SWOT: what are we good at and what can we do better?

War Child’s Strategy 2015, our five-year plan launched in 2010, includes an elaborate analysis of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Some key elements of this SWOT specifically addressed in 2012 were:

Strength

Ugandan Children playing War Child has diverse sources of income, making us less vulnerable to economic lows. Individual donors, companies, Dutch and international foundations, and institutional donors in the Netherlands and abroad have created a strong financial backbone for War Child.

In 2012, income from institutional funds and government grants grew by 42%. Donors such as ECHO, UNICEF and the European Union approved our proposals and provided grants. Read more in the fundraising chapter of this report.

Weakness

War Child programmes are not yet sufficiently evidence based. Our learning and accountability systems need further improvement as detailed in the paragraph on evaluations.

In 2012, we strengthened outcome monitoring and are able to present the first results. Also, we conducted more external evaluations. Lessons learnt on evaluations will be taken up in 2013.

Opportunity

Private donors in the Netherlands are critical of the non-profit organisations they support. Due to the broader discussion on the necessity and benefits of development cooperation, and the economic down turn, this seems to have increased.

In 2012, War Child again was able to be transparent about its expenditures at the grassroots level and communicate directly and openly to our constituency about the children who participated in our projects. Because War Child develops close relationships with our partner organisations and is also a self-implementing organisation, we are able to effectively monitor finances and communicate directly about the problems of and results for children.

Threat

War Child works in insecure areas, which can hinder the continuity and progress of our programmes.

In 2012, in Lebanon, eastern DR Congo, South Sudan and Afghanistan the security situation deteriorated or remained unstable. War Child's reactions are described in the paragraph on risk management.

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