families who do not have access to decent housing in various developing countries and where sanitation is a challenge. The Habitat for Humanity, however, is getting stronger than before and more committed than ever in its mission of getting people together to construct homes, societies and hope.

Conclusion

As stated before, when the strategic plan of 2014 to 2018 was struck, it wasn't just about how the organization would track the development of the set initiatives. It was about recognizing that what they did with the information they were tracking when communicating both externally and internally could enhance their ability to put shelter on the minds and hearts of individuals such that homelessness and poverty housing becomes socially, religiously and politically unacceptable. This will enable the Habitat to show the connection between fresh of refurbished homes, better health for households, and improved performance of children, stable incomes and safer communities.

Works Cited

Ahmed, Iftekhar. "Resilient Housing Reconstruction in the Developing World." Urban Planning for Disaster Recovery. 2017. 171-188.

Delmelle, Elizabeth C., et al. "The effectiveness of Habitat for Humanity as a neighbourhood stabilization program: The case of Charlotte, North Carolina." Community Development 48.4 (2017): 527-545.

Drouillard, Trevor, et al. "Safety and Organization: An EPICS Partnership With Habitat for Humanity." Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement 4.1 (2017): 4.

Lattimore, John, and Mickey Lauria. "Collective efficacy in disadvantaged neighbourhoods: The influence of Habitat for Humanity." Journal of Urban Affairs (2017): 1-23.

Senat, R., et al. "Making Community Engagement a Priority: A Case-Study on Earthquake Response in Simon Pele, Haiti." (2017): 3.