Strategy and policies
Our Strategy
Since its creation, the foundation has expended untiring efforts and service guided by its mission and principles which draw inspiration from the life and legacy of Imam Sayyed Musa As-Sadr. The foundation implements good governance and methodological planning in keeping with the culture of our community and with scientific advances as well as socio-economic developments.
As such, the foundation deemed it fitting to devise a plan for the three coming years where, by the end of the year 2020, it shall be a leader in the cultural, health, social, and economic empowerment of women. Indeed, the female graduates of the foundation, not to mention its female employees and administrators, shall set an example as women competently and responsibly participating in the social and economic lives of their families and community. Moreover, the foundation seeks to care for and educate children and youths in a safe and organized environment which guarantees social awareness and true learning for all. It hopes to provide them with comprehensive care within its cultural complex and at home, and offer them holistic primary healthcare while ensuring the quality and standards that meet the social, economic, and health needs of communities. The foundation aspires to deliver to each of the targeted family members the proper health care at the proper time and place to respond to the full spectrum of their needs.
Based on these set priorities enshrined in our organizational vision, the administration proceeded to formulate a clear and comprehensive executive plan aimed to achieve our vision while adopting the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach.
As a result, four strategic axes were mapped: women’s empowerment, child care and education, primary healthcare provision, and good governance.
These axes comprise several strategic goals which will be met based on a causal model where the achievement of one goal allows the realization of another as a consequence.
The goals are distributed across four basic dimensions. The first is human resources, i.e. learning and development, through skills building and developing the educational, professional, health, infrastructure, and IT knowledge base. The staff will be subsequently able, through the second dimension (programs, systems, and internal operations), to develop vocational training, education, and specialization curricula for the targeted groups and to create a favorable national environment for the empowerment of Lebanese women, thus helping them achieve greater balance in their family, social, and economic life. Moreover, this allows for improved welfare and health services, increases the efficiency of the organizational structure, and promotes the image of the foundation in Lebanon and abroad. At this stage, the staff is enabled, according to the third dimension which tackles financial resources, to reinforce the foundation’s financial planning and supply other funding sources from outside the budget in order to better serve the targeted beneficiaries who are addressed in the fourth dimension, thus achieving a modern society that believes in social justice and is free from ignorance, poverty, illness, and violence.
The implementation of the second strategy is expected to be completed in 2020. During the three intervening years, specific criteria will be applied to measure the extent to which the strategic goals have been fulfilled.
The Sadr Foundation aspires to be a leader in the empowerment of Lebanese women and the promotion of their capacities and potentials in order to guarantee basic and social rights by delivering services to those most in need and most at-risk, in innovative and advanced ways.
Programs’ level
1. The foundation strives to expand its reach to beneficiaries while maintaining the quality and effectiveness of its services, and while involving stakeholders in the process of design, follow-up, and evaluation;
2. The foundation employs the necessary tools to monitor its performance and to measure and document its impact. This includes applying appropriate standards, producing periodic and annual reports, and conducting an annual review to identify and highlight the best achieved outcomes;
3. The foundation encourages and supports internal initiatives that generate ideas and projects which foster progress and contribute to the production of knowledge, while investing the required time and effort to collect and analyze information. The foundation welcomes initiatives from the beneficiaries themselves;
4. The foundation within the broader societal context, meaning that it seeks to influence public policy relevant to its line of work by highlighting the successes achieved where it operates as well as the shortcomings that should be addressed whether through direct intervention or by motivating other actors;
Structure’s level
5. The organizational culture is built on the symmetry between volunteers and employees in terms of status, affiliation, capacity building, and commitment. Human resources should share the sense of constructive criticism, are willing to assume responsibility and take the initiative, practice accountability, and be team players;
6. The organizational structure is built on participation, transparency, and competence. It adopts transparent general criteria in hiring, compensation, and promotion. Our priority in the coming years will be to attract the needed qualified individuals in IT and information management, special education, and social work to follow-up on the girls at home, as well as psychosocial intervention specialists and experts as needed;
7. Our staff adopts transparent general guidelines in their work, while taking into account specific criteria when carrying out certain assignments and tasks of a risky nature or under special circumstances. Such criteria apply to hiring procedures, wage scales, incentives, tasks, career advancement, and other relevant issues;
8. The foundation’s capacities are distributed and its resources allocated in such a way as to guarantee the highest revenue at the lowest possible cost while continuing to build a solid administrative basis and to invest more resources in innovation, research, and development.
Financial Policies
Expenses:
a. The foundation’s expenses are set by virtue of decisions issued by the board of directors.
b. Each department, or each business unit, devises its own annual budget which is discussed and passed in the last month before the new financial year.
c. Funds cannot be reallocated from one item to another without the prior consent of the board of directors.
d. Incoming funds from donor/government contracts or other specific projects are held in a special account.
e. When preparing the budget or allocating funds, the proportion of administrative and overhead expenses should not exceed 20 percent of the overall project or program cost.
Revenues:
a. Annual subscriptions: From employees and subscribing members.
b. Incoming aid: Contributions from governmental/non-governmental entities or Arab/international organizations, and all other donations or grants authorized by the board of directors, in addition to entitlements according to Shari’a.
c. Beneficiary contributions: School tuitions, medical/testing fees, and other nominal contributions which are set in accordance with the social and economic circumstances of the beneficiaries.
d. Contracts: The value of the contracts signed by the foundation with any other party in exchange for goods or services in keeping with the experience and mission of the foundation.
e. Income-generating projects: Revenues generated from the production units of projects which are run on behalf of the foundation, in addition to the sale of books, other publications, and training kits… Such revenues to the foundation’s budget are growing steadily. There are plans to achieve 50 percent coverage of expenses through self-financing by 2020 as long as such projects fall within the scope of our experience and expertise and comply with our values and objectives.