Strategic Plan 2018-2022

The Inter-American Foundation’s (IAF) 2018-2022 Strategic Plan responds to the evolving social, economic, and political challenges in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), including weak governance, extreme poverty, forced migration, persistent crime and violence, economic insecurity, and environmental degradation; outlines our strategic goals and our plans for meeting them; and articulates a shared purpose and direction for ensuring that the Foundation’s community-level investments will have a durable and transformative impact in the region.

Vision

A just, peaceful, and prosperous Latin America and Caribbean region in which all people have meaningful opportunities to thrive

Mission

To identify, support, and partner with the poor, their enterprises and grassroots organizations to create and build thriving communities

Values

• Community-led: We trust and empower community solutions, ownership, and leadership
• Innovative: We foster agile and entrepreneurial thinking and take informed risks
• Collaborative: We build alliances with public, private and community sectors to catalyze smart and sustainable development
• Accountable: We are committed to results, transparency, and impact
• Cost-effective: We work directly with the organized poor, minimizing intermediaries and overhead

Goals

Supporting grassroots solutions to the social and economic challenges of Latin America and the Caribbean 

• Expanding economic opportunity through investments in sustainable smallholder agriculture, urban and rural micro and small business growth, and local entrepreneurship and market development
• Enhancing peace and security by strengthening the social and economic fabric of communities and providing alternatives to crime, violence, unemployment and forced migration
• Strengthening governance by improving the capacity of community groups and other civil society actors to propel their own development, defend their rights, promote inclusion, and advocate for government accountability and transparency
• Unlocking private, public and community resources for grassroots development through  financial and programmatic partnerships

Strategy

Effect positive change through targeted investments in grassroots solutions that build stronger communities

• Set country and program priorities that are responsive to U.S. priorities in the region
• Put local communities in the driver’s seat
• Utilize in-country expertise and mobilize local resources
• Strengthen capacity of grassroots organizations to improve their communities
• Partner with private sector to unlock capital and know-how for investments in locally-led solutions
• Use technology to harness local knowledge, expand access to information, lower costs, and scale impact
• Strengthen peer-to-peer learning and action networks

Plan

Increase our effectiveness and impact

The IAF is taking steps to ensure that we have the human and financial resources, technologies, processes, and expertise to help communities thrive over the long term.

1. 1. Increasing awareness, understanding, and use of the IAF’s proven approach
      1.  Prioritize the IAF’s role as  a thought-leader on effective and innovative citizen-led development
      2. Deepen collaboration with relevant U.S. agencies and foreign embassies
      3. Increase Congress’ exposure to the value and impact of the IAF’s locally-led/ grassroots development model
      4. Highlight the IAF’s work through improved media and communications messaging
   2. Deepening programmatic excellence
      1. Ensure grant-making and other program activities maximize the impact of IAF investments
      2. Upgrade our monitoring and evaluation system to better measure the qualitative and quantitative impact of our program efforts
      3. Introduce new uses of technology to optimize our mission
   3. Leveraging the IAF partnership model to attract greater resources and scale what works in grassroots development
      1. Grow public-private partnerships, including new co-funding opportunities
      2. Test innovative approaches that merge government, private sector, and philanthropic resources
      3. Increase counterpart commitments
      4. Diversify sources of public and private funding
   4. Improving knowledge management
      1. Harvest and apply lessons from our program experience to help grantee partners increase their impact
      2. Design and implement new practices that promote horizontal learning among our network of current and former partners, fellows, and other grassroots development practitioners
      3. Facilitate access to lessons learned by IAF and partners
   5. Attracting, retaining, and inspiring world-class staff
      1. Develop and implement an employee engagement plan
      2. Expand professional development and opportunities for advancement
      3. Support work-life balance
      4. Optimize staff productivity by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our business practices

Talk about community-led development!