At FAITH, along with our stakeholders, we have developed four strategic priorities that are important to achieving our vision. These represent areas where we must focus our efforts and assign resources. They build on our core strengths – innovation, advocacy and social mobilization – while expanding the work to mission-critical areas. It also commits us to being creative, agile, always learning and prepared to take risks to accelerate transformations in the society around us and beyond.
Successfully implementing our priorities will require us to invest in ourselves and lean on our distinct assets – our staff, board, and the larger, supportive community – as we seek to:
1. Design breakthrough and innovative campaigns for advocacy
We are recognized by our peers for innovative use of media platforms to draw national attention to important issues. As an organization, we will continue to invest in innovation – through art, theatre, documentaries – that confront harmful stigma and discrimination while promoting positive role models for the impacted communities. We also recognize that we need to pursue lasting partnerships with organizations that see the promise of new forms of media to shatter stigma associated with sexuality, gender, or people living with HIV, TB and other marginalized populations.
2. Advance Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Sex is still taboo. Parents don’t speak to children about it, teachers shy away from it and our textbooks skip the topic entirely. This can lead to unsafe and unhealthy sexual beliefs and practices, and, in cases, promote unhealthy relationships among partners. In extreme conditions, it can lead to discrimination and violence against women including female sex workers, sexual minorities. We believe it is important to expand our scope to advance the sexual health and reproductive rights agenda.
3. Mainstream Gender
As a community, we have made notable progress in raising awareness about HIV and achieving universal coverage of HIV services in Nepal. Women, however, continue to face harassment and discrimination and denied their right to treatment and support along with their sexual and reproductive health. The challenges faced by poor, marginalized women are substantial and we must continue to champion this agenda.
4. Transform into a learning organisation
We have a compelling vision – one that seeks to engage and inspire all of us. Achieving it requires us to transform FAITH into a learning organisation, one that is open and keen to learn from the community it serves, the staff, the board, and broader stakeholders. We have learned a lot through this journey but we haven’t always been good about documenting or translating the lessons into our organizational policies. As we look forward, we recognise that each of us – our employees to our network – must be equipped to create, acquire and translate lessons to transform our societies. We are committed to review ourselves from the ground up, while ensuring that learning occurs in every process, every unit, and every project. We are compelled to learn and be prepared to take risks to accelerate change