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Raw
Numbers
Here’s what Habitat
affiliates achieved in
2000.
Total Houses
(including repairs)
Africa/Middle East 2,786
Asia/Pacific 2,848
Canada 78
Europe/CIS 29
Latin America/ Caribbean 5,804
United States 6,014
Total Affiliates
Africa/Middle East 140
Asia/Pacific 118
Canada 53
Europe/CIS 15
Latin America/ Caribbean 108
United States 1,603
Habitat Facts
U.S. residents living in a community served by Habitat 83%
Average selling price for a Habitat house in the United States $48,585
—Source: HFHI’s Affiliate Statistical Report 2000
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Behind the Scenes:
Firm foundations can build a legacy for expansion, as Habitat for Humanity’s 25-year history demonstrates. Looking toward building the next 100,000 Habitat houses requires a strategic plan that focuses on leadership, innovation, capacity and advocacy to guide the organization’s growth. “Habitat’s Strategic Plan is designed to be flexible enough to allow departments and affiliates to identify specific goals, needs and resources without dictating a course of action,” says Marlene Lockwood, director of Strategic Planning. “By involving a department in constructing a strategic plan, they can make it their own.”
Long-range planning enables a department or affiliate to demonstrate good stewardship, responsibility and accountability when big growth raises big questions. For Habitat’srapidly expanding Women Build program,the Strategic Plan had the answers.“The Women Build department was being propelled forward by events,” says Fiona Eastwood, manager of Women Build.
As global interest in Women Build increased and the number of events mush roomed, Eastwood discussed with the Women Build executive committee how to help achieve HFHI’s goal of building 100,000 houses in 100 countries by the end of 2005, while also clarifying Women Build’s departmental goals for the next five years.“We needed a ‘strategic plan.’ We needed to focus on being ‘proactive’ in our planning, not ‘reactive’ to outside events,” says Eastwood. “We didn’t want the building momentum of growth to drive our course of action.”
To balance goals with a practical plan, the Women Build steering committee met with Lockwood for a two-day conference. After focusing on a practical vision for Women Build, committee members attending the conference were able to identify potential obstacles and formulate a strategy and timeline for implementation of the department’s goals.
“We need to be prepared to match growth with key issues such as raising awareness through a well-developed marketing plan, attracting new sponsors, growing the number of women actively involved in the construction of Habitat homes and, ultimately, building more houses,” says Eastwood.—Carla C. Robinson |
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“Is it possible for everyone to have a simple, decent place to live in our world? The vision of Habitat says, ‘Yes.’ We have seen the miracles that come with this simple belief, coupled with the simple action of making it happen—one family at a time.”
