Building a Better World for Children

V i s i ó n M u n d i a l E l S a l v a d o r

PUBLISHER

© WORLD VISION EL SALVADOR (WVES) March, 2013

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Manuel Ortega, Ilsa de Ramos, Mario Vega, Carlos Cocar, Carolina de Portillo, Giuseppe Ange-lucci, Enrique Escobar, M. Ricardo Calderón (Ex-Officio), Stefan Pleisnitzer (Ex-Officio).

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

M. Ricardo Calderón, Franklin Perdomo, Willy Figueroa, Marlon Henríquez, Sharon Boyle, Max Alfaro, Joselyn Orellana, Lorena Roque, Haydée Paguaga.

WORKSHOP-SEMINAR ORGANIZERS

Adalid Zelada, Paty de Morán, Haydée Paguaga, Baltazar Ventura, Elmer Vides, Margarita Menjivar

EDITORIAL TEAM

Holly M. Jones, Technical WriterJessica McGhiel, Spanish/English Translator (Section VIII)

Sharon Boyle, Associate EditorM. Ricardo Calderón, Editor

Rogelio Chávez, Graphic DesignKatia Maldonado, Photographer

World Vision El SalvadorAvenida Bernal No. 222, Colonia Miramonte

San Salvador, El Salvador, C.ATel: (503) 2261 9800 Fax: (503) 2261 9911

Email: [email protected]

The opinions expressed herein are those of the writer/editors and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Vision Inter-national. Excerpts from this publication may be freely reproduced acknowledging World Vision El Salvador as the source.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Executive Summary 3

II. Program Background 4

III. Christian Leaders at Every Level (CLAEL) 4

IV. 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar 5 A. Workshop Goals 5 B. Workshop Learning Outcomes 6

V. Inspired Teaching and Learning Environments 6 A. Relaxing Learning Environment: Royal Decameron Salinitas 6 B. Entertaining Instructional Environment: Audio-Visual Effects 6 C. Inspiring Christian Environment: Daily Devotionals and Teachings 7 D. Problem-Solving Environment: Information Technology Solutions 8 E. Uplifting Professional Environment: Innovation Presentations 8

VI. Guest Speaker Presentation Themes 9

VII. Innovation Brainstorming Exercises 12 A. Exercise 1: Trend Indentification 12 B. Exercise: 2: Divergent Thinking 13 C. Exercise 3: Convergent Thinking 13 D. Exercise 4: Wild Thinking 14

VIII. Summary of Trends, Thematic Areas and Innovations 14 Thematic Area 1: Growth and Coverage of Children 15 Thematic Area 2: Programmatic Quality and Impact 18 Thematic Area 3: Networking and Positioning 20 Thematic Area 4: Culture of Peace Campaign 22 Thematic Area 5: Prosperity of Children Campaign 24 Thematic Area 6: Well-Being of Children Campaign 26 Thematic Area 7: Gender Equity Campaign 28 Thematic Area 8: Financial Growth and Sustainability 30 Thematic Area 9: Monitoring and Evaluation 32 Thematic Area 10: Stewardship and Organizational Excellence 34 Thematic Area 11: Participation and Mobilizations 36 Thematic Area 12: Corporate Security and Emergency Response 38 Children. Adolescents and Youth Proposed Innovations 40

IX. Overall Summary 42

X. Key Learnings and Challenges 42

XI. Next Steps and Closing Statements 44

XII. References 45

XIII. Appendix 1: Program Agenda 46

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WORLD VISION EL SALVADORCHALLENGE 1

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

• Respect, openness, support and interest in seeing the world differently• Thinking differently, unconventionally and from a new perspective in a cre-ative, new and innovative way.


CHANGE OF MIND

• “And do not be conformed to this world, but be trans-formed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and accept-able and perfect.”

Romans 12:2 (NABS 1995)

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

World Vision El Salvador (WVES) hosted the 2012 Inno-vations for Impact Workshop-Seminar on July 24 – July 27, 2012 at the Royal Decameron Resort and Conven-tion Center in Salinitas, El Salvador. The workshop rep-resented one event in a series of human resource de-velopment efforts that comprise the WVES Leadership Development Program,“Christian Leaders at Every Level (CLAEL)”, a world-class talent development program based on the holistic and systemic integration of busi-ness leadership best practices and Christian leadership principles.

Created by the WVES Executive Leadership Team, the CLAEL Leadership Development Program focuses on Spiritual Nurturing, Leadership Development and Orga-nizational Affairs. These themes are delivered in weekly, multipoint, videoconference format staff meetings and biannuañ face-to-face workshops held at both the divi-sion level and with the entire 362-person national staff. At the time of the July 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar, WVES had already executed the “21st Century Leadership and Management Conference” in September 2010, the “Christian Leaders at Every Level Con-ference” in July 2011, and the “Building a Better World for Children by Building a Better Me Conference” in December 2011.

The 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar was designed with the following goals in mind: (1) cre-ate a high performance WVES workforce capable of ex-traordinary ministry results and impact in an increas-ing and sustainable manner, (2) create an organizational culture conducive to progressive innovation and change, and (3) create incremental and radical innovation ideas at division, program and microfinance institution levels to enhance ministry performance, achieve national im-pact and reach 50% - 100% of children in El Salvador with transformational development efforts.

In order to achieve these goals, the WVES staff prepared a high impact workshop-seminar experience attended by 423 participants (333 staff, 58 children and youth rep-resentatives, and 32 conferene guests and speakers). The workshop featured inspiring spiritual environments, mo-tivating and educational capacity building presentations from prominent guest speakers, and multidisciplinary in-novation exercises to foster the burgeoning culture of innovation within the organization.

WVES turned to World Vision International Partner-ship Leader, Lars Gustavsson, and his recently published book, “Spectrum of Providence: Twelve Bible Lessons in In-novation: An Innovation Primer” for the curricular content of the workshop. Spectrum of Providence is a powerful, faith-based publication that utilizes well-known Biblical stories to illustrate examples of innovation and its appli-cation throughout history. Each of the workshop’s guest speakers presented a chapter of the book, their personal interpretation of the lessons and the practical applica-tions of the concepts within World Vision. Innovation brainstorming activities centered around twelve thematic areas that ranged from Programmatic Quality and Impact to Resource Stewardship and Sus-tainability, among others. The WVES staff expertly as-sembled multidisciplinary, cross cutting work groups that combined staff members from different National Office Divisions, Area Development Programs (ADPs) and Children and Youth Representatives to participate in every facet of the workshop.

Each multidisciplinary group worked through a series of exercises designed by the WVES Executive Leadership Team to identify trends within the twelve thematic ar-eas, brainstorm a set of innovative ideas in the divergent thinking phase, and then use critical thinking skills to merge these ideas with those of other groups to gener-ate solid innovation proposals. Each of the 48 groups assembled were also encouraged to participate in a radical thinking process to generate wild ideas, or those perceived by many as being obviously quite unlikely or dangerous and disruptive.

At the end of the seminar, each group presented a set of innovative project ideas that included three primary ideas, three secondary ideas and one radical idea. These results will be evaluated by the WVES Executive Leader-ship Team to assess feasibility and define the next steps for implementation.

A roundtable meeting on strategic communication and scaling was held with WV international representatives resulting in a recommendation for WVES to publish results and lessons learned, and develop an innovation toolkit that could be used to promote a Partnership-wide innovation culture by the WVI Global Collabora-tion and Innovation Office.

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Innovations for ImpactPurpose: Build a better world for children by building the lead-ership skills, strengthening the creative thinking and releasing the God-given immense poten-tial of the World Vision El Salva-dor 362-people workforce and 58 Children and Youth Repre-sentatives from WVES pro-grams and networks.

II. PROGRAM BACKGROUND

The World Vision El Salvador (WVES) Ministry, an Interdependent National Office with a 362-people workforce founded in 1975, comprises 20 Area Devel-opment Programs (ADPs) in 6 provinces, 39 municipali-ties, 343 villages and 764 hamlets. It serves over 83,000 children, funded by 5 Support Offices (USA, Canada, Korea, Taiwan, Japan) benefitting over 430,000 people with an annual budget of $17 million USD (Sponsor-ship, PNS, GIK).

III. CHRISTIAN LEADERS AT EVERY LEVEL (CLAEL) LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

PROGRAM

A May 2010 technical review revealed a country pro-gram with a strong relief, development and advocacy capacity to transform children, families and communi-ties in El Salvador. At the same time, this assessment showed the following characteristics:

1. Technical, programmatic, managerial and financial practices that needed to be updated and brought to 21st century business and international standards,

2. A huge potential to strengthen, expand and diversify programs geographically and target population-wise, and

3. A unique opportunity to create new models and

scale up to achieve national and international impact.

The challenge to the new WVES Leadership was to revamp operations with a revised local vision, new goals, strategic imperatives and a high performance workforce. In response to this challenge, the Execu-tive Leadership Team created a Restructuring and Re-vitalization (R&R) Program to reorganize corporate functions, structures and operations (Restructuring) and create a culture of excellence, high performance and accountability (Revitalization). A crucial component of this R&R Program was the creation of the unprec-edented “Christian Leaders at Every Level (CLAEL)” concept and program based on a combination of leadership development best practices and Christian leadership principles. CLAEL integrates business and Christian principles as interdependent practices, rath-er than a collection of independent programs. WVES integrated these principles making them holistic and systemic in nature.

Knowing it is not necessarily a best practice that leads to successful leadership development, but rather its consistent implementation, WVES created a continuous leadership development program consisting of weekly video-conference staff meetings that address spiritual nurturing, leadership development and organizational affairs, and face-to-face workshops both at the division level and for the entire 362-person staff. The program was designed to achieve the following objectives:

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1. Deliver the same teaching and learning experience to all staff,

2. Streamline change communication within the orga-nization, and

3. Enable trust and clarity among the staffs of the Na-tional Office, the FUNSALDE Microfinance Institution (MFI) and the Area Development Programs.

At the time of the July 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar, WVES had already executed the “21st Century Leadership and Management Conference” in September 2010 for a set of 60 staff members, the “Christian Leaders at Every Level Conference” in July 2011, and the “Building a Better World for Children by Build-ing a Better Me Conference” in December 2011, both for all staff nationwide.

IV. 2012 INNOVATIONS FOR IMPACTWORKSHOP-SEMINAR

The 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar was designed on the basis of the following goals and learning outcomes as established by the WVES Execu-tive Leadership Team:

A. Workshop Goals

1. Create a high performance WVES workforce capable of extraordinary ministry results and impact in an in-creasing and sustainable manner.

2. Create an organizational culture conducive to pro-gressive innovation and change.

3. Create radical innovation ideas at divisions, programs and microfinance institution levels to enhance ministry performance, achieve national impact and reach 50% - 100% of children in El Salvador with transformational development efforts.

“Innovation is change that creates a new di-mension of performance. All public, private and nonprofit organizations must be governed by performance, not merely by good inten-tions.” - Peter Drucker, Managing the Non-Profit Organization

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The Challenge: “Unleash the full individual and collective potential of employees to achieve and sustain higher levels of performance than the workers themselves thought possible, than management or customers expected, and than competition can realistically achieve.” - Jon Katzenbach, Peak Performance

B. Workshop Learning Outcomes

1. Modernize the technical, programmatic, managerial and financial capacities of the divisions, programs, mi-crofinance institution and WVES as a whole.

2. Strengthen, expand and diversify WVES programs, services and benefits for children, adolescents and youth (CAY).

3. Reach national and international impact through in-novative, value-added and replicable business models to ensure fullness of life for Salvadorean children.

With these goals and outcomes in mind, the WVES staff worked diligently to design a high impact workshop-seminar experience attended by 333 staff members, 58 children and youth representatives and 32 guests and conference speakers for a total of 423 participants.

The workshop-seminar was comprised of a unique combination of high-energy, inspired environments, motivating and educational presentations, and high im-pact, multidisciplinary innovation exercises to foster the burgeoning culture of innovation and creative en-gagement throughout the organization.

A key component of the workshop-seminar was the inclusion of children and youth representatives in ev-

ery facet of the activities, including roundtable discus-sions and innovation exercises. Their participation in-vited rich discussion and opportunities for reflection throughout the workshop-seminar.

V. INSPIRED TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

A. Relaxing Learning Environment: Royal Deca-meron Salinitas

The workshop-seminar was held in the attractive Royal Decameron Resort and Convention Center, located on the Salvadorean Pacific Coast, 56 miles away from the country’s capital city, San Salvador. Royal Decameron Salinitas co-sponsors the WVES Leadership Develop-ment Program through special discounted rates as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility efforts. This 3-star, all-inclusive oceanfront resort features a world-class conference center and beautiful, tropical sur-roundings that enable the participants to take a break from their daily routine and fully engage in the learning environment of the workshop-seminar.

B. Entertaining Instructional Environment: Audio-Visual Effects

The WVES staff took great care to deliver an extraor-dinary audio and visual experience for its participants. The workshop-seminar featured an 8-piece Christian musical group, known as The Band. Band leader, Ri-cardo Calderón Jr., led the audience in many Christian sing-alongs to inspire each participant’s connection with God and to encourage a festive and productive environment. Calderón Jr. also delivered a 90-minute presentation entitled “The Music Paradigm.” This ses-sion used the band as a metaphor for WVES in order to raise its performance to a new level. The musicians were led through a series of exercises that illustrated key qualities and practices of high-performing teams

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World Vision El Salvador is developing a culture of innovation and fostering the de-velopment of collaborative change leaders to make world-class technology and inno-vation possible. WVES is building capacity to mobilize the society as a whole to pur-sue ambitious new goals to build a better world for children. - WVES Executive Leadership Team

and organizations. Participants experienced a high-im-pact learning experience on effective leadership, team-work, communication and innovation in an exciting, instructional, entertaining and interactive environment.

The conference room was equipped with eight full-length projection screens that featured bilingual pre-sentations, movies and video clips with surround sound, and karaoke-style lyrics to accompany the Christian music. The workshop featured a complete videography team that provided real-time video perspectives of the audience participation and guest speakers.

Participants were also treated to a special evening of entertainment that included a traditional Latin Ameri-can dance show by the Royal Decameron Salinitas staff, a movie forum featuring Mission Impossible 4, and a special closing program that featured musical numbers performed by The Band and a special teaching entitled “Innovation for Impact 2 – Jesus: The Innovator of His-tory”, delivered by the charismatic Pastor Rony Madrid of Iglesia VidaReal.tv of Guatemala.

C. Inspiring Christian Environment: Daily Devotionals and Teachings

WVES invited two dynamic pastors to join the week’s activities and lead the participants in devotionals throughout the workshop.

Pastor Juan Angel Castro of Centro Evangelístico de las Asambleas de Dios, San Salvador, participated in the Opening Ceremony with a Christian Leadership Sermon and the Invocation for divine help. He also contributed to the event by presenting on “Everyday Creativity”, featuring a video from renowned National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones.

Pastor Rony Madrid of Iglesia VidaReal.tv of Guatemala delivered an inspirational session on “Innovation & Ser-vice” and offered his blessing and guidance throughout the workshop-seminar in addition to his Closing Re-marks on “Jesus: The Innovator of History”.

The WVES Spiritual Leadership Team (SLT), an 8-mem-ber voluntary intercession ministry, led participants in opening prayers for each of the morning, afternoon and evening presentation sessions. Prayers and devotionals were also woven into the daily activities to encourage

participants to realize their individual potential for in-novation, and to open their minds and hearts to the power of God’s purpose to innovate through them.

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D. Problem-Solving Environment: Information Technology Solutions

WVES’s commitment to the application of new tech-nology and efficient processes within the organization has propelled the National Office to a position of lead-ership within the Partnership.

Medad Cea of the WVI Regional Office for Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean (LACRO) delivered a presenta-tion on the Central American Integration Project. This innovative project aims to integrate the back-offices of the National Offices in Central America and create a Shared Services Center to enhance the productivity and efficiency of country programs, multiply savings in time, efforts and resources, and enhance the overall performance, outcomes and impact of Central Ameri-can National Offices.

WVES was also proud to host international guest speaker, Bernard Vicary, Business Product Director of the Program Management Information System at the WVI Global Center. Vicary presented on the new Ho-rizon system and its new content management capabili-ties, which is revolutionizing the way Area Development Program offices collect data, communicate progress of their programs with the National Office, and use infor-mation for better planning, policy and decision-making.

E. Uplifting Professional Environment: Innovation Presentations

WVES was proud to feature World Vision Canada President, Dave Toycen, as the inaugural guest speaker. Toycen, in his presentation entitled “Innovation for Im-pact 1: Cultivating Innovation”, captivated the audience as he presented the history of World Vision, its current mission and the urgent need to innovate.

In order to fully immerse the staff in the concepts of innovation, WVES turned to World Vision Global Col-laboration and Innovation Partnership Leader, Lars Gustavsson and his recently published book, “Spectrum of Providence: Twelve Bible Lessons in Innovation: An Inno-vation Primer”. Spectrum of Providence is a powerful,

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faith-based publication that utilizes well-known Bibli-cal stories to illustrate examples of innovation and its widespread application over time. Each conference participant received a copy of the book. A total of 20 presentations were made by local and international guest speakers. Twelve guest speakers were assigned a chapter of the book to present, together with business applications, personal interpretation of the lessons and practical applications of these concepts within their positions in the World Vision organization.

VI. Guest Speaker Presentation ThemesSpectrum of Providence:

Twelve Bible Lessons in Innovation: An Innovation Primer

Stephen: Innovation and VisionFrank Williams, Senior Advisor, Global Collaboration and Innovation & Director and United Nations Representative, WVIWilliams highlighted how a true witness provides a story that goes on, long after death. Williams elaborated on Stephen’s fatal struggle with the Apostles in his mission to protect the hungry, Greek widows. Williams presented on the recently launched WVI Global Inno-vation Framework that will act as an innovation ecosystem to provide support for the new innovation efforts across the organization. Williams encouraged WVES to pursue serious disruptive innovation, highlighting opportunities in cell phone technology.

Nehemiah: Innovation and DeterminationOscar Ramírez Smith, Director of Strategic Relations, WVESRamírez highlighted how patience and tenacity, along with truth-telling, lead to collabora-tion and transformation. Ramírez presented on Nehemiah’s determination to build Jerusa-lem in a time when Judaism was fading. He spoke on the basic conditions for determination and the ten primary roles that need to be played during the practical application of the innovation process. Ramírez also highlighted the importance of deep personal reflection and an urgency to keep dreaming to meet the national movement targets.

Naaman: Pragmatic InnovationSharon Boyle, Director of Organizational Excellence, WVESBoyle discussed how even the weakest faith can converge with compassion to create something new. Boyle spoke on Naaman’s struggle as a respected Syrian general suffering from leprosy, and how letting go of his pragmatic approach to life allowed him to be cured in the healing waters of the Jordan River. Boyle highlighted disruptive innovation with a Harvard Business School report on the key components of catalytic innovation for social change and a case study on developing Christian children’s clubs in Muslim West Africa.

David: Innovation on the InsideChantal Tomlinson, CIO & VP of Information Technology, WV CanadaTomlinson spoke about a shepherd and a poet, and in spite of his weaknesses, a man after God’s heart. Tomlinson used David’s story as a “A Man After God’s Heart” to express the importance of understanding each person’s unique passions and gifts in order to carry out God’s plan for individuals and the needs of the organization. Tomlinson spoke on the urgency for WVI to become more relevant through innovation, and the need to engage the donor community in ways that foster increased support and commitment.

Nathanael: Innovation’s Challenges to PreconceptionsWilly Figueroa, Director of Administration & Finance, WVESFigueroa highlighted a man of faith surprised by a Jesus that Nathanael couldn’t categorize. In his presentation on Nathanael, Figueroa emphasized the Nazareth Syndrome, an internal struggle of intense questioning and doubt around “Can anything good come out of this?” Figueroa shared personal accounts of his struggle within the WVES National Office as the organization experiences the growing pains of modernization. He expressed his renewed faith in the organization and its innovation efforts.

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Nicodemus: Inconceivable InnovationTim Sawer, VP Marketing, WV United StatesSawer explained how Nicodemus was invited and engaged in a spiritual transformation. Sawer presented on inconceivable innovation and its applications to marketing efforts at World Vision United States. Sawer explained that through his deep, faith-based work ethic, he has been able to inspire his staff to create innovative products, including a world-class, online fundraising platform. His devotion has inspired others around him to work in ac-cordance with their own personal connection to God.

Peter: Innovative ThinkingVerónica Olivares, Programs Director, WVESOlivares highlighted a disciple, apostle and church leader; a man who convened the church for transformation. She reflected on Peter’s life as a fisherman and his struggle to accept becoming one of the twelve Apostles. Olivares highlighted modern examples of innovative thinking with the Arab Spring and its roots in youth innovation and technology; she also noted the famous, Olympic high jumper, Dick Fosbury, whose innovative thinking and risk taking forever changed the way the world approaches the sport.

Ruth: Innovation and PersistenceJoselyn Orellana, People and Culture Manager, WVESOrellana elaborated on a woman of faith and persistence who took action to transform her future. Orellana presented the history of Ruth, her persistent conversion to Judaism and as a result, the subsequent birth of her most significant direct descendant, Jesus. Orel-lana emphasized that the innovative products lie within the needs of the people they affect, as illustrated by a creative industry case study.

Jonathan: Innovation and SacrificeFrank Williams, Senior Advisor, Global Collaboration and Innovation & Director and United Nations Representative, WVIWilliams explained that true friendship transforms us, enabling us to engage the world with hope. Williams reflected on the transformative power of the deeply committed friendship documented between Jonathan and David. Williams explained the critical and supportive roles that scouts and connectors play in the lives of innovators and the spreading of their ideas. He also emphasized the importance of developing individual curiosity on a daily basis, taking personal risks and not retiring from continual learning.

Abraham: Innovation and Leaving TownMax Alfaro, Executive Director of FUNSALDE, El SalvadorAlfaro spoke about Abraham the father, founder, leader and innovator, but flawed in his execution of each. He presented on Abraham’ struggle to leave his land and start anew in uncharted territory. Alfaro expressed that while leaving one’s comfort zone may be trau-matic, it is necessary to spur growth and innovation. Alfaro highlighted excerpts from the book, Blue Ocean Strategy, which explain that the primary barrier to successful innovation is imaginary or perceived limitations which must be overcome.

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King Ahab: Innovation the Wrong WayLars Gustavsson, Partnership Leader, Global Collaboration and Innovation, WVIGustavsson pointed out that God sometimes engages the worst of people to accomplish the best of things. Gustavsson led the participants through an assessment of King Ahab’s disastrous record as the worst leader in history, by applying a Harvard Business Review report on why leaders fail. Gustavsson underscored World Vision’s urgent need to embed 24/7 innovation into the organization, despite the many hurdles and inevitable failures that the organization will need to overcome along the way.

Rahab: Innovation and Recognizing the TruthLorena Roque, Internal Audit Manager, WVESRoque described how a convergence of events leads to the birth of an unexpected faith. She presented the story of Rahab and how her belief in the truth guided her to hide the Hebrew spies in her home. Rahab’s actions expressed her true beliefs, and in reward she and her family were saved during the conquest of Jericho. Roque highlighted the realities of overcoming perverse problems, those containing large amounts of complex information, to make progress in one’s mission and goals.

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“If we are truly helping advance Jesus’ work, we should also be becoming better people in the process.” - Dave Toycen, President, WV Canada, on practicing individual innovation and renew al; Innovations for Impact 1: Cultivating Inno- vation, Workshop-Seminar Inaugural Remarks

VII. INNOVATION BRAINSTORMINGEXERCISES

To commence the innovation activities, WVES Execu-tive and National Director, Dr. M. Ricardo Calderón, gave participants the informative and educational pre-sentation “Making Innovation a Reality” to explain the strategy behind the workshop’s Innovation Brainstorm-ing Exercises and how they were to be executed. Dr. Calderón focused on four innovation themes – What is Innovation?, Thinking and Acting Differently, Innovation Breakthroughs and Innovation Exercises– and four critical steps –Trend Identification, Divergent Thinking, Convergent Thinking and Wild (Radical) Thinking.

WVES staff expertly assembled 48 multidisciplinary, cross cutting work groups of seven to ten members each that combined WVES, FUNSALDE and ADP staff from distinct positions, with Children and Youth Repre-sentatives to encourage diversity and candid participa-tion.

Fifty members (32 registered children and 18 non-sponsored children) of the Children, Adolescence and Youth Municipal Councils were selected by their peers to attend the workshop. These participants, ages 15-22, also belonged to the Local and National Networks promoted by WVES. In addition, eight children, ages 9-12, from the WVES Children Communicators Pro-gram, participated in the workshop and contributed to the discussions in their roles as Children Communica-tors.

Each of the 48 groups was accompanied by a WVES Executive Leadership Team, Senior Management Team

and/or Area Development Program “facilitator” to lead the groups through seven innovation brainstorming sessions. The following exercises were carried out over the course of three days:

1. Trend Identification2. Divergent Thinking3. Convergent Thinking4. Summary of Innovations

A. Exercise: Trend Identification

Purpose: Recognition of a general direction in which something (vision, mission, strategy, intervention, situa-tion, condition, etc.) tends to move, flourish, grow, de-velop, improve, happen or stop, decline and deteriorate.

Activity: Each of the 48 work groups was assigned one of twelve thematic areas defining a problem statement and challenges (descriptions of thematic areas found in in section VIII.). On average, four groups were tasked for each thematic area. Groups were asked to think of “ministry” around “trends”, particularly: What is the trend that WVES is riding on that gives purpose to the ministry including its enabling, success factors or dis-abling, failure conditions? The groups reviewed the fol-lowing thematic areas:

1. Growth and Coverage of Children2. Programmatic Quality and Impact3. Relationships and Positioning4. Culture of Peace National Movement (Youth Vio- lence Prevention)5. Prosperity for Children National Movement (Ex- treme Poverty Eradication Acceleration)6. Well-Being of Children National Movement (Pro- motion and Protection of Children’s Rights)7. Gender Equality National Movement (Gender-Sen- sitive Country)8. Financial Growth and Sustainability9. Monitoring and Evaluation

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10. Resource Stewardship and Organizational Excel- lence11. Participation and Mobilization12. Corporate Security and Disaster Relief

The multidisciplinary nature of the work groups elic-ited a wide range of contributions on each topic. This array of perspectives painted a more thorough picture of the national situation, in turn creating a more com-prehensive vantage point from which groups could confidently progress into the next activities: divergent and convergent thinking.

B. Exercise: Divergent Thinking

Purpose: Creative thinking process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions (the ability to create multiple ideas, solutions or op-tions from a given stimulus).

Activity: In the divergent thinking exercise, each of the 48 groups expanded upon approximately five to ten innovative ideas that addressed the problems and op-portunities listed in the Trend Identification activity. At the end of these discussions and in preparation for the Convergent Thinking Exercise, groups were tasked to

identify the top three primary innovation ideas, three secondary innovation ideas, and one or two wild ideas, those whose implementation would cause serious dis-ruption to the status quo of the organization. The cri-teria given to participants to make their selections was based on the following three parameters:

1. Novelty: The quality of being new or being striking, original or unusual;2. Attractiveness: The quality of causing an interest, need or aspiration; and3. Feasibility: The capability of being done or carried out.

C. Exercise: Convergent Thinking

Purpose: Critical thinking process that focuses on com-ing up with the single, well-established answer to a problem (the ability to analyze, break apart, and arrive at a single “right answer”).

Activity: Convergent thinking was based on uniting dif-ferent working groups in a session of critical thinking and analysis to combine the two groups’ independently brainstormed ideas into a list of the best five to ten solutions for each thematic area.

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In this exercise, groups were combined in two phas-es. First, two groups of seven to ten people worked together to effectively communicate their ideas, ana-lyze the entire set of ideas and choose which solutions were strong enough to move on to the next round.

After this process, two combined groups of fourteen to twenty members were united to develop one defini-tive set of responses to each of the thematic areas.These sets of ideas were then summarized into a total of three primary innovation ideas, three secondary in-novation ideas, and one or two radical ideas.

D. Exercise: Wild Thinking

Purpose: Radical thinking process used to generate an idea that many people think is obviously quite unlikely or that is dangerous and disruptive.

Activity: Radical ideas were solicited from each of the 48 groups and discussed throughout all of the innovation brainstorming sessions.

VIII. SUMMARY OF TRENDS, THEMATICAREAS AND INNOVATIONS

At this final stage of the exercise, a representative of each thematic area delivered a succinct presentation of the converged ideas to all conference participants. The description of each of the 12 Thematic Areas is pre-sented below along with the trends and results of this exercise in terms of Primary, Secondary and Wild Ideas.

In addition to the innovations recommended by the final work groups, the children and youth representa-tives also presented their innovative ideas in the follow-ing three Thematic Areas of their choice: Well-Being of Children National Movement (Promotion and Protec-tion of Children’s Rights), Participation and Mobiliza-tion, and Prosperity for Children National Movement (Extreme Poverty Eradication Acceleration).

“Forget about what has happened. Don’t keep going over old history. Be alert. Be present. I’m about to do something brand new.” - Isaiah 43:18-19 as quoted by Lars Gus- tavsson, WVI Partnership Leader, Global Co- llaboration and Innovation, WVI.

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THEMATIC AREA 1GROWTH AND COVERAGE OF CHILDREN,

ADOLESCENTS AND YOUTH (CAY)Facilitator: Veronica Olivares

The WVES programming has primarily focused on sponsored children and Area Development Programs (ADPs). The Transformational Development strategies are based on the Life Cycle of Children. These strate-gies are organized into four age groups, all of which correlate with four good practices known as “Central Mechanisms of Transformational Development of Children” as follows:

• Good Health and Nutrition Circles: 0-3 years• Community Holistic Development Centers: 4-6 years • Community Clubs for Children: 7-12 years• Adolescent and Youth Clubs: 13-20 years

These Central Mechanisms of Transformational Devel-opment of Children build human capital while simulta-neously four “Place-Based Interventions” are implement-ed to create “Safe and Healthy Community Environments at the Built/Physical, Social, Economic and Service Level”. By using these tools, WVES aims to ensure fullness of life for Children, Adolescents and Youth (CAY) in commu-nities that are safe and healthy.

In fiscal year 2011, the number of sponsored CAY was 61,325, or 2.3% of vulnerable CAY from 0-20 years old in El Salvador. Since only 20,519 (33%) of these children were participating in Transformational Development good practices, the new WVES vision and goal is to give 100% of the sponsored CAY the opportunity to par-ticipate in good practices while, at the same time, add-ing one non-sponsored CAY per each sponsored CAY

with the same quantity and quality of services. WVES will use the same amount of resources to provide the same services and benefits to the non-sponsored CAY. For fiscal year 2014, WVES plans to double the current number of registered children, to over 122,000 ben-efited children. Nevertheless, even with this increased coverage, only 5% of El Salvador’s CAY will be covered. Therefore, WVES needs to create or integrate new Transformational Development Good Practices in con-junction with the public and private sector and non-profit institutions to achieve 50% to 100% coverage.

How can WVES increase the number of sponsored CAY in Transformational Development activities? How can WVES add a non-sponsored CAY for each spon-sored CAY (Children Coverage Expansion Program:: 2x1 Strategy) in the Transformational Development activi-ties? How can WVES provide coverage to 50% to 100% of the children located in each Area Development Pro-gram region and beyond? How can WVES make exis-tent good practices more efficient and effective? How can they be offered at a lower cost? What other Good Practices or Transformational Development Mecha-nisms are required to increase CAY coverage?

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TREND IDENTIFICATION RESULTS:

What is the trend that WVES is riding on that gives purpose to the ministry including its enabling, success factors or disabling, failure conditions?

Positive trends for growth and coverage of girls, boys, adolescents and youth identified by team members in-clude:

1. The Ministry of Education is implementing full-time schools.

2. The government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and churches have strengthened children, ad-olescents and youth rights.

3. Local governments and international organizations are interested in working on behalf of children.

Negative trends for growth and coverage of girls, boys, adolescents and youth identified include:

1. A wide range of social factors contribute to diffi-culties in the lives of CAY including national instability, child labor, extreme poverty, violence, the disintegra-tion of families, rapid population growth and depen-dence on handouts.

2. Local actors and NGOs have differing agendas.

3. International fundraising efforts are affected by branches of the state.

INNOVATION IDEAS:

Primary, secondary and wild innovation ideas proposed by team members include:

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THEMATIC AREA 2PROGRAMMATIC QUALITY AND IMPACT

Facilitator: Franklin Perdomo

In general, WVES has focused on services and the de-velopment process through the opening and closing of Area Development Programs (ADPs). There are ex-amples, stories and treasured testimonials of how the ministry has impacted the lives of children, adolescents and youth (CAY) as well as their families and commu-nities. However, WVES does not have evidence-based practices that integrate developmental skills with the best available research-based external evidence. It is necessary to utilize a scientific methodology to record the quantitative and qualitative impact that Transforma-tional Development Good Practices have on CAYs.

As such, the Partnership has created a new approach entitled “Child Well-Being Aspirations” based on the fol-lowing Child Well-Being Targets (CWBTs):

1. Children from 12-18 years old report that there is an increased level of well-being;

2. An increase in number of children from 0-5 years old that are protected from infection and disease;

3. An increase in the number of children from 0-5 years that are well-nourished; and

4. An increase in the number of children who are able to read by age 11.

How can WVES ensure quality interventions and have a more effective impact on CAY? How can WVES im-prove the CWBT indicators among sponsored and non-sponsored CAY? How can WVES ensure that the CAY participating in the interventions stand out as more intelligent, nourished and well prepared? How can WVES demonstrate that these CAY are taking ad-vantage of their intellectual, social, economic and spiri-tual potential?

How can WVES ensure that the programming ap-proach provides coverage to the most vulnerable CAY? Which roles do divisions and programs play in terms of the monitoring and evaluation of the CWBTs? What is the role of the WVES volunteer staff in the monitoring

and evaluation of the CWBTs? How can the CWBTs have the largest impact on the most critical needs of the CAY? Given that the CWBTs speak to the most critical CAY needs, which interventions, structures, methodologies or practices must be incorporated or developed in order to make CWBTs a WVES program-ming priority?



Positive trends for Program Quality and Impact identi-fied by team members include:

1. WVES technical team is able to define appropriate indicators, measurement tools and guidelines.2. CAY are participating in the central mechanisms.3. Institutional and inter-sectoral relationships exist.4. Leadership development is happening at all levels.

Negative trends for Program Quality and Impact iden-tified by team members include:

1. Many of the indicators are not created based on community-level context; staff does not have the ca-pability or guidelines to properly implement systems.2. Parents are more interested in economic develop-ment than in their children’s education.3. Program structure is inadequate to reach program objectives; there are some poorly targeted interven-tions.4. There is a lack of an updated strategy based on local realities and inadequate methods of knowledge trans-fer.

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INNOVATION IDEAS:


THEMATIC AREA 3NETWORKING AND POSITIONING

Facilitator: Juan Carlos Cárcamo

In order to achieve the WVES goals in the following areas: Growth & Coverage of Children, Programmat-ic Quality & Impact, Promotion & Protection of CAY, Children’s ‘Life in all its Fullness’ National Movement, Financial Growth & Sustainability, Monitoring & Evalu-ation, Stewardship & Organizational Excellence, and Corporate Security & Emergency Response, WVES needs to build relationships, partnerships and strate-gic alliances with the public and private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and faith-based organizations (FBOs).

In order to be relevant and exercise public influence on a national level, WVES needs to achieve national impact based on the overall reduction in injustices, inequalities and violence that directly or indirectly affect CAYs. To achieve this goal, WVES plans to implement the follow-ing three strategies: 1. Prioritize the WVES advocacy work.

2. Increase leadership development interventions for those without a voice through strategic alliances with churches, youth groups, FBOs, educational institutions, community foundations, civil society, the private sector and government.

3. Maintain a presence in at-risk rural and urban areas to expand the CAY coverage in the most vulnerable, and oppressed communities.

How can WVES improve its ability to network and de-velop strategic alliances? How can WVES better posi-tion itself nationally as a leading organization and CAY advocate? How can WVES effectively position itself as the national leader in mobilizing campaigns to protect CAY? How can WVES brand recognition be increased throughout the country? How should WVES prioritize its partnership building efforts?

How can a National Movement of the Faith-Based Or-ganizations be developed? More specifically, how can WVES motivate and coordinate the entire Christian (Catholic and Protestant) community to join a Chil-

dren’s ‘Life in all its Fullness’ National Movement based on the WVI Regional Cause “protected children promot-ers of a safer and more just society”.



Positive trends for Networking and Positioning include:

1. Strategic partnerships with businesses, youth net-works, government, NGOs and faith based organiza-tions (FBOs).2. Use of technology and social media to increase pub-lic awareness of WVES.3. New positioning strategies in urban areas and main-tenance of WVES presence in locations where they have worked well and achieved good results.4. Acceptance and credibility of WVES by its partners make advocacy easier.

Negative trends for Networking and Positioning in-clude:

1. Rivalry, competition and incompatible priorities be-tween municipalities and NGOs.2. World Vision’s evangelical identity can cause non-faith based organizations to resist collaboration and partnering. 3. Lack of internal organization cohesiveness and openness.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


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THEMATIC AREA 4CHILDREN’S ‘LIFE IN ALL ITS FULLNESS’

NATIONAL MOVEMENT 1. CULTURE OF PEACE CAMPAIGN

Facilitator: Arthur Guth Jokish

WVES recognizes that a government that acts alone cannot provide security, well-being and prosperity to its citizens in an efficient and effective manner, espe-cially for women and CAY. It is necessary to build part-nerships within the public and private sectors at the local and international level to create safe and healthy environments, multidimensional transformational de-velopment models and public policy. As such, WVES aims to contribute to:

1. Create new distribution of wealth models, and edu-cational and development opportunities,

2. Resolve specific problems and structural issues re-sulting in underdevelopment, and

3. Balance the inequality that exists between the “haves” and the “have nots” in order to undertake develop-ment that is more sustainable, equitable, effective and compassionate.

In order to strengthen, expand and diversify WVES’ Transformational Development Good Practices for sponsored and non-sponsored CAY, and to increase coverage to 50% to 100% of CAY in transformational development efforts, WVES intends to develop a “Chil-dren’s ‘Life in all its Fullness’ National Movement” compris-ing for essential components or campaigns:

1. Culture of Peace: Youth Violence Prevention

2. Prosperity of Children: Extreme Poverty Eradication Acceleration

3. Well-being of Children: Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights

4. Gender Equity: Gender-Sensitive Country

Therefore, in terms of the Culture of Peace: Youth Vio-lent Prevention Campaign, how can this Campaign be developed? What strategies should be used? Which components, interventions and partnerships should comprise this Campaign? What has to be done for this unprecedented Campaign and National Movement as a

whole to be effective and successful? How can WVES make a difference in leading, catalyzing and supporting national movements?

What steps can be taken to inform all those that visit El Salvador, whether by air, sea or land, that the en-tire country has consolidated its efforts to promote a Children’s ‘Life in all its Fullness” National Movements? What steps can be taken to peak their interest, get involved and provide support?



Positive trends for the Culture of Peace Campaign in-clude:

1. NGOs in the country interested in promoting a cul-ture of peace; possibility and feasibility of partnering with these organizations.

2. Laws like the Integral Law for the Protection of Chil-dren and Adolescents (LEPINA) are published and aim to include all sectors.

3. Existence of governmental structure that supports and pursues a culture of peace (legislative body, pros-ecutors, etc.).

Negative trends for the Culture of Peace Campaign in-clude:

1. Naturalization of violence and cultural factors that promote violence.

2. Limited opportunities and economic, social and cul-tural inequalities.

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3. Failure of leaders to promote and mainstream a na-tional peace movement. INNOVATION IDEAS:



NATIONAL MOVEMENT 2. PROSPERITY OF CHILDREN CAMPAIGN

Facilitator: Max Alfaro










Therefore, in terms of the Prosperity of Children: Ex-treme Poverty Eradication Acceleration Campaign, how can this Campaign be developed? What strategies should be used? Which components, interventions and partnerships should comprise the Campaign and Na-

tional Movement as a whole? What has to be done for this unprecedented National Movement to be effective and successful? How can WVES make a difference in leading, catalyzing and supporting national movements?




Positive trends for the Prosperity of Children Cam-paign include:

1. Interest of young people, their families and interna-tional organizations in helping youth improve their aca-demic and economic status.2. Adolescent and youth clubs to provide the basis for comprehensive development and entrepreneurship. 3. Agricultural practices on unused land with potential are being reactivated and strengthened.4. Health education with central focus on the family, and vocational workshops on teaching business vision, supply chain management and market research.

Negative trends for the Prosperity of Children Cam-paign include:

1. No existing systems of associations or institutional partnerships that secure employment opportunities for young people to overcome their disadvantages.2. Little involvement of local actors (churches, commu-

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nity development associations [ADESCOs], municipali-ties, health units, etc.) in social projects.3. Private enterprises are apathetic or unwilling to get involved and help eradicate poverty.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


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NATIONAL MOVEMENT3. WELL-BEING OF CHILDREN CAMPAIGN

Facilitator: Marla Gonzalez









4. Gender Equity : Gender-Sensitive Country

Therefore, in terms of the Well-Being of Children: Pro-motion and Protection of the Rights of Children Cam-paign, how can this Campaign be developed? What strategies should be used? Which components, inter-ventions and partnerships should comprise the Cam-

paign and National Movement as a whole? What has to be done for this unprecedented National Movement to be effective and successful? How can WVES make a difference in leading, catalyzing and supporting national movements?




Positive trends for the Well-Being of Children Cam-paign include:

1. Adoption of policies favorable to the wellbeing of children, including the Integral Law for Protection of Children and Adolescents (LEPINA) and food security and nutrition regulations (SAN).

2. WVES’s active participation in spaces of national im-portance including CISALUD, the Neonatal Alliance of the Ministry of Health (MINSAL) and the National Council for Children and Teens.

3. WVES has an important partnership with the Attor-ney for the Defense of Human Rights (PDDH).

4. WVES is represented on the National Council for Children and Adolescence (CONNA), RIA, and others.

5. Local stakeholders recognize the importance of child

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participation.

Negative trends for the Well-Being of Children Cam-paign include:

1. Children participation and issues pertaining to key themes of child development are not part of the na-tional research agenda or budget.

2. The church as an entity does not contribute to the protection of childhood and adolescence.

3. Lack of current culture of incident reporting on chil-dren’s rights violations results in slow reporting of in-

cidents.

4. The need for investment, protection and defense of children’s rights do not receive attention from social media outlets.

5. Disinterest on the part of parents and caregivers to protect boys and girls.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


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NATIONAL MOVEMENT4. GENDER EQUITY CAMPAIGN

Facilitator: Joselyn Orellana










Therefore, in terms of the Gender Equity: Gender Sen-sitive County Campaign, how can this Campaign be developed? What strategies should be used? Which components, interventions and partnerships should comprise the Campaign and National Movement as a whole? What has to be done for this unprecedented

National Movement to be effective and successful? How can WVES make a difference in leading, catalyzing and supporting national movements?




Positive trends for the Gender Equity Campaign in-clude:

1. Creating national-level policies that expand women’s participation.

2. Awareness of gender equity through leadership workshops and best practices taught by WVES.

3. Proven progress in women’s participation in educa-tion, environment, politics, religion and workforce.

4. Younger generations of Salvadorans being educated and familiarized with the concept of gender equity.

Negative trends for the Gender Equity Campaign in-clude:

1. Machismo culture still prevails in much of the coun-try.

2. Gender movements in the country tend to increase distorted or unappealing views of feminism and de-

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crease gender equality.

3. Lack of enforcement of laws and policies that im-prove gender-sensitivity including laws against domes-tic violence and gender-based discrimination and laws promoting child education and health.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


THEMATIC AREA 8FINANCIAL GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY

Facilitator: Oscar Ramírez Smith

The World Vision El Salvador Ministry depends primar-ily on sponsorship from five Support Offices. In fiscal year 2011, the United States and Canada were the larg-est donors at $7.39M (72%), while Korea, Taiwan and Japan contributed $3.01M (28%). The total budget for fiscal year 2011 was $15.3M, consisting of $10.4M in sponsorship, $3.7M of in-kind donations and $1.2M in the form of special projects.

WVES needs to secure long-term support and re-sources to maintain its five Strategic Imperatives:

1. Impact on Children

2. Safe and Healthy Community Environments

3. Advocacy: Promotion & Protection of Children

4. Sustainability

5. Future-Focused, Shared and Servant Leadership

Similarly, WVES needs to ensure balanced growth to support the following four pillars of economic sustain-ability:

1. Local and international sponsorship

2. Non-sponsored projects both locally and interna-tionally

3. International government and corporate funding (grants)

4. Local government and corporate funding (grants)

Through its subsidiary microfinance institution, FUN-SALDE (Fundación Salvadoreñna para el Desarrollo), WVES engages in microfinances for development. Providing financial services to people in poverty, small business and low-income people is an essential com-ponent of the Transformational Development process. The community-based business model of microfinance and its focus on children’s needs complement WVES

programming by creating families and communities with sustainable resources that allow them to have a Life in all its Fullness.

Therefore, how can WVES and FUNSALDE diversify their sources of funding? How can WVES double its budget in five years? How can FUNSALDE multiply its budget of $1.4M fivefold in 5 years? How can these budgets be multiplied even more once they are dou-bled?

What steps, strategies, interventions, or new thought patterns need to be implemented? What goals and growth rates need to be established on a quarterly, semi-annual and annual basis in terms of the four pil-lars of economic sustainability?



Positive trends for Financial Growth and Sustainability include:

1. WVES is working to maximize business social re-sponsibility efforts including in-kind donations, cash do-nations and volunteers.

2. The government is seeking partnerships and rela-tionships with NGOs, businesses and other entities to generate savings and complement its best practices.

3. WVES and the Microfinance Institution (FUNSAL-DE) are integrating efforts to offer financial opportun-ties to Area Development Programs (ADPs).

Negative trends for Financial Growth and Sustainability

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include:

1. WVES has not generated strategic relationships caus-ing many businesses to associate with more politically convenient NGOs.

2. Changes in government leadership causes changes in, and disintegration of alliances.

3. Savings that have been generated are not recorded, resulting in lost information.

4. Employees and volunteers with World Vision’s ADPs need to know more about FUNSALDE policies and operations.

5. WVES employees aren’t familiar with strategy and positioning, and there are many administrative de-mands that limit time spent doing fieldwork.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


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THEMATIC AREA 9MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Facilitator: Sharon Boyle

Although the terms “Monitoring and Evaluation” (M&E) are generally used together, M&E are actually two orga-nizational activities that are related, but distinct.

“Monitoring” is the systematic collection and analysis of the information of the project’s performance. It is used to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the project or the organization, in order to maintain or readjust the work that is being done. Similarly, it is used to indicate if there is something wrong with the proj-ect, to determine availability of resources and proper allocation, as well as to track if the work plan is being followed. Monitoring data is also used to create a base-line for evaluation.

“Evaluation” is the comparison of the achieved impacts with the agreed strategic plan, and can be “formative” (during the life of the project with the intention of im-proving the strategy or organization) or “summative” (at the end of the project to determine the achieve-ments and gather lessons learned).

What M&E have in common is that both are keen to learn about how and what is being done by focusing on:

1. Efficiency: if inputs match results,

2. Effectiveness: if the targets established have been met, and

3. Impact: if what has been achieved will make a differ-ence.

M&E is best used when there is appropriate plan-ning against which progress and achievements can be measured. In other words, monitoring is the medical check-up, and evaluation is the autopsy.

How can WVES best train its staff to carry out M&E? What strategies and changes are required to measure and report efficiency, effectiveness and impact? How can WVES best monitor and evaluate the registered and non-registered children? How can M&E integrate with planning and decision-making? How can WVES keep its Key Sponsorship Indicators, Regional and Global Dash-

board, National Office’s Performance Agreements, and Annual Operative Plan working appropriately?

How can WVES comply with the Program Capability Review indicators? What is the ideal location for the M&E capacity in order for it to be neutral, unbiased and objective?

How can M&E provide cost-benefit information (a sys-tematic process used to calculate and compare ben-efits as well as costs in cash) and cost-effectiveness in-formation (an economic analysis that compares relative costs and results of two or more activities) of WVES programming? How can a General Dashboard be cre-ated and characterized in order to measure WVES’ performance in an integrated fashion? How can WVES demonstrate more evidence of program and project results in a more tangible and measurable way?



Positive trends for Monitoring and Evaluation include:

1. There is a monitoring and evaluation tool in place that enables timely decision making (every 6 months).

2. There are human, technological, material and finan-cial resources in the community to implement Horizon.

3. WVES partners and shares its monitoring and eval-uation processes and methodology with local ADP teams and community members.

4. The monitoring and evaluation process involves the community, which provides local stakeholders with ac-

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cess to information.

Negative trends for Monitoring and Evaluation include:

1. Monitoring tools collect quantitative but not qualita-tive data.

2. Lack of staff training on monitoring and evaluation; not all departments within the national office partici-pate in the field monitoring process, which limits their

knowledge.

3. The execution of the contingency and follow-up plan is not verified by the national office or the LDPs.

4. In some technical areas, insufficient staff limits the quality of monitoring and evaluation.

INNOVATION IDEAS: Primary, secondary and wild in-novation ideas proposed by team members include:

THEMATIC AREA 10STEWARDSHIP AND

ORGANIZATIONAL EXCELLENCEFacilitator: Willy Figueroa

Stewardship is an ethical principle that is composed of the responsible planning and administration of human, physical and economic resources. The stewardship concept can be applied to diverse disciplines including the environment, economy, health, property, informa-tion and religion. It is also linked to sustainability, ef-fectiveness, productivity and organizational excellence.

Stewardship is also a Christian principle. In the Bible, the following teaching is found in Matthew 25:12: His master replied, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.”

This principle is also found in the followings scriptures: “Proverbs 14:35: A king delights in a wise servant, but a shameful servant arouses his fury. Proverbs 28:20: A faithful person will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. Luke 16:10: Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. Luke 12:44: Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. Luke 22:29: And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me”.

The WVES Restructuring & Revitalization Program, based on the reorganization of corporate functions, structures and services (Restructuring) and the creation of a culture of excellence, high performance and ac-countability (Revitalization), represents the strategic ap-proach to:

1. Increase ministry performance and impact

2. Reach the highest possible level of ministerial effec-tiveness and success

3. Strengthen and improve the transformational devel-opment efforts to ensure a Life in all its Fullness for the Children of El Salvador.

Therefore, how can WVES improve its transparency,

responsibility, and accountability to the CAY, commu-nities and sponsors? What standards should WVES adopt to improve its efficiency and financial effective-ness? What measures should be taken to improve in-ternal controls, financial decision-making and resource management? How can WVES correct and avoid the deficiencies and errors reflected in different audits and improve follow-up? How can purchasing, expendi-tures, budgeting, resource allocation and reporting be improved? How can WVES prevent and avoid irregu-larities and financial risks? How can the Finance and Administration Division become a Strategic Business Center that multiplies the WVES resources and nego-tiates more effectively to achieve 10% to 20% in pro-curement savings resulting in increased resources for field offices and ministry?



Positive trends for Stewardship and Organizational ex-cellence include:

1. World Vision has strong financial and operational stewardship that facilitates resource development amongst local and international donors including the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), US-AID and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).2. World Vision periodically discloses its operational experiences to demonstrate public investments ver-sus outcomes, increasing organizational credibility and encouraging potential partners to come together and achieve common goals.3. World Vision has developed processes to educate staff on internal controls, thus supporting proper op-erational and financial principles.

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4. World Vision is innovating and updating its policies, financial handbooks and other operational processes in order to make them more decentralized, streamlined and efficient.

Negative trends for Stewardship and Organizational Excellence include:

1. Failure to agree on operational and financial process-es hinders the organization’s ability to maintain existing donor relationships and attract potential donors.2. If World Vision operates without a culture of system-

atic and continuous disclosure, it will waste staff efforts and resources, and hamper financial opportunities.3. Lack of a culture of internal controls and systems that negatively affect World Vision’s accountability and growth.4. If World Vision operates with highly centralized processes, obsolete procedures and outdated policies, processes will remain slow and inefficient.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


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THEMATIC AREA 11PARTICIPATION AND MOBILIZATION

Facilitator: Isau Chávez

WVES aims to influence public policy and decision-making regarding resource allocation among public, economic and social institutions. WVES plans to carry out this advocacy work by using diverse communica-tion strategies including media campaigns, political dis-course, publications, advocacy, civic engagement, and mobilization or collective action.

This type of advocacy work requires a Volunteer Work-force that is “disinterested” (parties involved do not seek benefits or gratification for their efforts), “deliber-ate” (parties involved pursue a positive goal: improve the living situation of others), and “legitimate” (parties involved must be in agreement in order to help).

WVES needs to develop the following efforts to carry out effective advocacy work:

1. Organize, structure and coordinate CAY networks to promote the reduction of inequality, injustice and violence through: a. The development and empowerment of thousands of promising youth leaders with clear Christian values,

b. The consolidation of a well-coordinated network of specialized, committed volunteers across the coun-try, and

2. Mobilize public, private and non-profit partners and networks to combat injustice, inequality and violence.

3. Reach the national master goal of creating a just and safer society that contributes to the protection and sustainable well-being of 1.2 million CAYs through the empowerment, participation and mobilization of more than 122,000 CAYs by 2016.

Therefore, what is the best way to create CAY, munici-pal, departmental, regional and national networks that contribute to these goals? How will a volunteer staff of over 122,000 CAYs be trained to improve individual, family, and community development?

How can the WVES networks be linked to partner

networks? What strategies, interventions or network models should be implemented? How can the CAY net-works be empowered and mobilized to promote Life in all its Fullness (defined as CAY that are protected from violence, and act as change agents that promote a more just and safer society)? How is the centrality of CAY in the political, social, economic and religious arenas being established?



Positive trends for Participation and Mobilization in-clude:

1. WVES enjoys credibility and influence with local stakeholders, families and CAY.

2. WVES has developed strategic alliances with local stakeholders.

3. Political spaces exist for WVES neteworks to ex-press and manifest ideas and priorities.

4. Transformation and increased knowledge among CAY involved in WVES programs.

5. WVES has a mechanism that promotes CAY partici-pation through involvement in Municipal Councils.

Negative trends for Participation and Mobilization in-clude:

1. Stigma due to social status and religious preferences prevents some CAY and their families from participat-ing in WVES programs.

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2. Politization of social movements and demands.

3. Young people are responsible for contributing to their families limiting their abilities to participate and mobilize.

4. Nationwide proliferation of gangs.

5. The state is not allocating adequate resources to en-courage spaces of community participation.

INNOVATION IDEAS:


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Thematic Area 12CORPORATE SECURITY

AND EMERGENCY RESPONSEFacilitator: José Nelson Chávez

El Salvador has been declared the second most violent country in the world after Honduras. The homicide rate was 55.8 homicides per every 100,000 inhabitants, in 2008 and it reached 72/100,000 by 2011. The fig-ures from El Salvador are higher than those from Iraq, Mexico and Afghanistan. The World Health Organiza-tion has declared that any figure greater than 9 deaths per 100,000 habitants is considered an epidemic. This situation affects the WVES programs, staff and CAY in many ways, i.e. robberies, extortion, assaults, threats, rape, etc. In response to this situation, WVES has a Corporate Security Committee and three representa-tives that act as Focal Points.

El Salvador was ranked #1 in the Climate Risk Index in 2011, according to the German Watch NGO. 88.7% of the country’s surface and 95.4% of the population are located in risk areas. The National Disasters Economic Losses Index (NDELI) ranked El Salvador in the #6 po-sition in terms of extreme risk among 178 countries. The WVES Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs (HEA) Department focuses on disaster relief during earth-quakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tropical storms and droughts. This Department also focuses on building resilient communities through emergency prepared-ness and response, in-kind donations and local capacity building.

In regards to Corporate Security: How does WVES im-prove its efforts to provide corporate security for its programs, staff and CAY? Which areas should be pri-oritized in the security plan? How could the WVES Communication Plan be improved for emergency situations? How can WVES assure the well-being of staff and protect programs, equipment and property in a violent context? How can WVES programming be extended to urban areas given the current levels of violence? How can WVES corporate security efforts become proactive as opposed to passive and reactive?

In regards to Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs: How can WVES improve efforts to build communities that are resilient to disasters? How can in-kind donations be fully taken advantage of by Area Development Pro-

grams, special projects, partners and the government? How can HEA be converted into a Strategic Business Center that multiplies ministry resources, networks and support? How can WVES capacity be strengthened and consolidated to prevent and respond effectively to natural disasters and social disruption? How can WVES become more established in the community, municipal, departmental and national disaster relief networks?



Positive trends for Corporate Security and Emergency Response include:

1. Risk assessments and risk map are completed before intervening in a new territory.

2. World Vision has credibility and responsibility with donors, communities and local government.

3. On-going coordination with city and community leaders.

4. WVES has a team that prepares and assists program staff and communities in emergency management.

5. An emergency fund and material resources are avail-able for use in case of emergencies.

Negative trends for Corporate Security and Emergen-cy Response include:

1. The Ministry of Humanitarian and Emergency Affairs receives limited resources.2. Staff is not trained to handle outbreaks of violence.

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3. Lack of public education and awareness about disas-ters, emergencies and crime.4. Teams are not equipped with appropriate early warn-ing systems or budgets.

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INNOVATION IDEAS:


CHILDREN, ADOLESCENTS AND YOUTH PRESENTATION:

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED INNOVATIONS

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IX. OVERALL SUMMARY

The innovative proposals generated and positive mo-mentum felt among 423 participants after the work-shop (333 staff, 58 children and youth, 32 internal and external guest speakers and contributors) serve as a testimony to the culture of innovation and creative en-gagement that is growing throughout World Vision El Salvador.

The hard work and dedication of the WVES National Office to create a high-impact conference with mo-tivating presentations, critical technical content and multidisciplinary innovation exercises resulted in an inspired and energized national staff and many innova-tive proposals to investigate and implement in the days ahead. Even though the ideas are important, WVES is focused on the broader goal of creating an organiza-tional culture conducive to progressive innovation and change leading to transformation within WVES that extends throughout El Salvador rather than periodic or one time events. Consequently, the key primary, secondary and wild ideas that came from the 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar are the foundation upon which WVES’ divisions, programs and microfinance institution will enhance ministry perfor-mance, achieve national impact and reach 50% to 100% of children in El Salvador with transformational devel-opment efforts in conjunction with public, private and non-profit partners and stakeholders.

X. KEY LEARNINGS AND CHALLENGES

As the formal inaugural event for innovation for WVES, the following important “lessons” were learned:

• Invaluable Participation of Children, Adoles-cent and Youth: 58 boys, girls, adolescents and youth participated in the full conference. These young lead-ers, representing a National Children and Youth Net-work comprised of twenty councils, were chosen by their networks and communities and they contributed significantly. Though they were younger and lacked professional qualifications, their creative and inspiring contributions were beyond expectations. Because they were not constrained by organizational boundaries or structures, they generated some ideas that surpassed those of the WVES staff. • Multi-Disciplinary Teamwork: Utilizing self-di-rected multidisciplinary work teams during the innova-tion exercises not only fostered broader and stronger trend identification, problem solving and innovative ideas, it also enabled staff members from different Na-tional Office Divisions, Area Development Programs and Child and Youth Representatives, to experience different ideas, backgrounds and approaches. Practic-ing diversity in group-problem solving is critical in de-veloping high performing, self-directed work teams in order to deliver incremental or radical innovation that fosters a culture of innovation within the organization.

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• Multi-National and External Participation: This unprecedented World Vision event drew a crowd of critical international partnership leaders who provided solid curricula and presentations that gave credibility and authority to the event. Other external guests in-cluded musicians, board members, children and pastors who helped broaden the scope and challenged partici-pants to extend innovation beyond the WVES walls.

• Diversity of Teaching and Learning Methods: The workshop integrated a diversity of effective learn-ing methods to allow different learning techniques for different people. These included “visual or spatial learning style” that used images and pictures to trans-fer knowledge and information; “auditory learning style” using sounds or music to teach and reinforce leadership concepts and skills; “logical or mathemati-cal learning style” that transferred information using logic and reasoning; “social or interpersonal learning style” which assimilated information transferred in a group environment; and “verbal or linguistic learning style”, which assimilated information through speech and written form.

• Safe and Rich Learning Environments: Teaching techniques included “lectures” to convey basic body of information, “self-directed learning” to study specific reading topics, “audio-visuals” to showcase specific themes, “peer education” to share knowledge, skills and experiences among participants, “case analysis” to reinforce learning objectives, and “team discussions” for in-depth reflection, questions and responses. This teaching approach recognized the central role of cre-ativity and engagement of participants to explore ideas, challenge traditional assumptions and status quo, solve complex issues, and generate new ideas and knowledge. An atmosphere of mutual trust and safety was created where participants felt free to take risks, explore their own thoughts and feelings, and practice constructive

criticism to benefit from the responses of others.

• The Music Paradigm: The March 2012 World Vi-sion International President’s Summit held in London, England offered a leadership development program en-titled The Music Paradigm. Created by Maestro Roger Nierenberg, the author of the 2009 Best Leadership Book “Maestro: A Surprising Story about Leading by Listening”, The Music Paradigm explores the challeng-es and opportunities faced by organizations in times of rapid change by displaying organizational develop-ment issues through an orchestra. Based on this novel concept, an 8-piece band was used as a metaphor for WVES in order to raise its performance to a new level. The musicians were led through a series of exercises that illustrated key qualities and practices of high-per-forming teams and organizations. Participants experi-enced a high-impact learning experience on effective leadership, teamwork, communication and innovation in an exciting, instructional, entertaining and interactive environment.

• Integration of Spiritual Nurturing into the Curriculum: An essential component of WVES’ suc-cessful leadership development and innovation is inte-gration with spiritual formation. The Bible is a treasury of wisdom and guidance for leaders and leadership development. The biblical people, events, and teachings provide superb material to create Christian leaders at every level, work with multi-disciplinary staff, engage

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multi-sectoral stakeholders, and conduct innovation and change. Lars Gustavsson’s book “Spectrum of Providence: Twelve Bible Lessons in Innovation: An In-novation Primer” was crucial therefore to achieve the learning outcomes of the workshop-seminar. Continual spiritual nurturing of staff by mixing biblical messages and applications with executive leadership skills was an effective way to deliver key leadership lessons. The participation of reputable pastors further applied the spiritual application of innovation principles.

On the other hand, there are also “challenges” ahead in building a transformative culture of innovation. The following are the key issues WVES must address on the journey of innovation:

• Increasing Staff Buy-In: WVES is developing lead-ers at every level and also managing individual, team and all-staff performance against new paradigms and leadership attitudes. Ultimately, only staff that are on board with a culture of innovation and change, par-ticularly with developing a culture of excellence, high performance and accountability aimed to produce extraordinary results in an increasing and sustainable manner, will fit and thrive effectively within the orga-nization.

• Many Ideas But Few Executed and Implemen-ted: An organizational strategy and structure must be put in place to enable the process to move from ideas to products. Following this workshop, WVES must proceed to vet ideas, try beta tests or prototypes, and then fully implement and scale some products. This will require resources, capacity building, and change management communication strategies to view change as inevitable if WVES wants to be successful, market and build momentum with early adopters, natural allies and strategic partners, and let progress unfold as other WVES members join in.

• Sufficient Resources to Sustain Innovations: WVES has to work with the Global Center, Regional Office, Support Offices, the private sector, and other external local and international agencies to secure adequate human, economic and physical resources as

well as to generate promising concepts and potential funding streams to promote and sustain a culture of innovation.

XI. NEXT STEPS AND CLOSINGSTATEMENTS

WVES is now better positioned to drive further strate-gic, functional and organizational institutional changes to challenge the status quo and plans to:

1. Establish an innovation strategy and organizational structure to set up a sustainable process

2. Decide how to strengthen programming and follow up on the best innovation ideas to develop further

3. Develop an innovation tool kit to assist others inter-ested in joining the innovation journey

4. Develop a resource and funding strategy to secure sustainable income for innovation

5. Hold follow up meetings with key Global and Re-gional Collaboration and Innovation leaders

6. Link to the international bodies, and seek a conver-gence of academia and private sector ideas with non-profits toward innovations

WVES has proven the expertise to plan and launch world-class conferences in several forums either within or outside of World Vision. However, the motivation goes beyond entertaining events and WVES has utilized these forums to grown and develop participants with effective techniques like communications, teamwork, innovation thinking, preparation, and overall leader-ship. Staff and other attendees have developed and put into practice public speaking skills, created inspirational and motivational messaging techniques, developed new knowledge, innovative ideas, and helpful tools that can be applied elsewhere.

In summary, the 2012 Innovations for Impact Work-

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shop-Seminar achieved the intended outcomes and set the foundation for creating an organizational culture conducive to progressive innovation and change that will allow WVES to reach national and international impact through innovative, value-added and replicable business models to ensure fullness of life for Salvador-ian children.

XII. REFERENCES

1. Christian Leaders At Every Level – A Paradigm In-novation. The World Vision El Salvador (WVES) Lead-ership Development Program FY2010 - FY2014. San Salvador, El Salvador.

2. Impact Innovations. Innovation Exercise: Doce Áreas Temáticas – Final Consolidado. PowerPoint Presenta-tion. World Vision El Salvador. Salinitas, El Salvador. July 24 – 28, 2012.

3. Innovaciones para Impacto: Ejercicio de Innovación: Presentaciones de Jóvenes. PowerPoint Presentation. World Vision El Salvador. Salinitas, El Salvador. July 24 – 28, 2012.

4. Innovative Initiatives. “Thinking Outside the Box.” World Vision El Salvador. San Salvador, El Salvador. Feb-ruary 2012.

5. Personal Interviews. 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar. Salinitas, El Salvador. Jones, Holly. July 24 – 28, 2012.

6. Personal Digital Recordings. 2012 Innovations for Impact Workshop-Seminar. Salinitas, El Salvador. Jones, Holly. July 24 – 28, 2012.

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XIII. APPENDIX 1: PROGRAM AGENDA

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BE CREATIVE

• “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created.”

Genesis 1:27


DO GREAT WORK

• Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me; the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Fa-ther. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glori-fied in the Son.”

John 14:12-13

V i s i ó n M u n d i a l E l S a l v a d o r


HAVE FAITH

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the con-viction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

Building a Better World for Children

Documents

Transcript of Building a Better World for Children