“We’re taking a step that will help us to be a more cohesive, effective and relevant alliance working for justice and peace, fostering local leadership and upholding resilient and sustainable communities,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of the ACT Alliance, on 30 October, upon affirmation of ACT’s new Global Strategy by the General Assembly gathered in Uppsala, Sweden.
Under the new theme of ACT’s Global Strategy, ‘Hope in Action, Putting People First,’ ACT will lift the prophetic and moral voice of faith communities and organisations associated with their care and concern to save lives, bring transformational development, denounce injustices, and uphold dignity.
“We will have a holistic and integrated approach in humanitarian, development and advocacy,” added de Faria, who also announced ACT’s revised programmatic areas: climate justice, gender justice, peace and human security, migration and displacement, and emergency preparedness and humanitarian response.
ACT Forums will be the heart of the Alliance. “Forums are unique to ACT Alliance, bringing together all members—national and international—working in a country, sub-region or region to coordinate, collaborate, and cooperate in humanitarian, development and advocacy work,” said de Faria. Forums will establish mechanisms to work together in a cohesive and effective way, undertake joint planning, implementation and monitoring, and develop the capacity of all members through local initiatives and shared resources. They will work together to create Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans, and to align their work with the Sustainable Development Goals.
As ACT’s current global strategy concludes at the end of 2018, one of the major tasks that the delegates had in the Assembly was the deliberation on and the approval of the 8-year plan.
The strategy revision process included surveys sent to ACT members and forums; focus group discussions with ACT’s diverse governance structures, and inputs from selected external actors engaged in innovative approaches to development.
The 2019 – 2026 strategy includes a mid-term review on the 4thyear and a mid-course correction at the next General Assembly.
Upon affirmation at the General Assembly, the incoming Governing Board shall be requested to approve the ACT Alliance Global Strategy (2019-2026) at their inception meeting.
“The Global Strategy (2019-2026) will be supported and implemented through a detailed operational implementation plan,” reminded the General Secretary.
The Global Strategy (2019-2026) that was voted on is available for download here.
